Well i just started doing overhead squat. I have been having a problem going all the ay down, usually if i do my shoulders/arms go forward and i mess up. Other times i am just unable to go down all the way.
do you guys think i should just keep on doing it and try going down farther everytime or use the bar to warm up, then add light weight and just work on going lower.
i tried OH squats months ago and didn’t have the balance and lower body strength to go all the way down. i’m pretty much at a good rock bottom now (with just the bar, maybe some light weights,) by practicing and by getting my legs stronger with other things (deads, good mornings, bulgarian squats, etc.)
Apart from stretching out your shoulders, try your OH Squat with a sumo stance… that will let you keep your body more upright. As you get more flexible you can move your stance closer and closer.
Do it as a warmup to your main lift for a month or so. Get depth first I’d say. You don’t wanna mistakenly go below your depth with a heavy weight and end up dropping the bar on yourself.
i am just using the bar for a few, mainly high reps, then i upped to 15 lbs on each side, after that i relly noticed my whole body was amazing light, it felt really good. I wish i started doing these in the beggining.
It took me a few months of doing OHD Squats with the bar to get used to the bottom position. I found squatting to a chair at first helped. Eventually, I lowered the height of a box or chair until I hit rock bottom. After a year, I can use 145 lbs.
I brought my overhead squat up from struggling with the bar to getting 135 for 5 ATG reps. Still not great, but improving.
The biggest thing that helped me was frequency. I train 4 times per week and I OHS as part of my warmup every session. Two of the days I just go light for two sets of five, one is kind of “medium” and one day is a heavy day where I’m doing two legit work sets. I’ve found that doing the light sets and pausing at the bottom can quickly correct a lot of flaws. It’s still a fight with the bar everytime you go heavy though.
It’s also a good finish to a warmup as it truly is a total body exercise.
Here’s a good thread on OH squats. Plenty of info there:
Olympic weightlifters wear shoes that have a raised heel. Try elevating your heels on small weight plates or something or buy a pair of weightlifting shoes.