As you’ve noted these tests here don’t perfectly mimic what goes on in a back squat because with load on your back your centre of gravity / the barbell will be over your midfoot and your back angle will be such to keep the barbell going up and down in a straight line over that centre of gravity. They do give us some clues going forward.
The best test will be trying it out with a loaded bar. If slightly wider stance and lots of external rotation at the hips, open toe angle and knees out seems to allow for a comfy deep squat then start playing with it even if it’s just warm ups. Fair warning might take a while to get used to but being able to move well x long term consistency = gains so worth it.
e.g. I’ve recently transitioned to a wider stance squat in flat shoes (as opposed to heels). Took a while to develop the hip mobility and stability/strength to make it work but I like it. I’ve spent most of my lifting life in a narrow toes forward stance. So I can squat both ways without issue though narrow stance my ankle mobility is limiting and affects the whole chain so I use heels.
Again with pelvic tilt we’ll only know what’s up during actual squats. Tilt/wink can be a result of getting to the limits of your mobility which we are trying to suss out above. Could be ankle mobility but u are already using heeled shoes. Without actually seeing it yet in terms of what your pelvis is doing during a squat I think it’d be worth checking out your bracing. The pelvis is part of the torso’s bracing mechanism (the bottom part of your abdominal cavity kinda) so with a good brace the pelvis should be locked in neutral throughout the squat with very little movement throughout the ROM. Could help out depth wise also because proximal (relating to the torso/middle/midline) stability allows greater distal (away from the torso/midline) mobility i.e. if your torso is stiff/braced/locked in you’ll have access to greater hip ROM.
Even if bracing is on point given you may be experimenting with a variety of squat techniques it’s important to consistently execute effective bracing throughout.
Would there be value in recording my slow eccentric and paused squats? The load is lighter. If yes, what angle? Perfect side-view or 3/4 from the front?
I swear, if all the people complaining about grip training, upper back work and core work went climbing once a week, all their problems would vanish. No, I probably won’t take my own advice
That’s be interesting. A training week designed around sports but that’ll lead to a balanced physique. Climbing and gymnastics would be there (handstands → delts). Competitive tug-of-war would build quads and horizontal pulling.
If balance was as important as were sometimes lead to believe I feel like many athletes would be fucked. You throw with the same hand over and over (disc, put, javelin). Soccer players kick with their dominant foot. Guitar players aren’t really know for flipping the guitar over for balance (not an athlete, getting sidetracked)
I’m lead to believe that most top level athletes are in fact fucked in their own sport-specific ways.
I think we forget that people train in many different ways for many different goals and that longevity or balancing physiques aren’t necessarily on that list.
I have a friend that’s going to and this is his plan, he also dances twice weekly and climbs twice weekly. I think he’s doing too much but I didn’t ever run it more than a cycle so I don’t feel like I’m in the best position to judge,
I’ve done BBB a lot, especially with bench. Even I think that’s far too much, even without the extra climbing and dancing (I don’t know what kind of impact dancing has on his body, so I can’t comment there).
How responsive is he likely to be to feedback? Is this a case of giving him a more reasonable plan wholesale, making tweaks he can stomach or just wishing him luck and letting him fail his way?
Dips 4X a week? No hamstring/glute work? Not a big fan personally. But nothing is to 5/3/1 sets right? I prefer a higher frequency/lesser volume per session when someone has to do activities out of the gym. At least I prefer it, it’s easier to go train your sport or whatever when you don’t have a bodypart completely destroyed
I’d say you’re looking at a trainee that has consistently overdone volume and intensity but has had no problems eating for recovery and has progressed despite himself and that’s finally become amenable to sensible programming but is still a little stuck in old bad habits of over-stimulating and over-reaching themselves. I’ve asked him to start a thread now.
Looking back, I’ve been very lucky that my schedule hasn’t allowed me to train seriously more than twice a week for the most part, because some of the programs I’ve plowed through “because I could” would have been ill advised at best. 100 rep trap bar workout paired with widowmaker squats and BBB bench anyone? No? No takers?
I still fall into the same traps now, so I’m far from great at taking my own advice. My 2c is though, that’s too much to attempt even for me, and too unbalanced. He seems to be a fan of the all or nothing mentality from this distance so maybe try and move him towards a more set up where he absolutely rags the shit out of each muscle group but limits it to only once a week.
