Strength Training · Olympic Weightlifting
Tempo High-Bar Back Squat
The tempo high-bar back squat uses a deliberately slow descent with the bar resting high on your upper back. It trains leg strength and control while your trunk holds steady under load.
Higher injury risk. Read the safety notes before adding weight.
- Intermediate
- Compound
- Higher injury risk
- Rest 3 min
How to do it
- Grip the racked bar evenly, just outside shoulder width.
- Position your upper back beneath the bar so it rests on the muscular shelf below your neck.
- Stand tall to lift the bar clear of the hooks.
- Step back into a roughly shoulder-width stance with your toes turned slightly outward.
- Lower your hips between your knees over three seconds to the deepest position you can control without rounding your lower back.
- Drive upward smoothly to return to a fully standing position.
- Walk forward until the bar contacts both rack uprights.
- Lower the bar into both hooks.
Form cues
- Brace your trunk before each descent.
- Keep pressure through your whole foot.
- Let your knees follow your toes.
- Keep your gaze fixed ahead.
Common mistakes
- Dropping through the bottomKeep your legs engaged through the change of direction instead of relaxing or bouncing out of the bottom.
- Hips shooting up firstRaise your chest and hips together so the squat does not turn into a forward bend.
- Forcing an upright torsoAllow a natural forward lean while keeping the bar balanced over the middle of your feet.
Safety
The slow descent increases fatigue, which can make your trunk collapse or leave you unable to stand. A failed repetition under a loaded bar can cause serious injury without correctly positioned safeties.
- Set the hooks just below shoulder height and the safety supports just below your bottom bar position; test both with an empty bar.
- Secure the plates with collars before lifting.
- Start substantially lighter than your regular squat load and increase weight gradually.
- End the set when you can no longer maintain the prescribed descent or a stable torso.
Choose a lighter goblet squat or seek advice from a physiotherapist if back, knee, shoulder, or wrist symptoms prevent a comfortable squat or bar position.
Muscles worked
Primary muscles
Secondary muscles
Equipment
- Barbell Collar
- Bumper Plate
- Knee Sleeves (optional)
- Lifting Belt (optional)
- Olympic Weightlifting Barbell
- Power Rack
- Rack Safety Supports
- Wrist Wraps (optional)
Sets and reps
- Sets
- 3–4
- Target
- 4–6 reps
- Rest
- 3 min
Finish each set with about two controlled repetitions left in reserve.