I do 2x5 warm ups with weights and increase it by 20 lbs to hit my work sets which are 3x5.
I don’t know if this is a problem or not but I seem to be having a LOT of trouble squatting past the 185 lbs. My ass seems to shoot up much quicker then the rest of my body and I do what seems to be a good morning on my last sets. I squat almost ATG and below parallel.
I think I will have to do a second deload of about 20% and work it back up, but is this kind of issue normal? Is it possible my quads are just weaklings? I’d appreciate all kinds of advice and let me know what you think of my progress.
I would suggest using a box. get a box that if you squatted down it, it would be just below parallel. Squat down to it and load your spine. Focus on staying back on your heels and pushing with the glutes. that’s where you want your squat power coming from.
You’ll probably have to decrease weight to get the form down. From what i gather your squat form is poor. You should not be doing a good morning as you come up.
[quote]thekrown wrote:
How is it the glutes drive the squat when the exercise itself works the quads?[/quote]
It greatly depends on how you squat but the glutes are a major player in the squat. I get nothing but sore glutes, hamstrings and adductors after back squatting, nothing in the quads.
It greatly depends on how you squat but the glutes are a major player in the squat. I get nothing but sore glutes, hamstrings and adductors after back squatting, nothing in the quads.[/quote]
Same thing here, although it’s less hamstrings than that muscle right above your ass-crack? How do you squat, with a relatively wide stance?
I thought quads were used during a squat, how is it that glutes are the main force and yet the exercise develops the quads?
As for my stance, I’ve tried several actually. While it is easier squatting in wide stance I don’t believe that it is as good as a shoulder-width stance for quad develop based off what I read. I’ve also tried from 45 degree to say 10 degree foot angle and still haven’t found a way to fix my issue.
There are really two ways to squat, there is a powerlifting way to squat (hams, glutes, hips) this is where you build the big weights and posterior chain. This is best done through box squatting and really sticking your ass out and sitting back on the box and is basically a leg curl off the box. Then there is a bodybuilding type of squat that hits the quads where you don’t stay back on your heals as much.
If you are a 185 squatter and dead 265 I would work on getting as strong as you can, forget your quads unless you are going into bodybuilding. Hit the glute-ham machine and if you are lucky enough to have a reverse hyper live on that thing. It’s very rare to see someone who is not quad dominate unless they are an elite level powerlifter or world class sprinter.
Also, if I were you, lose the deload. Don’t worry about it. Don’t max out everday cuz it will smoke your CNS, but if I were you I’d stay balls to the walls.
Your numbers are similar to mine. And I know damn well I squat more with my posterior chain than my quads.
You say your depth is good. My advice, in the vein of box squatting, is to focus on sitting back. Focus on ‘sitting back’, and then try to get out of the hole as fast as possible.
[quote]mmclifter wrote:
There are really two ways to squat, there is a powerlifting way to squat (hams, glutes, hips) this is where you build the big weights and posterior chain. This is best done through box squatting and really sticking your ass out and sitting back on the box and is basically a leg curl off the box. Then there is a bodybuilding type of squat that hits the quads where you don’t stay back on your heals as much.
If you are a 185 squatter and dead 265 I would work on getting as strong as you can, forget your quads unless you are going into bodybuilding. Hit the glute-ham machine and if you are lucky enough to have a reverse hyper live on that thing. It’s very rare to see someone who is not quad dominate unless they are an elite level powerlifter or world class sprinter.
Also, if I were you, lose the deload. Don’t worry about it. Don’t max out everday cuz it will smoke your CNS, but if I were you I’d stay balls to the walls.[/quote]
I was thinking of moving on to the next phase called periodization or something where I do 100% on monday, 70% of that weight on wednesday and then somewhere in between for friday. I would do this for the squat and dead lift.
I’m not sure what to do on the others though, they maxed out like 4 months ago. Bench is stuck at 135, row is slowing down but I’m at 135 now, press stuck at 85 for a while but I somehow pulled off 90 monday.
Also, about ignoring the quads… wouldn’t this make my back leg very large and front rather small if I do so? I’d like to remain somewhat proportionate. I actually love the dead lift and was wondering if I could design a program revolving around that lift.
I plain to remain around 180-185 lbs and maintain that weight. So I don’t need to bulk anymore as far as I know, just build around my frame.
What did you mean by forget the quads unless I’m into bodybuilding?
[quote]colonelquack wrote:
Your numbers are similar to mine. And I know damn well I squat more with my posterior chain than my quads.
You say your depth is good. My advice, in the vein of box squatting, is to focus on sitting back. Focus on ‘sitting back’, and then try to get out of the hole as fast as possible.[/quote]
I can squat with a wide stance with less difficulty as well. I heard it hit your hams more than your quads and I was under the impression that a squat was used in order to develop the quads. I just thought I was squatting wrong.
[quote]thekrown wrote:
What did you mean by forget the quads unless I’m into bodybuilding?[/quote]
Basically, bodybuilders use exercises to develop muscle hypertrophy. On the other hand, a strict powerlifter uses exercises to become really fucking strong. It’s two extremes.
It doesn’t mean ‘neglect’ your quads. It just means that they’re another link in the chain. If “weak quads” hold back a squat, then naturally you’d work on them. It’s the difference between making a muscle stronger so you can lift more, and lifting more so you can make a muscle bigger. Simplified, of course.
[quote]DragnCarry wrote:
Check out the Squat RX series on YouTube, it discussed how to fix the Good Morning out of the hole (using Good Mornings mostly, actually!)
Personally, I found a focus on improving my Front Squat fixed this problem for me and added a LOT of weight to my back squat.[/quote]
Front squats have done amazing things for my squat too, my quads were always the weakest link my squat too
For me, and a lot of other people, quads seem to grow pretty easily even when they are not the prime mover in the lift.
It is extraordinarily rare for someone to have disproportionately large hamstrings. It’s really not something to worry about. If it did happen, and you would worry about that IF it happened, not before, then Front Squats would soon fix the problem for you.
[quote]thekrown wrote:
I thought quads were used during a squat, how is it that glutes are the main force and yet the exercise develops the quads?
As for my stance, I’ve tried several actually. While it is easier squatting in wide stance I don’t believe that it is as good as a shoulder-width stance for quad develop based off what I read. I’ve also tried from 45 degree to say 10 degree foot angle and still haven’t found a way to fix my issue.[/quote]
Every hip and knee flexor is used during the squat.
What are your issues? Give front squats a try if you don’t use them already.
I got it guys, I lowered the weight again and boosted the reps to 10.
I really felt my ass take control of the boat after the 5th rep.
I think the problem was no WARMING UP properly because man once my ass (read: hips) took control of the steering wheel I shot up like michelangelo in ninja turtles when he hears pizza.