High Bar Back Squat

A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.

HOW TO PERFORM

Set the bar across the upper back, high on the traps, and pull it down hard into you.
Take the weight, step back into a stance about shoulder width with the toes turned slightly out.
Take a big breath into the belly and brace as if bracing for a punch.
Break at the hips and knees together and sit down between the feet until the hip crease passes below the top of the knee.
Drive through mid-foot to stand, keeping the chest up and the bar over the middle of the foot the whole way.

Bar position sets the shape of the lift: high bar keeps the torso upright and asks more of the quads, low bar leans you further forward and hands more to the hips and back. Neither is more correct.
The knees travel out over the toes rather than caving in. Caving is usually a weak brace or too much weight, not a hip mobility problem.
Set the safety pins at the depth you squat to. Bailing out of a squat is survivable, but only if the rack is set for it.

This guide covers these exercises in the Ægir Iron library:

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