Range of motion for barbell squats

[somebody]

I'd really like to get into barbell squats, however, I'm unable to get my arms far enough behind me to get the bar down past the back of my neck (and I really don't want to be putting weight there).

 

Any suggestions for increasing flexibility or range of motion in my shoulders to be able to get the bar in a good place?

[mgage]

I think I would do two things in that situation.

1. Shoulder dislocations with either a towel pulled taut or a broomstick.

2. Use the bar in the rack to help you stretch. In other words, with the bar secure in the rack, put your hands on it, duck under, and lean forward into a stretch. Using the bar to hold your hands and arms back should help you get a better stretch.

[Timmy M]

^seconded, do some soft tissue work to help loosen up any knotting in your pecs, shoulders, upper back and arms, keep your wrists flexible too, tight wrists mean fucked wrists when squatting

[jfreaksho]

^seconded, do some soft tissue work to help loosen up any knotting in your pecs, shoulders, upper back and arms, keep your wrists flexible too, tight wrists mean fucked wrists when squatting

I have a tight left shoulder, and when my hand position gets off I get forearm and elbow pain.  Never happens on the right side.  I gained a lot from really working through Rippetoe's video on bar positioning and hand positioning.

[El Exorcisto]

Roll your pecs on a wall with a baseball and your t-spine with a foam roll. It's not just shoulder mobility but thoracic as well. Until you get your mobility ironed out I would start with barbell front squats and get under the bar as soon as you can reach back to get it.

[somebody]

I definitely feel tightness in my chest trying to pull my arms back. I've been doing goblet squats. I'll look for a how-to on front squats tomorrow and hit those up Saturday.

What's the difference between my t-spine and my spine?

This thread is super helpful already. Thanks for your input, everybody!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

[El Exorcisto]

Your spine is made up of segments: cervical (neck), thoracic (chest), and lumbar (lower). Your thoracic spine should be very mobile while the lumbar should be soild as a rock. To improve your thoracic mobility you need to work on the soft tissues of both the thoracic spine and chest to loosen up everything keeping it from moving freely.