Darin Keesing wrote the following on the StrongLifts Fan page 2 weeks ago in reply to my Squatting Mistakes article:
I still disagree with you about towels/pads. Some skinny guys (like me) just don't have the muscle/fat on their backs to make the bar comfortable at 200+ pounds. Please stop calling people sissys.
When I started Squatting 11 years ago weighing 132lb, I also used the sissy pad because that's what the few Squatters in my gym did and I didn't know better. But since the gym managers became too cheap to get new foam pads everytime they broke, I eventually got used to Squatting without bar pad.
Was I a sissy for Squatting (in the smith..) with a foam pad? I'd call it ignorant and uninformed. After all Squatting with a bar pad is a mistake for 3 reasons:
- You can't position the bar correctly. This is even more true if you wrap a towel around the bar: the bar will end up higher on your back, and the higher the bar the worse your leverage. Granted, not that big of a deal with light weights, but it will be once you Squat heavier weights.
- You can't "feel" the bar - it's like Squatting in running shoes: you have to Squat barefoot/with Chuck's to feel the difference. The only way you'll feel the bar using a pad is if the weight is heavy enough, but then...
- ... the bar pad will be useless when you get stronger (which you will with StrongLifts 5x5). Here's why: the weight will compress the pad and then you'll lose the cushion ability. So any short-term benefit, you will lose.
Squatting with that sissy pad because you don't have much upper-back muscles yet, is like wearing gloves because you still need to grow callus. The solution is always the same: stick with it for 2-3 weeks and your body will adapt. Your upper-back will get tough if you keep Squatting without a pad.
The guys who start SL5x5 without ever using a sissy pad rarely get discomfort because their upper-back adapts as the weight increases. This is why the longer you wait to switch to Squatting without pad, the harder you're making it on yourself. Drop the pad now instead of waiting until your back gets thicker and remember to position the barbell correctly on your back (not on your spine).
Which is what Darin did as he reported a few hours later on Facebook...
I squatted 5x5 215 lbs today w/o a pad. I hope you're all happy!!!!
I am. While we're at it, do not use that silly bar pad to protect your shins on Deadlifts (that's something new I read this week) - as Gabriel G. explained on the StrongLifts Fan page: "Using a bar pad would move the bar away from the mid-foot by making it thicker, effectively changing the leverage and mechanics of the movement." The closer the bar to your body during Deadlifts, the better the leverage. So if your shins keep taking a beating, do not use a pad - read this.
I squat 300 pounds and weigh about 160 pounds. While it’s not recordbreaking, the bar was never a problem for me. Adapting to having the bar in a low position was however, and it took 2 weeks of constant pain to adapt to it. I felt like I was beaten on my shoulders and upper back with a sledgehammer. After the initial weeks, no problem.
Nice one Mehdi. I’m currently doing 125lbs (started with zero a month back). I never felt the need for a sissy pad as I started without it the first day. Then you get used to it. I have the typical “bodybuilder”, 2-3 year veterans in the gym and still squatting at 150lbs with a towel. I wonder if they ever go through some rough back or something?
Wow.
I didn´t knew that here are so many people using a sissy pad. I usually se people who don´t squat often use a sissy pad.
I am squated 185 lbs at 120 lbs body weight without a sissy pad and with bad acne on my back. Hope that makes you happy Mehdi. I hurt a little bit but it isn´t big deal.
ChinaBoy
Agreed.I personaly think if you cant handle the pain of the bar on back your never gonna handle the pain of lifting heavy weights and might as well go home or get into aerobics instead.Its called a sissy pad for a reason and sissys dont lift big weights. I have seen guys squating 50kg with towels around the bar before and it makes me cringe.Also agree about not using gloves although they seem to be a fashion accessory now with guys curling 15 kg wearing them.Oh well each to there own I spose
Glad to say I just reached 135lbs on the squat from 65lbs a month back. Never used a pad or gloves for any of my exercises. So I ain’t a sissy…at least not in the gym….
If you can squat 200+ kg I think you are not more skinny guy. And your back should be well developed to this time.
I’ve got no problems with the bar and never use it during SL.
Good article
My weights are in my basement, and I’ve been squatting shirtless without a pad since I started SL 5×5 over a year ago. As with almost anything worth doing, you just gotta get used to it and let your body adapt. I used to BMX and the first year was a lot of bleeding from blisters on my hands, but eventually they calloused up to the point that I can run a sharp knife over them without getting cut. I’m glad I did that ’cause I’ll never have trouble with grip on the bar now with my lifting. Guitarists have hardened finger tips, runners have hardened heels, you’re a squatter, you should have a hardened back.
When I started I didn’t have so much muscle on my back (or any where else for that matter) and on top of that I got Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. EDS makes me get bruises easier, lower pain tolerance etc. For example a friendly “punch” (you know how young guys can be I’m only 19) for you is nothing, I on the other hand feel this as real serious punch and can have pain in my arm or whatever for days after. My point is, if I with my fucked up body (lol) can handle the pain and get used to it so it stops hurting, you can do it also.
When I started I got serious bruises and I wanted to cry each and every fucking time that bar came on my back, that was with 40kg, now I can do 100+ without a problem. No bruises, no pain, nowadays, it’s just squats. My tolerance has gone up so much I can’t believe it myself. Many people don’t seem to understand how much pain some of us go through just to have the bar on our back without it hurting. It took a great amount of time before my body started to “accept” the weight on my back, but it’s worth the time in gold now. Every single time I get under the bar I’m so proud of myself. Before I many times just let my “disease” control me, this time it’s different. It might seem like a small thing to everyone else, but for me, I’m so fucking proud I can have 40+ kg on my back and not want to die afterwards. I guess my point is, persist. It will get better. You will be happy you did it, at least I am.
(Mild) pain is weakness leaving the body. I’m glad Darin finally broke down. He’ll benefit in the long run :)
Death to the sissy pad!
I’ve squatted 418lb raw weighing at 154lb. I’ve unracked 540lb at the same weight. Granted at the sort of weight you can feel the bar working into your skin but it’s no excuse. Just wear a hoody.
Simples!
Aka – DarkShadow
Wow Emanuel, your the one case id say its justified and you still sloged it out- respect for that
I like how people complain about the bar compressing onto their back, that is, with a RACK. Think about having to clean the bar onto your shoulders for front squats because of a lack of a rack. Compare the musculature of your shoulders to your back and their thickness and never complain again! That’s not even mentioning the discomfort on your stretched fingers while holding the bar and the bruises after.
I started out wihout atowel, and then moved onto one.
I decided to remove it and had to get used to lifting raw again, my back was sore on every lift, but now i can lift 105kg at 75kg BW
I have never used a towel or sissy pad learning how to squat.
What really motivated me was when I was squatting 250lbs a few weeks ago and the person that wanted to squat after me was the following:
- Brought his own personal sissy pad.
- Looked bigger and more muscular than me.
- squatted alot less weight than me.
- only did half squats!
The guy didn’t want to work-in with me when I was doing my sets. He did looked amazed at what I was doing and I felt great about myself when I saw what he was doing!
I never felt the need to use such thing , i remember having some bruise for some time on my upper back , maybe from squats , but it wasnt a problem . Only my wrists hurt a bit on the low bar squats , but not so much now . But most times i lift with long sleeve shirts during autumn , winter and wheever its cold . Of course in summer i lift with only a cotton shirt and i havent got problems.
Mannix, I had the same thing happen at my gym. A muscular guy doing 120lbs half-squats with the sissy pad was using the powercage. When I jumped in after, I tore off the sissy pad, did my warm ups then racked up 160lbs (I just started SL less than a month ago) and did FULL squats. In between sets I could see he was really impressed by his body language and it made me feel great. I also saw a guy who was 5’5” come in and DL 115lbs with straps… I really wanted to help both of these guys but it’s kind of improper gym etiquette to offer advice without being asked. But it does make me feel better knowing I just started and thanks to Medhi and my own dedication to proper form, my strength is excelling past guys who are already look like they’ve been training for years.
My 5′ tall girlfriend squats a 60kg barbell – her own bodyweight! – with no towel or sissy pad.
Then you see guys rocking up and squatting 40/50kg with the pad on…