How to Squat so That the Barbell Does Not Hurt Your Neck
The first time you do barbell squats, they can hurt . I remember using a neck cushion when I first started squatting and I couldn’t imagine doing without it. These days, I don’t think about getting under the bar of any weight without a pad, but I fully understand these difficulties for beginners. So let’s see what you need to do differently if you find that an unpadded bar is hurting your neck or shoulders.
Squeeze your shoulders together
The most important thing to know is that the bar should not just sit on the skin and bones. Your back muscles should create a “shelf” on which the bar will rest. In the high bar squat that most people start with, this shelf is made up mostly of your upper trapezius muscles . Shrug your shoulders and you will feel these muscles contract; they are found on the sides and back of the neck where the neck joins the shoulders.
In addition to shrugging your shoulders, you can also bring your shoulder blades together, fluffing the meat pad just below your neck even more. This is where the bar should rest. If you do not bring your shoulders together, there will be no pillow, no shelf, no good place for the barbell.
Put the bar in the right place
After you do the squeeze, get under the bar and place it on top of that meat pad you just created. Move around a little if necessary to find the most comfortable spot. You will find that this way the bar will not rest on any of your neck or shoulder bones. If you can still feel the bar at the level of the cervical vertebrae, it may be too high. Try setting the bar a little lower.
You can also experiment with “low bar” squats, where the bar is a few inches lower than what I just described and the bar is supported by the posterior deltoids . It is still important here to bring the shoulders together to create a shelf.
Keep your neck in a neutral position
For some people, the position of the neck can affect how the bar feels. If you have a tendency to look up when you squat, you may find that this puts pressure on your neck or encourages you to relax your upper back, causing you to lose your shelf. If this is happening to you, try tucking your chin into your chest or even looking down a bit and see if that helps.
build more muscle
You can’t make a meat pad without meat, so if you’re a beginner, especially skinny or bony, you might have to go through a bit of hard times. This is a temporary situation. You can speed up the process by doing extra upper back work. Shrugs, ribbon breeding and all kinds of exercises for traction and rowing will help.
At the same time, you may be one of the few people who can actually benefit from a barbell mat. These pads are generally not recommended as they can make the bar unstable. But for a beginner, this is a great temporary solution. After you’ve been squatting for a while, try again bare-bar and you’ll probably feel a lot better.