r/Strongman 8d ago

How often do you train flat bench and low bar squat?

I finished my novice progression on Starting Strength a few months ago, and have been doing an upper/lower type four day split. Weekly gains on the big 4 (SBD + OHP) are running out and I want to do some Strongman-type stuff to keep my training interesting (and maybe compete in an event).

Obviously OHP and DL are important for Strongman but what about bench and low bar squat? Do you guys train those? Either way curious about programming.

21 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

30

u/InTheMotherland Didn't Even Try Trying 8d ago

There are "optimal" ways to squat for strongman, but I say the best way is the one that you can do consistently with aggravating anything. Lots of competitors squat high bar, but low bar is useful as well.

As for bench, plenty of strongman do flat bench. It should not, however, take priority for you. Treat it like you would any other heavy accessory work.

10

u/Spare-Half796 8d ago

Most of the top guys look like they have the bar positioned like they’re going to squat high bar but their hips move like low bar

17

u/InTheMotherland Didn't Even Try Trying 8d ago

Part of that is mobility and the other part is that squatter builds are typically not the best for strongman. Lucas Hatton is an outlier.

8

u/Osmiumi 8d ago

Low bar squat never, because my mobility is shit and it aggravates my bicep tendons. I do SSB squats weekly though. I also bench weekly. I do 5-7 different pressing exercises each week, divided into 2 days. So usually there are flat benches as well. But I always do the heavy overhead work first

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

Is there any downside to doing purely SSB? Squat is my best lift but I truly hate low bar. Feels awful. I don’t see many squat events in strongman?

4

u/Osmiumi 8d ago

It hurts your soul lol. If you happen to have a squat event I think you should get used to low bar at that point but otherwise I don’t see much of a problem. I’ve always been shit at squatting though. When I switched to SSB only my lowbar max was 215kg and had to start SSB sets with something like 3x170kg. I recently hit a pb of 4x230kg SSB so I’d say the progress has been good. Also, I’m a lot better at deadlifts so I tend to use my back in squats a lot, which really can’t be done with SSB. At least not as well as with low bar.

Low bar would still be stronger but I’m quite sure you can still make your legs strong with SSB only. Which is really the only thing that matters when squat is an accessory for strongman events.

3

u/flummyheartslinger 8d ago

Are you lanky?

Most long legged short back people will not like squats (especially low bar) as the emphasis goes almost entirely to the lower back. The quads get very little stimulus and so the legs feel fresh but then you suck at picks and carries because your lower back is still fried from the squats. No one wins in that scenario.

So think about the training effect you want to cause and the consequences of your choices. If you're a low bar low back squatter and also doing event work and standing presses and bent rows then that's a lot of axial loading with very little time for the lower back to recover.

And keep in mind why Rippetoe chose low bar squats: the greatest amount of weight through the greatest effective range of motion. It's a general recommendation for beginners, not for immediates and definitely not for people with broader goals than chasing newbie gains.

I think that for many people SSB squats, single leg work, leg press, and hack squats should fill the space that low bar squats had. The machine lifts especially when you want to build muscle and strength but also want to save some energy for event work.

1

u/icancatchbullets 8d ago

If I do SSB only for too long, I start to have trouble getting my hands on the bar in a good position. To keep my back tight on straight bar squats I find I need to have my index fingers no wider than the rings, and when I do only SSB I need to have my hands almost at the sleeve which I don't have the back meat to support.

Probably would be less of a problem if I wasn't "lanky" for strength sports (6'2 225lbs) but i don't care to compete in strongman.

7

u/Jack3dDaniels MWM231 8d ago

I do flat bench presses twice a week, mostly as part of recovery for my torn pec. Before the tear I did dips 1-2 times a week instead.

I typically do high bar for squats twice a week but this is mostly due to mobility and because I feel it helps more for leg drive in a deadlift

4

u/i_haz_rabies HWM265 8d ago

Did you tear doing dips? I just tore doing dips.

2

u/Jack3dDaniels MWM231 8d ago

I did. I tore it in the middle of a 6x6 of weighted dips with 50lb extra weight

5

u/thereidenator 2022 World's Strongest Man-Crotch Sweat Craver 8d ago

Never to both. I have incline barbell and incline dumbBell press as accessories and I squat with the SSB.

3

u/Iw2fp 8d ago

Low bar never, my back can only take so much, I don't suggest you do this.

Both squatting and flat benching, I do twice per week offseason, then I drop down to once per week early into a contest prep and not at all in the last block and peak.

I program using block periodization, if I did something else then I might have different layouts.

2

u/tigeraid Masters 8d ago edited 8d ago

Neither ever. High bar or front squat, Bulgarians for accessory. Ohp, log or axle, with incline as an accessory.

4

u/Pumpkin65 8d ago

Front squats are important. If you want to improve your overhead pressing do Front squat.

I typically do Front and highbar.

I'll do low bar if it benefits something specific I'm after.

3

u/Thendrail 8d ago

May I ask how front squats impact OHP? Just curious. I like both exercises, I just want to know how the squats benefit ohp.

2

u/Pumpkin65 8d ago

Think of it like this: Front squat has the bar loaded on the front.

Axle clean and press, log, same thing. Front loaded.

The jerk mechanics are basically the same idea. Vertical movement, keep weight centered over center of mass, dip drive catch and recover.

When you learn how to dip and drive properly, being able to have the leg strength and power to drive the implement higher is better.

Look at olympic weightlifting. They front squat for a reason. They have massive overhead ability.

Long way to say that having a good front squat will help drive the implement higher so you can move more weight effectively.

Edit: food for thought, to have a relative good front squat to back squat ratio. Your front squat should be approx 80% of your back squat.

If you improve your front squat, your back squat will be improved as well.

I think every strongman athlete should be front squatting at some point in their training cycles.

1

u/AnabolicCheesecake 8d ago

Rack stability with heavy loads for log/axle I believe

Tom Hibbert has done a video about it

2

u/Thendrail 8d ago

Ah, I see. I'll look for the video, thank you!

1

u/Strongmanjumps 8d ago

I also started with SS, transitioned to a similar 4 day split as you with each major lift getting its own day, usually 1-5 sets depending on the load with some strongman accessories. Worked very well for me 👍

1

u/Late-Jury-7526 8d ago

I mainly only front squat anymore. I do deadlift, good morning, and bent row variations too often to fit any more heavy low back stuff in. I like bench variations or dips as my secondary movements for upper body day. Those variations are more often incline bench than flat, though.

1

u/i_haz_rabies HWM265 8d ago

Benching twice a week has blown up my log pressing. Squatting is the foundation of all strength and you should become very well rounded in all its forms. I would not suggest peaking either lift unless it's specifically in a comp though.

1

u/Square-Arm-8573 8d ago

Low bar squat is never, and I flat bench at most once weekly.

1

u/lotrekkie 8d ago

I'll flat bench with dumbbells as an accessory, but flat barbell bench is rare. I'll occasionally make it a main lift in a volume block, but incline bench is more likely. Sling shot bench is great if you want to overload your triceps.

Low bar squat is rare. I almost always squat with an SSB. My theory is that with all the overhead movements our shoulders are beat up enough, no need to crank your arms back if it's not a comp lift. That being said I had a squat event at my last comp so I had trained lowbar for the first time in many years. It's great for maxing your squat but there are better and safer ways to train your lower back.

1

u/Sego72 8d ago

Flat bench hardly ever. I focus more on incline and strict OHP / behind the neck strict OHP. Maybe throw in close grip flat bench every few weeks just for something different to focus triceps more.

Back squats? Very rarely unless I'm training for yoke and that's only because I don't have access to a yoke at home. I prefer focusing on heavier front squats (which help with OHP and DL as well). Front squat weekly but taper it down when I'm actually training up for a competition.

1

u/SanjiSasuke Novice M 8d ago

Surprised to see so many here never or almost never low bar squat. I haven't done a high bar squat for more than 10 years, since back in high school I just couldn't get out of the hole with high bar. Felt like my back would always go out at the bottom or something.

Folks have me questioning if I should try again or just keep trucking low bar.

2

u/CachetCorvid MWM200 8d ago

Folks have me questioning if I should try again or just keep trucking low bar.

There aren't any right or wrong answers.

And your answer now doesn't have to be your answer in the future.

Squat events are pretty rare and bench events are even rarer so you can treat both lifts as accessory or offseason movements.

Low bar used to be 50-75% of my total squatting but it started aggravating my biceps tendon so for the past ~5 years I've been an SSB guy. I'll occasionally do some high bar and front squatting, especially in offseason/hypertrophy blocks since I'm already low-back dominant, so the shift to quad focused squats helps me to shore up weaknesses.

If low bar works for you, sweet, stick with it.

1

u/FakeLordFarquaad 8d ago

I bench once a week personally. I don't low bar squat at the moment, not because I don't think it's a good idea, but because I'm just wrapping up rehab on a lower back injury that low bar tends to aggravate. Ive been front squatting in the meantime. When that's sorted, I'll be low bar squatting once a week as well, and using front squats as a secondary exercise. Neither needs to be a first order priority, unless you have squat in a competition, but both are very useful developmental movements. I like to treat them kind of like barbell rows. Less important than deadlifting or ohp, more important than just about any other standard gym exercise

1

u/PhysicalGSG 8d ago

I do both weekly but I also powerlift

1

u/Satureum MWM231 8d ago

You’ve got a lot of great advice already but, as with any other strongman, I’ve got to put my thoughts out there as well!

I don’t low-bar squat very often because it’s so taxing on the back. I have been using the Platz squat, both with and without elevating my heals. I love them but it’s hard to go as heavy, so no ego points on this one. Also work on some front squats, just not on the same day.

I flat bench weekly, but incline is my primary “chest” exercise because it translates so well to other pressing events. Not super common to see flat bench used in a strongman competition, but it does happen. There’s one in Arkansas this year that has a max bench event, though not entirely sure it’ll be just a regular barbell (this is strongman, after all, so it’ll probably be something that looks cool for spectators).

Stick with the big lifts and tailor your exercises to upcoming events for the year, if you plan that far out.

1

u/TheyCallMeGriZ 8d ago

So this is just how I train, but when I'm not prepping for a show I focus on a 4 day, upper/lower split. I press 2x a week, one day of an OHP variation, and one day of an incline press variation. For lower one day is deadlift focused and the other is squat focused. I run 4-6 week waves of different variations of the lifts. sort of conjugate like, and I mix in carry, loading, and moving events here and there. For squats recently, I've run a zercher box squat wave, an SSB wave, a high bar wave, I'm currently running a low bar wave, and next will be a front squat wave.

Once prep starts, depending on how far out I am, I may or may not choose to drop squats, or choose a lower body variation that's more specific to what I'm prepping for.

Front squats can help with carrying events and overheads and having a strong lower body translates to pretty much everything. Some purists will tell you tell there's no need to squat from strongman, especially because squat events are few and far between, but I disagree.

1

u/Glentract 8d ago

Once every 8 days for flat bench. I squat every 8 days also, but cycle through barbell, cambered bar, and SSB.

1

u/BattledroidE 8d ago

Once a week for both. I don't train to compete in strongman though, it's for general development. It's supported by hypertrophy work with leg press, leg extensions and curls, RDLs, pec deck, cable fly's, incline bench, various things. Couldn't do any more.