In theory they wont force you into a particular style, they just give you more options by removing dorsiflextion as the limiting factor in more knee forward squat patterns.
Its a good thing if:
1- they help you hit parallel when you otherwise couldnt in your strongest squat pattern, that’s a good thing
2- Help you squat in a pattern you otherwise couldnt in which you are stronger, or have more potential to progress
3- Help you squat in any pattern you want to train with less pain than flats
If you aren’t dorsiflex limited, and are hip dominant, they will likely not make much difference other than taking some time to get used to.
I squat more with heels when I squat low bar. When I squat high bar they actually throw me off because of the variability in bar path where with flats im only flexible enough for one bar path on the way down, so less chance of a ‘misgroove’
mechanically speaking if youre squatting hip dominant anyway the heels shouldnt change your hip angle in the hole at all, so its likely when you’re squatting with flats you’re actually using a slightly different pattern.
Thank you, I have a high bar goal to aspire to first but I have a slot in my week where I can do squats in flat soles after attaining that goal. Will prod and see if that’d be beneficial for me after acclimatisation.
How much rest are you putting between rounds here? I want to start running but am heavy (210 @ 5’ 9" ish) and have a long history of being a shithead about most things conditioning.
I just (slowly) walked 200m in between rounds. I care slightly more about my performance on each repeat here rather than beating myself to a pulp, so I give myself more time to recover than needed. But I could see how this could be a good conditioning piece as well by restricting rest periods.
One of Dan John’s recommendation for a nasty workout is to do 3x400m repeats – over the course of 1.5 hours. If you truly put everything into it, you’ll definitely feel it the next day.
Also, I feel that doing hard runs like this, though they aren’t sprints, is a bit riskier for some people than other conditioning modalities. I think it would be better beat up oneself on the Assault bike, a hill, or a Prowler/sled.
If going above 85-90% effort, you’re completely right. If I keep it in the range I mentioned I usually do OK though. Been doing 6 100-150 meter hill sprints as conditioning but would like to do a little longer effort if possible. I have a 300m hill but anything more than 1-2 times leaves me dead for a few days.
Don’t run to get fit, get fit to run. If running is new to you and you don’t plan to stay that heavy wait until you are less heavy. If that’s the weight you are going to be at I guess it’d be prudent to ask if
Means that you want to start running intervals or start running at all. If it’s the latter there’s a whole lot of progression that precedes 200m runs for time.
Agreed - I’m in the purgatory between fit enough to run and good at running - sorry for mis-speaking in my initial post. I’ve always alternated sprints into my conditioning plan but always chickened out on doing more than my shorter hill sprints. I’d love to get down around 190 or so but I think 195-200 is more realistic so I can’t justify not running at this weight. More than anything I guess I was taking inspiration from @Bagsy to try and stretch to distances longer than 100-150 meters.
@simo74 gave me a great running progression. In the end I ended up doing something else, which was jog on all short commutes (to the gym, grocery store, nearby neighbours). You can check my log. I have no business telling anyone how to build up to any intervals while running I always end up going too fast too quickly and hurting myself
You seem to have this stuff pretty figured out, I’m not quite sure why I keep coming here pretending I’m going to be able to help, you’re far smarter at this stuff than me.
@garagerocker13 A 300m hill? I presume it’s not super steep then? If you just keep gradually building up the volume, you’ll get better at running hills. But building a base could help you as well, like 30 minutes on an Airdyne or something if you feel you’re generally in poor shape.
I’m possibly giving terrible advice because I’ve never suffered much with conditioning… I’ve done too much of it in my life. I played tons of soccer for a decade and dabbled in distance running on the side. Growing up I remember on one of my teams we would condition 5 days/week for 2 weeks, twice per year, and it was brutal. Running sled hills, stairs, and zigzag trails. It was definitely overkill, but our team was always in superior shape. Thankfully once I got on increasingly better teams, we didn’t do this insane conditioning!
Do you experience pain when running, or do you simply suspect running will be painful because of your weight? I think what you should do will depend on the answer to that question.
@dagill2 Knowing things and doing things are very different from each other. For example, I’m pretty sure in order to make any progress on my lifts, I need to spend longer than 2-3 months in a calorie surplus to actually build some muscle. So, I think having a log will give people the opportunity to urge me to not chicken out things like that. And I honestly think I would have kept ignoring my glaring form issues on the squat if I didn’t receive overwhelming commentary that I maybe shouldn’t do that.
For a hill in general it’s not too bad, but for a hill of that length it’s pretty rough. I’ll get a picture sometime soon.
I don’t think I’m in too bad of shape, my issue is more along the lines of back/knee pain when I do run - especially with longer distances. I ran a 5k in 2018 and could barely walk for a few days after.
The hill I use is quite steep but also quite short. I’ve never timed it, but I reckon each rep only lasts 30ish seconds. I could crank out many more rounds than I currently do if I weren’t inhibited by leg strength…
Well, running on flat ground, especially if on concrete, will be harder on your joints than many other conditioning modalities. And that might not even be solely attributed to your weight. Poor form, choice of running surface, bad shoes, not easing into it… I bet those are factors as well. And if you think 5k is long distance, AND that’s a once in a blue moon activity for you, then yeah, you’ll probably be hurting for a bit.
Though you’re nowhere near as heavy as he once was, your discomfort sorta reminds me of David Goggins. I think he was 300 pounds and started by essentially forcing himself to go run every day – only < 1 mile or so at first – despite hating how it made his ego and body feel. I’m not saying to go run every day, but if you want your body to acclimate to the stress of running a bit, then maybe try to be a bit consistent with it. Try running some distance a half mile or so once or twice per week, and experiment with some of those variables. Maybe your weight is not the only factor.
Yeah, have seen it before. Like I said, I don’t expect to make progress in a caloric deficit. I fight to maintain strength. But I think if I push the fat loss for a little bit longer, I’ll be that much more encouraged to not chicken out of gaining weight consistently for 5-6ish months when it comes to an end.
In undergrad my sleep suffered, so that also played a role in spinning my wheels. But since then it’s been much better, though presently I don’t sleep as much in a deficit simply because my body doesn’t let me.
