I am so psyched about squatting 405lbs for 8 reps today. It is the most I have ever done and the thing is I don’t really train using a specific strength gaining protocol.
I just basically go in and do 4 sets of about 10,8,6,4 reps for the last 2 years or so. I’m wondering if this is a good number for someone who is 220 and 6’1". Now I gotta work on my problem with bench and deadlift, which are 285 and 405 for one rep maxes. Talk about an unbalanced strength.
[quote]DaBeard wrote:
I’m wondering if this is a good number for someone who is 220 and 6’1".[/quote]
haha, are you really ? =)
Its a good number.
Back when I could do 495x15 at 235, I was very sloppy in my descent and gathering power was pretty much non-existant.
My lowback strength and tightness was also LESS than it is today and I’m 10 years older.
I’ve seen utubes of guys benching 500 and it was “loose” and “sloppy” on the way down, lots of power “bled” out.
I didn’t realize how much tightness was when I was younger.
I guess I was saying, I was that guy too and could’ve been alot stronger at a younger age if I realized it.
I guess what I’m trying to say in short, is your doing good.
But I know you can do alot better, just like most can by gathering as much power on the way down.
If you are concerned about weight, footplacement is important. Widestance squats will give bigger numbers over narrow. Feet have to be pointed out some.
See I did my number with exact to shoulder width and feet pointed directly forward.
Another thing that is not going to hurt is doing front squats, or substiting out half of your back squat days for front squats. Saves the lower back over time.
Lowerback strenght, thru some non high school type lifts, such as good mornings, stiff leg deads, hyperextensions with weight, low back extension machine, etc.
Bar placement too, should be as low on the traps as possible. Many place it higher up a couple of inches even, and first it hurts more, second you have to work harder to stabilize the bar.
If you squat below parallel those numbers would be pretty good, but based on your deadlift 1RM it’s pretty likely that the squats were shallow.
It’s a great number if he’s hitting below parallel. If not, still really strong.
got a vid for form analysis? People could probably help you out.
and only 2 years lifting? WOW
Time to hammer that back!
If he doesn’t care about deadlifts, it is possible to post that squat number going to parallel. Many won’t go below, but even if he is at or very close to parallel, I think its a good number.
When he gets tightened up, his weight is going to jump up.
how low ya squattin’
First lemme clarify some things. I’ve been lifting steadily for the last 2 years, but total lifting age would be about 5 because I first started working out in high school for football. Im 23 now and stopped working out during undergrad and became a fat tub of lard.
As for the squats, I have never squatted less than below parallel for a single rep in my life since being shown the squat by my high school coach. I’m actually a Physical therapy doctoral student and the amount of stress that squats place on your knee ligaments when going only to above parallel is insane at the least.
As for deadlifts, I have no idea why I suck at them. I have an abnormally long torso for my body, and really short legs. Thanks for all the tips djrobins. I still have a hard time getting the bar really low on my traps. i think it’s because of weak low back extensors, but im not sure about that.
Could also be that my shoulder internal rotators are ridiculously tight. I do squat with a fairly wide stance with toes pointed out about 20 degrees i would say.
[quote]DaBeard wrote:
the amount of stress that squats place on your knee ligaments when going only to above parallel is insane at the least. [/quote]
I didn’t know they still taught that 
lol short legs and long upper body makes deadlifting easier, not harder
gj on the squats tho 
[quote]believedat wrote:
lol short legs and long upper body makes deadlifting easier, not harder
[/quote]
This, my friend, is complete horseshit…lol right back at ya.
Thank you for posting…really
dfreezy i don’t think you understood what I meant. If you stop before going to at least parallel, that will place a great amount of stress on your knee’s ligaments which is why i always go below parallel and have never had even the slightest of knee aches yet.
Secondly to believedat, I really do have relatively short legs as compared to my torso yet my squat is still way ahead of my deadlift. To Ramo, could you explain a little further what you mean about the deadlift and leg/torso ratio (not being sarcastic, I genuinely want to know).
bizarre…as you squat 125lbs more than me and deadlift 75lbs less than me…thats a pretty huge descrepency, are you SURE that you’re squatting to depth
i highly recommend post videos of squat and deadlift because one of the two lifts probably could benefit from form help, with that squat you should be able to squeeze out a fair bit more weight on the deadlifti’d guess
I will work on getting the video, although it will most likely be from my camera’s phone. Also, I’m pretty sure that the discrepancy may be in part due to the fact that I have only deadlifted for about a year and a half in total.
In high school we only did 4 lifts, bench, squat, push press and clean. I have about 3 years more experience with the squat as opposed to the deadlift. It could also be that I never really put that much intensity into the dl as I do squat because I genuinely enjoy squatting.
If this is gonna turn out to be a question of my depth, I could assure you before I even put up the video that I go to a minimum of parallel, and I have my partner (another PT student) check my form on each set. Boy, I’m never gonna hear the end of it from my classmates when they see me taping myself since I work out at school.
man and i thought i was king shit for hitting 275x9 in oly shoes at 5"10 195.
long way to go, long way to go.
funny thing is I’m easily the strongest squatter at my local ymca… its really sad
Disclaimer: I don’t believe ANY numbers I see on the internet unless there is a video to back it up.
Give this guy a break. Some of you must not have ever seen someone with a long torso and short legs squat. Based on what he has posted, none of this is unfathomable. I’ve seen guys with the same body type put up very similar numbers and ratios.
Tedro, is it normal for someone with a longer torso and shorter legs to have a better squat than deadlift? That would make me feel a little better.
Haha I am complete opposite of your bodytype. Long arms and legs and short torso. I finally got 5 plates on deadlift last Friday but my squat is stuck below 400.
[quote]Ramo wrote:
believedat wrote:
lol short legs and long upper body makes deadlifting easier, not harder
This, my friend, is complete horseshit…lol right back at ya.
Thank you for posting…really
[/quote]
short legs = shorter range of motion, most of the heavy lifters are quite short, u dont see many taller guys deadlifting 800+
before you post understand what you are saying, i realise you are 5’10 and probably insecure with your height and could have gotten offended,
understand im not saying tall guys cant deadlift, shorter ROM = easier, just like short arms and a big chest makes benching much easier too, but you are going to argue that too?
but there is science to back up what i said, stop making a fool out of yourself and go back to your corner, lol moron
brad gillingham…long limbs, short torso, 6’4…deadlifts in the high 800’s
lamar gant…freakishly short torso and long legs, pound for pound the greatest deadlifter of all time
andy bolton…over 6 feet tall, only man to ever pull over 1000 lbs.
bob peoples…about 6’0, 170, one of the first people (maybe the first) to pull over 700 pounds…very long arms and legs and short torso.
all the short, fat guys with big guts who can’t pull for shit, i.e. squat over a grand and pull 600.
Just curious, what do you pull?