I’ve always had an issue with squats and deadlifts have always came a lot easier to me. My max deadlift right now is 455 and my squat is at 205. I know deadlifts are normally higher but this difference seems extreme to me. Everyone I train with says my form for the squat is good and I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong, or if there’s an accessory work to my squat that I should be doing that don’t include the muscles I use when deadlifting. When I max on squats I always get stuck at the bottom and I do high bar squats for olympic lifting. Does anyone have any idea to improve squats?
Maybe you’re a deadlift god destined to break WRs but considering your tone I’m guessing its your squat lagging not your deadlift being godly.
Not always. Depends on lots of things e.g. SHW squats are usually > deadlift.
Post a formcheck just in case.
If you’re looking for a muscle group to hammer hard / blame maybe quads. You got some big quads on you or nah?
Saying you get stuck out the bottom isn’t really much info tbh. Does your form break down at all ? Where/how e.g. getting bent the fuck over? Or is it like your positioning is perfect but you hit the hole bounce out and don’t have enough speed/grinding power to get through the sticking point? Better yet post a vid of a failed rep.
No secret formula mane soz.
Look at your programming, form/technique, weaknesses, assistance work to address weaknesses e.g. pause squats, hypertrophy/size/bodyweight in relevant muscle groups and identify where you are lacking.
post videos
Thanks for the info, positioning is good at the bottom I usually end up just sitting at the bottom trying to stand back up but I don’t have the strength or speed to get up but it doesn’t even feel heavy. I’ll work on getting a video this week.
How long have you been lifting and did you start squatting recently or did you start deadlift and squatting the same time
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About 1 and a half years excluding summer breaks, I do olympic lifting so I figured that all the pulls from the floor me be part of why my deadlift is higher but it seems like a huge difference. I do back squats maybe once a week and deadlifts once every other week in my programs on average.
Well, squat more.
also post form
In addition to what’s been said above, some pretty significant differences can come from certain build types.
I have a friend who has a pretty ridiculouly short torso, but long legs and arms. The short torso with long arms means hsi deadlift leverage is insane, and can straight leg deadlift more than I can pull.
However the long legs mean he cant squat for shit. he has something like 120kg between his squat and dead-lift.
He is an extreme though and that’s not to say you or he couldn’t bring up your respective squats significantly with dedication and correct programming.
post a vid
If you’re not specifically training either lift, I am not surprised that your deadlift is a good bit higher. Even putting aside things like your leverages, most fairly-athletic people with relatively little background performing the specific lifts are going to deadlift a lot more than they squat for a while. It takes awhile to build a really BIG deadlift, but the movement is so intuitive that people with some physical background of any kind can usually manage a decent number after a little bit of focused training. Building the squat seems to take more focused work on actually squatting.
My dad took up powerlifting in his late 30’s. He deadlift into the mid-400’s before he first squatted 225.
I started lifting after a long layoff from barbell training around age 30. Even with pretty modest training - no dedicated program or specialized assistance other than “doing some deadlifts” - it only took a few months to deadlift 405.
What is bizarre, IMO, is that you claim to be doing mostly Olympic lifting. It’s rare for someone that trains Olympic lifts to squat infrequently, and even if you’re not actually squatting more than once a week, you’re basically doing a squat movement every time you snatch or clean.
Out of curiousity: are you coached? Do you have any specific or significant goals, i.e. competition or numbers you want to hit?
(Don’t get squigged out by the questions: there isn’t a right or wrong answer - will help people answer if they understand whether you are seeking a SOLUTION to this or if you’re merely curious)
I think you’re right about this. I know a guy who doesn’t even lift weights at all, he might go to the gym for fun a couple times a year. Some bodybuilding guy showed him how to deadlift and he pulled 405x3 his first time. I don’t think he has ever squatted.
Maybe it’s about genetics. If your quads are too long and hams are short, it’s normal. But ofc you can improve your squat. You can widen your stance maybe for more hamstring and glute activation?
Curved femurs?
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Great first post.
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I think he means about where the muscle inserts/originates. Same force production in any case but more torque generated if the lever is longer. Like a force applied to open a door near the hinge vs at the door knob. Comprises part of strength “genetics”
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Except it would be the other way around no? e.g. If the bicep femoris attachment is further along then you reduce the effect on the moment arm, needing less force to contract. ‘long’ and ‘short’ don’t cut it either way.
I have no idea what we are talking about
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Your gifgame is strong, young padawan.
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Pretty sure his account was hacked by @khangles
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videos are necessary for this conversation to be furthered.
@Pinkylifting and @chris_ottawa
Soon I shall get the rank of GIF Master and ascend the GIF dump High Council overthrow @khangles and the Sith shall rule the galaxy once more. I think that’s how the new Star Wars movie goes like more or less.