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My 27 year old son has issues with shoulder/neck flexibility that he has not been able to overcome, even with the help of several coaches and physical therapists. He has a very long neck and has had neck/shoulder stiffness pretty much his whole life. I got him hooked on SS and TB and he is loving it, but after about 18 months, he has pretty much decided that he cannot do back squats. The shoulder/neck stiffness and pain are not worth it.

This is probably a permanent situation. He is a very athletic guy, but this movement just doesn't work for him.

He likes to swing, and I was thinking that, along with trap bar deadlifts and maybe front squats. Not sure if you need both.

What does the group recommend? Any experiences and lessons-learned?

WB, Just my 2c.. related to issues with shoulder/neck area.

- SSB has changed everything. I am very happy to be able to squat again! This is the best special bar I have ever used. No issues with shoulder whatsoever. It can be used for front squats as well.
- I am reinventing trap bar now with my current programming. I do like it a lot but I treat it as DL substitute and it fits nicely into mean and lean option: 2 days of SSB squat and 1 day of TBDL. It is more quads dominated and might be slight overkill if paired with front squats.
- I've done block with front squats and swings in the past. I would still prefer having SSB squat and TBDL around. - just IMHO..

I don't know if you can get ahold of SSB. I'd bet you and your son will love it!

WallBilly wrote:My 27 year old son has issues with shoulder/neck flexibility that he has not been able to overcome, even with the help of several coaches and physical therapists. He has a very long neck and has had neck/shoulder stiffness pretty much his whole life. I got him hooked on SS and TB and he is loving it, but after about 18 months, he has pretty much decided that he cannot do back squats. The shoulder/neck stiffness and pain are not worth it.

This is probably a permanent situation. He is a very athletic guy, but this movement just doesn't work for him.

He likes to swing, and I was thinking that, along with trap bar deadlifts and maybe front squats. Not sure if you need both.

What does the group recommend? Any experiences and lessons-learned?

I came across this article when I was having trouble with back squat...written by Ben Bruno(famous S&C coach)...what he says is that not everyone's body is built to do back squats (himself included) due to various reasons such as lower back etc...he goes on to reccomend front squats but a person even has problem with that....then the ultimate exercise that won't stress the back in any way is Bulgarian split squat.A person can get the same benefits of squat with it minus the back issues .Heres the link..it is gold.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/bulga ... lit-squats

Hope this helps.

Thanks, guys, but it's not a back issue.

I found out more details, it's a combination of a lack of shoulder flexibility and a very lean build that results in the bar bruising the crap out of his spine and shoulders when the weights get up towards 300. So not only is he killing the bones, but he compensates by trying to take too much of the weight on his arms, which as we know is a disaster, and he has gotten some elbow issues because of that.

I'm not honestly sure if the biggest issue is the bruising or the lack of shoulder flexibility, but he simply can't do 'em anymore without causing serious issues.

He knows he needs to build up his traps. He's been doing OHPs for quite a while and has gotten stronger, but is still very lean up there. Skinny, you might even say. He's 6'3" and ~ 170 lbs, so the squats that are getting him are almost double body weight.

He's working on pull-ups too.

And sorry again, I replied to the wrong thread earlier!

Focus on pulling and eating for now. Lots of pulls and milk. Supplement with shrugs and squats in the 3-5x10 range.

Bulgarian split squats are worth a try for a block or two. I also saw an Athlean-X video in which they jumped from the bottom position.

ectional wrote:Bulgarian split squats are worth a try for a block or two. I also saw an Athlean-X video in which they jumped from the bottom position.

Yeah should definitely do Bulgarians split squats with all its variations with trap bar ,dumbbells ,kettlebells etc...and I also suggest him to do lots of barbell dumbell shrugs,farmers walks,front loaded caries,facepulls,rackpulls, which will help build up traps and also shoulders

I've used front squats for a couple of years (only six months with TB, though). Can't do back squats because of a back injury. The front squats work just fine and is a very reasonable substitute, in my opiniion. You can't move as much weight, but you can definietly get strong(er) doing front squats.

If I had to pick another substitute, personally I would go with Zercher squats. They´re murder on the arms, but works the core like nothing else I've ever tried.

Two herniated discs, so barbell back squats are pretty much a no-no for me right now. Front squats are working just fine.