I like the wider stance, but that may be because of my hip flexors. They don’t like narrow stances.
A strong core is important, get on that. Do it at home when you do your broomstick drills.
yei shoes!!! i gotta check back and read the last few pages, but i see shoes and vids! 
…i gotta get updated…:)!~
word! all caught up now–great vids! :)! congrats on the PR too!!
TRAINING:
SNATCH
stick work / position work
trying out a new setup for start position (instead of trying to tighten up and get under, getting under and then tightening up). hard to describe… will demo in next vids. i look silly because when i’m chillaxing in a squat it is kinda comfy for me to rest my knees in my armpits, heh. gotta watch the sweaty knee prints on my trackies.
positions a bit better… but still not doing everything i think i should.
drop snatches.
discovered that if you drop into a squat and beat the bar the bar will fall down a bit hard into your outstretched arms. ooh. that’d be why that one is a ‘warm-up exercise for low weights’. did a little hip drive and get under (a little like the vid deb posted). then onto:
catching the bounce.
not from the bar (yet!) but rebounding smoothly out the bottom of a squat / catch. part of why i get pinned in the catch is because i stop there. think ‘woo hoo, i caught it!’ and then deliberate for a couple seconds about whether i can be assed standing it up or not. i think you want to catch a little above your bottom position then smoothly decend and bounce up. somehow this gets co-ordinated with bendy bars and bouncing weights. eventually… managed to stand up a 37.5kg clean - pretty good for me - by not pausing in the catch. realized that my abs are weak and that while i can stand up more weight by bouncing a little my abs are going to crumple soon.
push-pressing up to 42.5kg.
tomorrow rest. things are cranky. cranky shoulders and elbows - need a few days off from overhead work (especially pressing but probably snatching weights, too). back is cranky (lumbar spine likes to do most of the work pressing out the max overheads). feet are cranky from a lot of functions work. i’m cranky because i didn’t take a rest day last week… got teaching tomorrow and a bunch of grading 
wah! next week should be a better training week…
I hope you feel better after your rest day, tomorrow is mine too. Yay us!
Always onward and upward in here. I really admire your drive to succeed. Sounds like your squat mechanics are coming along nicely.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Toe rehab FTW! I’m still working on my foot strength too, and gains come slowly.
I was shopping today and saw the New Balance Minimis Trail shoe:
http://www.shopnewbalance.com/newbalanceWT10GG.htm
It has a Vibram sole, but no toe pockets. Very interesting.
[/quote]
Just catching up. The OLY videos are so fun to watch. There’s so much to coordinate with those lifts. We don’t have OLY equipment in my gym so I’ve never seen it done in real life. I’ll admit that it’s a little scary!
It sounds like the toes on the Vibrams are helpful to you with your feet positioning.
About shoes - It looks like some other manufacturers are getting on the bandwagon. I’ve been looking at a pair made by Merrell. They are called the Pace Glove, and they describe them as having a “Vibram Tral Glove” sole but they don’t have the fingers. They’ve got a lace up and also a Mary Jane version. I may have to go over to REI and try them out. I’ve been going the sock route of late.
How does he do that?
I don’t understand
Pushing the knees out seems to make more sense.
I don’t get how the first two can sit back and not fall over backwards. Strong hip flexors? No earthly idea…
Ahh, a girl after my own heart who analyzes ad nauseum.
I agree with everything you’re saying. I’d like to see a vid of a woman doing the feet together drill. I think it’s largely impossible for most women because of the center of gravity issue. Unless the bulk of your weight is in your chest and shoulders, you will fall backwards at a certain point (parallel?). I tried the wide-stance ones and can do them. But, again, I only see benefit in doing these for really wide-stance PLers who are having problems with GMing the bar on the way up.
If anyone can do these narrow-stance ones (feet nearly together, toes pointed forward), I wanna see a vid!
Carl, perhaps?
Don’t think I can do it without falling backwards. I’ll give it a try after classes today and let you know.
Alexus, with the amount of thought and effort you put into this, you are eventually going to be pretty damn good at this stuff.
i’ll be very interested to see what Carl can do - but he isn’t a girl. I couldn’t find a vid of any girls doing those narrow stance facing the wall squats (admittedly they are both CRAZY narrow). Had a hard time finding a vid of a girl doing one more like the boy, too (knees out, maintain lumbar arch, hit depth). I’m gonna try today with my Oly shoes on to see if that makes some kind of difference…
But then… If it is because the center of gravity is higher vs lower in guys and girls then that would be rectified by holding a weight?
Alexus, with the amount of thought and effort you put into this, you are eventually going to be pretty damn good at this stuff.
Aw, thanks Carl. I kinda suspect that I only put the thought into this stuff because I really do suck, though. Gets me thinking ‘why the frig can’t I do this right!? what is it that I’m not getting?!’ If it came easy to me I wouldn’t have to ask those questions.
If I didn’t suck…
Well, then, I might well get sick of it.
[quote]alexus wrote:
Aw, thanks Carl. I kinda suspect that I only put the thought into this stuff because I really do suck, though. Gets me thinking ‘why the frig can’t I do this right!? what is it that I’m not getting?!’ If it came easy to me I wouldn’t have to ask those questions.
If I didn’t suck…
Well, then, I might well get sick of it.
[/quote]
HAHAH! I freaking <3 you, Alexus. You don’t suck, you rock!
Plus I mooch off your log for info…so yeah…don’t stop overachieving! (for my sake)
I’m going to try these narrow-stance wall squats too. Altho I also don’t see how they might help us in terms of Oly lifts…i’ll wait for you to inform me 
A much deserved rest day, I say! Excellent training m’lady.
Couldn’t do it. I need to put my toes about 6 inches from the wall to get down into a full squat. With my toes right up against the wall, I fall backwards before I get down to parallel.
[quote]alexus wrote:
Aw, thanks Carl. I kinda suspect that I only put the thought into this stuff because I really do suck, though. Gets me thinking ‘why the frig can’t I do this right!? what is it that I’m not getting?!’ If it came easy to me I wouldn’t have to ask those questions.
If I didn’t suck…
Well, then, I might well get sick of it.
[/quote]
I don’t believe that for a second. I’m past the point where I think I suck at this stuff, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. I still (after about 39 years) spend a good amount of time thinking about it. There’s always something new to try out that might work better. I suspect you are the same.
By the way, I don’t think you suck at it either, and you are doing what you need to to improve.
aw, thanks for the kind words guys. i guess you don’t have to think you suck in order to have a drive to improve. it works for me, though, so i’m sticking to it :-p
in my Oly shoes (twice usual Oly shoe heel raise) I can do a knees together and ankles together squat if my arms are reached out in front of me. if i put them behind me i fall on my ass. if i stand (in addition to the shoes) on heel plates about 1.5cm high i can do it with my arms behind me. i think my torso was upright enough for me to clear the imaginary wall. lose lumbar arch at the bottom. if i held lumbar arch it would have pulled my shoulders back and i would have fallen on my ass.
no idea why the heel raise makes such a difference. i think it shifts my balance forwards somehow, but i don’t really understand.
in my Oly shoes i can do an wall squat with feet just outside shoulder width, toes turned out slightly (like the boy but ATG) with a broomstick overhead in a snatch grip. realized that even with my magic shoes my knees seem incapable of coming much in front of my toes - so wall squats are perfect for me!!! they encourage me to push my knees out hard, keep my torso upright (as I should) and maintain a hard lumbar arch. i can’t sit my butt back, though, or i’d fall over. the knack seemed to be more about pushing the knees out hard (opening the hips) rather than sitting back…
without my Oly shoes i can’t break parallel unless i’m sumo wide.
probably can’t get vids until tuesday… but i will…
i think i’m a bit obsessed with how everyone squats different.
[quote]Carl Darby wrote:
Couldn’t do it. I need to put my toes about 6 inches from the wall to get down into a full squat. With my toes right up against the wall, I fall backwards before I get down to parallel.
[/quote]
what about with your Oly shoes on? the people in the vids seem to give themselves a couple inches distance from the wall, too.
Unless I was doing it wrong I could do the knees together thing, but not if I keep my hands behind my back at the bottom. I had to start at the bottom and go up and then I could go up and down a couple of times. With my arms overhead was a bit easier than the first one but it was tricky at the bottom too.
What are the wall squats supposed to help with?
Alexus, I still have no shoes. Grrr ordered them almost 3 weeks ago.
You definitely don’t suck!! I’m learning so much from your log. More from Donny Shankles blog, mostly the last two lines I took comfort in 
“After the ‘break’ the weightlifter pushes the knees back in putting the body into a position to jump. The weight has shifted again from the heel to the center of the feet. The arms are relaxed still as the weightlifter is positioning him or herself for the final command during the pull. This setup to the ‘finish’ while important is something the weightlifter must learn to find on their own over time in their training. Do not be frustrated if this takes a while. You will eventually get it, I promise.”
that is interesting deb, because your ankle dorsiflexion is PHENOMENAL. with the stance you usually have for Oly lifting squatting… can you set up with your toes about an inch back from the wall and get ATG with arms overhead in about a snatch grip?
i guess i’m thinking you would fall on your ass since the wall will be in the way of your knees so you would need a wider stance. but maybe i’m wrong…
[quote]alexus wrote:
that is interesting deb, because your ankle dorsiflexion is PHENOMENAL. with the stance you usually have for Oly lifting squatting… can you set up with your toes about an inch back from the wall and get ATG with arms overhead in about a snatch grip?
i guess i’m thinking you would fall on your ass since the wall will be in the way of your knees so you would need a wider stance. but maybe i’m wrong…[/quote]
I’ll give it a try! I think you’re right. I’ll try it with my broom stick.
I can do it but my centre of gravity is shifted and it’s not good squat form.
Edit: I took video. I don’t think that’s a good exercise the way I’m doing it. My back is rounding–it feels very wrong to do it!
wall squats are taking over the world!!