Off the Floor
Your Upper Back Is Loose at the Setup
The fault
No tightness through the upper back before the bar leaves the ground.
Why it happens
The upper back is what keeps the bar close and the chest up. If it is soft at the start, the shoulders round as soon as the bar loads and the bar drifts forward before you have done anything.
The fix
A short set of drills to find and hold upper back tightness before you pull. If you cannot feel it standing, you will not find it under a loaded bar.
About this fix
Originally published as "Upper Back Stability" on 5 October 2015, part of The Lifting Fix, a free weekly weightlifting technique series Danny Lehr ran from June 2015 to December 2016. Every episode is free here and always will be. For the full structured course, see the professionally filmed program.
