My New Squat PR, 315!

Training Powerlifting, Strength Sports
1

I just recorded that this morning.

It’s the first time I achieve to squat 315pounds, feels hella great.

I’m wondering how does my form look? I’m wondering if I go low enough to be called a ATG and I wanna know if I use my lower back too much? The angle is probably not the best but, comment as best as you can please.

I’ve been comparing my form with these 2 squatters, especially the first one.

His torso/back is so upright… I can’t seem to be finding any more videos of people squatting with a back that upright. Is it actually better? Thanks for the replies.

2

I would recommend a slightly wider stance but if that is the stance you prefer then do what you feel is most comfortable. I think you’re back comes forward a little bit more than desired, but other than that looked like good lifts to me.

3

You do understand that the Chinese “gent” isn’t a powerlifter. Hes a weightlifter. There’s a reason his form looks the way that it does.

^^ there’s a reason weight lifters go ass to grass. And why there backs are so upright. Because its specific to what there doing.

4

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
You do understand that the Chinese “gent” isn’t a powerlifter. Hes a weightlifter. There’s a reason his form looks the way that it does.

^^ there’s a reason weight lifters go ass to grass. And why there backs are so upright. Because its specific to what there doing.

[/quote]

Sadly, I don’t really know what the difference between Weightlifters and Powerlifters is. But either way, what you are saying is that I shouldn’t aim to be that upright?

5

[quote]JizzNibblets wrote:

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
You do understand that the Chinese “gent” isn’t a powerlifter. Hes a weightlifter. There’s a reason his form looks the way that it does.

^^ there’s a reason weight lifters go ass to grass. And why there backs are so upright. Because its specific to what there doing.

[/quote]

Sadly, I don’t really know what the difference between Weightlifters and Powerlifters is. ?[/quote]

Just forget that I said anything. ( as I slowly back out of the room)

6

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:

[quote]JizzNibblets wrote:

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
You do understand that the Chinese “gent” isn’t a powerlifter. Hes a weightlifter. There’s a reason his form looks the way that it does.

^^ there’s a reason weight lifters go ass to grass. And why there backs are so upright. Because its specific to what there doing.

[/quote]

Sadly, I don’t really know what the difference between Weightlifters and Powerlifters is. ?[/quote]

Just forget that I said anything. ( as I slowly back out of the room)[/quote]

Listen dude I never really put much though into it. I started hitting the gym and I got told to use SS program. I’ve watched a few videos to get the form down and just trained. I never though of myself as a bodybuilder, weightlifter or powerlifter. I just train.

Now, I just achieved something which I am proud of and I noticed a video which I had never seen before of people squatting with a much more upright stance than many other squatters. I didn’t know what the deal was so I asked here.

If I’m asking it’s obviously because I don’t know the answer, if you wanna help me fine, if you wanna be a dick, why even post?

7

Im not being a dick buddy. Its just alot of people ( myself included) are feed up, when the whole ass to grass thing gets brought up in the powerlifting forum .Its nothing personal against you. Which leads to some bullshit argument . As regards to your squat achievement I’ll be the first guy to slap you on your back and tell you good job. As to answer your question if your comfortable with your form and making gains stick with what your doing.

8

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
Im not being a dick buddy. Its just alot of people ( myself included) are feed up, when the whole ass to grass thing gets brought up in the powerlifting forum .against you. Which leads to some bullshit argument .Its nothing personal against you. As regards to your squat achievement, I’ll be the first guy to slap you on your back and tell you good job. As to answer your question if your comfortable with your form and making gains stick with what your doing.[/quote]

Well this is what you should have said in the first place.

I didn’t know that the term ass to grass was taboo. I’ve always heard that squats needed to be as deep as possible. Look at someone doing a partial squat, you’ll flame him in an instant saying he’s doing 1/4th of the motion. Watch someone go ‘‘ass to grass’’ and you’ll pat him in the back saying ‘‘nice depth!!’’. This is what I strive for.

I am far from comfortable when I have weight on my back and I need to squat down and up. Much less comfortable when I try to go as low as I can.

I don’t ask to be comfy, I ask to achieve things the right way. If you would of told me ‘’ your squats ain’t shit, not enough depth’’ and then give me pointers on how to perform better I would of been happier than your comment about leaving the room or whatever.

Right now with 3 plates on my back I might not feel it if my form isn’t as best as can be. However, I fear that if I keep going up with a fucked up form and end up with much more weight on me and I still do it wrong, then I might just injure myself hence why I ask questions and post videos.

I’m sorry I lashed at you, it’s just that I didn’t expect that kind of reaction just because I don’t know what the difference between a weightlifter and a powerlifter is, that was just uncalled for.

9

Congratulations on the squats. ATG is a term many people aren’t fond of. Your squats are plenty deep it seems from the video. Next time get a video from the side and form will be easier to look at. Your form looked good, I am a fan of a closer foot stance such as yours. The weight you lifted would most likely go up if you chose to go to a low bar squat position. Google it and you will see what I mean. Everything depends on your goals. For the average gym goer that is a good squat (form and weight). For a good powerlifter the weight is light. It all depends on what you are striving for.

If I saw you performing those squats at my gym with a high bar position, close foot, no belt, and going that deep I would think you are more legit than a guy belting up, low bar, super wide stance, hitting a quarter squat. Find out what your goals are and work towards them. From the video you aren’t risking any injury, just get your eyes up when you squat. Don’t look at yourself and if you have a habit of that then squat facing the opposite direction. I’m not a fan of mirrors but I lift competitively and you must face a crowd. Good luck on getting to your next goal.

10

[quote]jsmiley07 wrote:
Congratulations on the squats. ATG is a term many people aren’t fond of. Your squats are plenty deep it seems from the video. Next time get a video from the side and form will be easier to look at. Your form looked good, I am a fan of a closer foot stance such as yours. The weight you lifted would most likely go up if you chose to go to a low bar squat position. Google it and you will see what I mean. Everything depends on your goals. For the average gym goer that is a good squat (form and weight). For a good powerlifter the weight is light. It all depends on what you are striving for. If I saw you performing those squats at my gym with a high bar position, close foot, no belt, and going that deep I would think you are more legit than a guy belting up, low bar, super wide stance, hitting a quarter squat. Find out what your goals are and work towards them. From the video you aren’t risking any injury, just get your eyes up when you squat. Don’t look at yourself and if you have a habit of that then squat facing the opposite direction. I’m not a fan of mirrors but I lift competitively and you must face a crowd. Good luck on getting to your next goal.[/quote]

Thanks a lot for that. One last thing I forgot to mention, some guy told me that the speed at which I perform my set is way too slow, that performing a 5rm should take me anywhere near 20 to 30 seconds max while in the video I took almost up to 2minutes to complete the set. Is the speed at which I perform it that important? How does it factor in?

11

Wikipedia explains some of the differences between (Olympic) weightlifting and powerlifting well enough:
“In comparison with powerlifting which tests limit strength (with or without lifting aids), olympic weightlifting tests ballistic limits (explosive strength) with smaller weights, such that the lifts must be executed faster and with more mobility, because of a greater range of motion during the lifts. However, parts of the lift, especially in the clean and jerk, do test for absolute strength, as power is not an issue in executing that part of the lift.”

Olympic lifting does not use the squat itself as a competition lift. For the snatch in high level competition, dropping lower in the squat and maintaining an upright torso is necessary. In powerlift, the squat is itself a competition lift and regulations generally require some sort of breaking of parallel. Going lower does not help in competition, but is generally more difficult, so powerlifters tend to focus a lot on getting below parallel with (generally) less concern about getting as low as possible. There are, of course, many debates on the value of going lower, but you need not enter them and I make no claims either way. In any case, that hopefully gives you a clear enough idea of the distinction that was being pointed to between the two sports and why it would affect squat style.

12

Speed is important in my book. You are taxing your body and using energy every second you hold that weight on your back. That doesn’t mean to lift incorrectly and speed through a set but I would take less time at the top holding the weight. Take enought time to get set and a deep breath in, then squat.

13

The olympic lifters you linked squat that way as an assistance exercise for their snatches and clean & jerks. They’re not concerned with altering their form to squat the most weight possible, for them it’s more important to keep upright posture, a more narrow stance and squat as low as possible.

Powerlifters squat with a wider stance, they hold the bar in a more low-bar position (usually) and they only squat as low as they need to. Your form looked good in the video, but you shouldn’t wait so long inbetween reps. You shouldn’t really take more than a breath or two at the most inbetween reps. That was the only problem I really saw. If you’re squatting as heavy as you can, you’re not going to be that upright and have picture perfect form.

What are you lifting for? To lift the most possible weight, aesthetic reasons, to just get stronger? If you don’t have any desire to ever compete in powerlifting, your form is fine and keep doing what you’re doing. Honestly, I think that unless you do want to compete in powerlifting at some point, your form (olympic squat form) is pretty much ideal for the average gym-goer/lifter. Basically, keep it up by try to not take so long inbetween reps. If you’re taking that long inbetween reps, the set is over IMO. Anyway, good job.

14

I am not a wide-stance powerlifter, but I would still go a touch wider. When I began squatting, my narrow stance didn’t allow my hips to open up enough and squat down inside my legs. That’s one possible change that could be very minor and yet yield a big return-both in depth as well as in weight.

Your set took quite a while to complete. I agree that a faster set is better, for all the reasons mentioned already. Now, if just this max set is slow like this, then I can understand. It’s a max set and you’re taxing your body quite a bit.

When I get into heavier weights, I find that the longer I take to execute the set, the more likely I am to feel like I’m running out of air. Obviously, the more stress on my upper back and chest makes it more difficult to breathe and for a heavy set, that’s a bad thing.

Don’t sweat the ATG BS, just keep doing it. While most equipped lifters can barely get to depth with their loads, I feel it is much more important, and impressive to train into the hole like you are doing.

Basically, f*ck the haters.

15

[quote]GaWd wrote:
Don’t sweat the ATG BS, just keep doing it. While most equipped lifters can barely get to depth with their loads, I feel it is much more important, and impressive to train into the hole like you are doing. [/quote]

Personally, I think this is a much more natural ROM for the body to go through while squatting and thus, a safer way to squat. I think it should be the default way to squat for everyone who squats, except for powerlifters. If you just naturally squat down, you’re going to go through a full ROM with a more narrow stance. No one is going to just naturally take a wide stance, squat back and barely break parallel. That is a learned squat form and unnatural, used to squat the most weight possible. I have no problem with that form and utilize it when squatting heavy, but I do think it’s important to go through a full ROM with a more narrow stance as much as possible.

16

My bad no idea how I did that

17

[quote]JizzNibblets wrote:

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:

[quote]JizzNibblets wrote:

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
You do understand that the Chinese “gent” isn’t a powerlifter. Hes a weightlifter. There’s a reason his form looks the way that it does.

^^ there’s a reason weight lifters go ass to grass. And why there backs are so upright. Because its specific to what there doing.

[/quote]

Sadly, I don’t really know what the difference between Weightlifters and Powerlifters is. ?[/quote]

Just forget that I said anything. ( as I slowly back out of the room)[/quote]

Listen dude I never really put much though into it. I started hitting the gym and I got told to use SS program. I’ve watched a few videos to get the form down and just trained. I never though of myself as a bodybuilder, weightlifter or powerlifter. I just train.

Now, I just achieved something which I am proud of and I noticed a video which I had never seen before of people squatting with a much more upright stance than many other squatters. I didn’t know what the deal was so I asked here.

If I’m asking it’s obviously because I don’t know the answer, if you wanna help me fine, if you wanna be a dick, why even post?
[/quote]

You have to understand that you are in a powerlifting forum and when you said you don’t know the difference between powerlifting and weightlifting it is going to make everyone here that is reading think you might not know what you are talking about. You seem to get offended when you are offered constructive criticism, I don’t think he was being a dick at all, he was helping you, if you want to get offended it is your choice to feel that way but just don’t expect to powerlifters to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside everytime they respond to your posts. This seems to be a nice community as far as I can tell, but if you say something that sounds ignorant it will be treated as such. Congrats on the squats they look legit, like I said, you may be able to improve how much you lift with some slight adjustments but if that is working for you by all means do what works for you. everyone’s body is different. I’m new to these forums myself and have gotten a lot of positive feedback, just don’t come into this place lookin for a flame war and don’t get so defensive and you will get good answers to your questions.

18

[quote]yusef wrote:
Nice squat OP, good form.
To the people giving advice, what do you think of getting your powerlifting-style squat up, so that your oly-squat comes up by carryover? I assume it would be easier to do it that way around. The primary goal being to increase squat numbers, secondary goal olympic lifts.[/quote]

I wonder which one would be the best and have the most carryover, I’m sure a lot of it would depend on the person and what movement is more natural/easier to them. Someone who naturally squats narrow and ATG olympic style might benefit more from squatting powerlifting style, because when they come back to their original stance it will still be a natural movement and they’ll only have gotten stronger.

I believe people’s sumo deadlifts directly benefit from the conventional more than vice versa. A lot of people pull for PR’s the very first time they ever pull sumo (me included), but I don’t know of anyone that has ever pulled exclusively sumo and pulled for a PR the first time they went back to conventional. If that is any indicator, more narrow stanced olympic squatting would transfer better to wide stanced powerlifting squats than vice versa. It’s the same thing as a close grip bench press transferring over to a competition grip bench press. The logic being that lifting through a large range of motion and getting strong there will transfer over to a smaller range of motion. You’re hitting more muscles going through a bigger ROM, it makes sense to me.

I’m going to say that it would be better to squat more olympic squat (not quite to the extreme of the chinese oly lifters linked here) and then slowly work into a wider powerlifting squat as you approach a meet.

19

[quote]UrbanSavage wrote:

[quote]yusef wrote:
Nice squat OP, good form.
To the people giving advice, what do you think of getting your powerlifting-style squat up, so that your oly-squat comes up by carryover? I assume it would be easier to do it that way around. The primary goal being to increase squat numbers, secondary goal olympic lifts.[/quote]

I wonder which one would be the best and have the most carryover, I’m sure a lot of it would depend on the person and what movement is more natural/easier to them. Someone who naturally squats narrow and ATG olympic style might benefit more from squatting powerlifting style, because when they come back to their original stance it will still be a natural movement and they’ll only have gotten stronger.

I believe people’s sumo deadlifts directly benefit from the conventional more than vice versa. A lot of people pull for PR’s the very first time they ever pull sumo (me included), but I don’t know of anyone that has ever pulled exclusively sumo and pulled for a PR the first time they went back to conventional. If that is any indicator, more narrow stanced olympic squatting would transfer better to wide stanced powerlifting squats than vice versa. It’s the same thing as a close grip bench press transferring over to a competition grip bench press. The logic being that lifting through a large range of motion and getting strong there will transfer over to a smaller range of motion. You’re hitting more muscles going through a bigger ROM, it makes sense to me.

I’m going to say that it would be better to squat more olympic squat (not quite to the extreme of the chinese oly lifters linked here) and then slowly work into a wider powerlifting squat as you approach a meet.
[/quote]

I believe your entire post is conjecture and you’ve never tried switching squat stances.

20

I squatted olympic style (narrow stanced and ATG) for 2-3 years before I switched to wide stanced powerlifting style squatting, which I’ve been doing the last year.