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Bar Patterns: Rack Mobility from Behind the Neck

Written by Team Summit on . Posted in Archive 2020, strength training.

Bar Patterns: Rack Mobility from Behind the Neck

Part 14 in the series

Ensuring proper posture during your strength training is very important to develop correct movement patterns for your sports and also to keep you safe while strength training. Two prime examples are the front squat and the overhead squat. You need to have a very upright posture in both of these exercises to perform them safely and correctly. During these movements, you want to be certain that you are standing with your chest tall and maintaining a neutral spine (remember, your spine has natural curves as you stand and you want to maintain these natural curves while you load with weights). During the front squat, your goal is to have your upper arm (from your elbow to your armpit) parallel to the ground throughout the entire lift – especially when your hips are at the bottom of the lift. While executing the overhead squat you want to have your sternum pointing straight across the room at all points of the lift. Many times some of the positions we are striving for during our strength training can be difficult to attain, but don’t feel bad if these positions don’t come as easily as you are hoping for. The only way to get into the positions correctly is to have adequate mobility in your upper back muscles and shoulders. Believe it or not, most people are excessively tight in their latissimus dorsi muscles (Lats) as well as tightness in their shoulder’s ability to rotate. The best way to correct this is the “rack mobility from behind the neck”. After you finish bar patterns to warm up for your strength training put one set of the following mobility drill into your routine to slowly increase your ability to get into the correct positions. Each day you do this you will increase your ability to move properly.

 

  • Grasp the bar with a clean grip
  • Place the bar on your upper back/trapezius muscles

  • Begin with your elbows below the bar
  • Rotate your elbows forward and up

–strive towards getting your upper arm parallel to the ground                                                      

  • Complete 6 slow repetitions
  • Widen your grip about one hand width

                                               

  • Repeat above patterns, slowly 6 more repetitions