Lately I dropped the weight on my squats and decided to use weights under my heels because I heard it was an effective way to activate the hamstring area I started light and it felt much better. I was squatting 132 pounds when I found that the weight was not on my heels because it felt like my hamstrings simply could not cope with it so I was shifting the weight to my quads. Does this signify hamstring weakness and if so what steps should I take to increase the strength of my hamstrings
Dont elevate your heels.
Your whole body is weak, don’t try to find specific weaknesses, just focus on getting stronger overall.
You should already be doing plenty of hamstring work. Stuff like stiff leg deadlifts, glute ham raises, good mornings, and leg curla.
Obviously don’t do all of these in the same workout, just pick one.
Dont neglect your quads either. Stuff like lunges, leg presses, and step ups.
Also dont forget ab work. Things like weighted situps, side bends, leg raises, an the ab wheel are all great options.
But most importantly, you need to follow a proven program and eat a lot of good food. What program are you on now and what have you eaten today?
No offense man but if you squat approx 135 lbs your whole body’s weak
No plates under your feet just squat man on the ground flat for now you’ll reap more benefits
Follow the above posters advice
Tons of that plus lots of food= big strong legs
With my squats I’m also doing stiff leg deads. Not long ago I also was squatting 135.
Firstly I’m doing starting strength on a bulk and also surprisingly my deadlift is going up fast I pointed that out because isn’t the hamstring important to the deadlift? I’m using weights under my heels because of the fact that if I try and sit back into the squat I lose balance and fall back l
[quote]johnny123 wrote:
Firstly I’m doing starting strength on a bulk and also surprisingly my deadlift is going up fast I pointed that out because isn’t the hamstring important to the deadlift? I’m using weights under my heels because of the fact that if I try and sit back into the squat I lose balance and fall back l
[/quote]
Work on your form, flexibility and balance. Don’t raise your heels because you don’t have the balance.
Also stiff-leg deadlifts work your hamstrings much more than regular deads.
Elevating your heels makes the lift more quad dominant actually.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Elevating your heels makes the lift more quad dominant actually. [/quote]
I agree I’ve used it a lot and actually learned it from watch CT but at his strength level I think he might be better off just plain squating
Atleast IMO
Edit: my bad I saw what you meant
[quote]LoRez wrote:
[quote]johnny123 wrote:
Firstly I’m doing starting strength on a bulk and also surprisingly my deadlift is going up fast I pointed that out because isn’t the hamstring important to the deadlift? I’m using weights under my heels because of the fact that if I try and sit back into the squat I lose balance and fall back l
[/quote]
Work on your form, flexibility and balance. Don’t raise your heels because you don’t have the balance.
Also stiff-leg deadlifts work your hamstrings much more than regular deads.[/quote]
This x2…
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Elevating your heels makes the lift more quad dominant actually. [/quote]
and this.
Box Squats is always and option to help with glute and hamstring activation…But you can’t go wrong with StiffLeg DL’s. They’re a staple for me. One of my favorite exercises. When you get used to them, try them raised on a 3-4" platform. Try to lower the bar to your toes. The stretch is insane and give you a killer pump! You’ll feel your Hams for days…
[quote]EctoMorphosis wrote:
Box Squats is always and option to help with glute and hamstring activation…But you can’t go wrong with StiffLeg DL’s. They’re a staple for me. One of my favorite exercises. When you get used to them, try them raised on a 3-4" platform. Try to lower the bar to your toes. The stretch is insane and give you a killer pump! You’ll feel your Hams for days…[/quote]
Can you do that without rounding your back? On my good days I’m happy to just to get the bar off the floor with a straight back…depending on how warm my hams are. Some days with DBs it’s just not worth risking the stretch and I hold back on how low I go if things feel tight.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]EctoMorphosis wrote:
Box Squats is always and option to help with glute and hamstring activation…But you can’t go wrong with StiffLeg DL’s. They’re a staple for me. One of my favorite exercises. When you get used to them, try them raised on a 3-4" platform. Try to lower the bar to your toes. The stretch is insane and give you a killer pump! You’ll feel your Hams for days…[/quote]
Can you do that without rounding your back? On my good days I’m happy to just to get the bar off the floor with a straight back…depending on how warm my hams are. Some days with DBs it’s just not worth risking the stretch and I hold back on how low I go if things feel tight. [/quote]
Warm up with light pullthroughs really getting a good stretch in. Like at least 50 reps. Try it one day, you’ll be able to put your palms on the floor straight legged its crazy lol.
[quote]Chris87 wrote:
Dont elevate your heels.
Your whole body is weak, don’t try to find specific weaknesses, just focus on getting stronger overall.
You should already be doing plenty of hamstring work. Stuff like stiff leg deadlifts, glute ham raises, good mornings, and leg curla.
Obviously don’t do all of these in the same workout, just pick one.
Dont neglect your quads either. Stuff like lunges, leg presses, and step ups.
Also dont forget ab work. Things like weighted situps, side bends, leg raises, an the ab wheel are all great options.
But most importantly, you need to follow a proven program and eat a lot of good food. What program are you on now and what have you eaten today?[/quote]
This.
Box squats may help with learning to push through your heels. My girlfriend had the same problem when she started barbell squatting a few weeks ago. She spend 4 weeks parallel box squatting; sitting completely down on the box, then concentrating on pushing through her heels to stand back up. Now she’s back to free squatting and her form is great.
[quote]PlainPat wrote:
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]EctoMorphosis wrote:
Box Squats is always and option to help with glute and hamstring activation…But you can’t go wrong with StiffLeg DL’s. They’re a staple for me. One of my favorite exercises. When you get used to them, try them raised on a 3-4" platform. Try to lower the bar to your toes. The stretch is insane and give you a killer pump! You’ll feel your Hams for days…[/quote]
Can you do that without rounding your back? On my good days I’m happy to just to get the bar off the floor with a straight back…depending on how warm my hams are. Some days with DBs it’s just not worth risking the stretch and I hold back on how low I go if things feel tight. [/quote]
Warm up with light pullthroughs really getting a good stretch in. Like at least 50 reps. Try it one day, you’ll be able to put your palms on the floor straight legged its crazy lol. [/quote]
I do them at the end of my leg days when my hams are as warmed up as their gonna be…lol. I was blessed with very long femurs relative to everything else.
Going back to a PT to do some serious soft tissue work on my quads/hams/hip flexors/etc…maybe i’ll come out of it with some more ROM.