[quote]clanduncan wrote:
overhead squats are a waste of time. only competeing power lifters need do that movement. [/quote]
Actually, I don’t know many, if any Powerlifters that overhead squat. However, Weightlifters commonly use this exercise.
Give it a shot, use your regular squat stance on these. See how it will improve your squat positioning and overhead support strength.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
You have to start so light that you may feel you look like a weenie. When you do get up to your “heavy” weights you still aren’t heavy. All in all if this is you then you need a home gym.
[/quote]
There is nothing wrong with this. It’s not important what weight you start with, but what you end with. I have seen clips of world champion OLers start their workouts with warmups using just the bar.
[quote]rockytop8888 wrote:
Hey all,
Just started OH squats and it seems they screwed my knee up. Anyone else have this problem? I’m not real flexible, so maybe my posture on the way down is compromised somehow. Any suggestions?
[/quote]
Firstly, you might want to re-post this in Mike Robertson’s Locker room - they guy’s a wizard on all-things flexibility related, and his “second-guess” at what you did, and more importantly what you could do will be better than mine.
But here’s mine anyway: 
I find I can actually squat down further in an OH squat than in a regular back squat. It certainly feels like my legs squeeze together a bit more anyway. So it might be that you have actually hurt your knees because you made them go through a fuller range of motion under load than they are used to. If so, let it rest and perhaps try again with a broomstick (i.e. no weight, but holding the right posture), so you can gradually work the range of motion and encourage better overall flexibility.
I also suggest you keep trying OH squats if you can. They are a good exercise, whether you powerlift or coffee-cup lift.
I hope your knee recovers with no long-term effects.
WiZ
When I first started them I had a lot of calf pain until I dialled in the flexibility. Advantages to having done them (for me) is greater flexibility, less back pain when driving long journeys or sitting still for too long, increased shoulder girdle strength and some mass gains.
I started serious lifting 3 1/2 years ago when I was 39. Today I’m in the best shape that I’ve ever been in my life. I am recreational lifter – not a competetive power lifter.
I have found OH squats to be an excellent exercise for the following reasons:
- They improve true “core” strength. I’ve seen big improvements in my abdominal and back stregth.
- They are a total-body exercise: back, arms, legs.
- They improve your overall balance and flexiblity.
That being said, OH squats are an exceptionally challenging exercise. Anyone starting this excercise needs to begin with very low weight and work up. The necessary back and leg flexibility to perform this excercise is surprising.
To the original post – I’ve started slowly and have never had any issues with my knees.
cruncher
[quote]clanduncan wrote:
Well since we are in the over 35 section i am taking a guess that the one asking is over 35. People over 35 need not be doing an excercise that is useless unless you are going to be a competeing power lifter or olympic athlete. [/quote]
Hey, over 35s need posture and flexibility training just as much as the young’uns do, and maybe more so.
http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2AFXVM8A2OGQA2M1WPUAIACTWU
Just thought I would throw in this vid of me OHS with a jerk grip. It is only 95lbs though.
[quote]PlateStacker45 wrote:
clanduncan wrote:
overhead squats are a waste of time. only competeing power lifters need do that movement.
I strongly second that
[/quote]
lol…wow
maybe you hate them cuz you SUCK AT THEM…
Alot of problems have to be addressed before most people can overhead squat properly… Muscle imbalances and tightness in certain areas that can worked around in many other lifts are exposed doing overhead squats. Many people will say that they are worthless because you cant do the amont of weight needed to develop hypertrophy of the bigger muscles of the legs. However, if you can do overhead squats well or learn to do them well, you should have excellent core strength and functional posture.
Now maybe that is not your goal, but I would say that someone that has no debilitating injuries and can hardly front squat at all might want to work on certain things. Overall midsection weakness is readily apparent during most poor overhead squats. So they can be a good tool to evaluate your body, like in a functional movement screen, and show you what you need to work on, not show you that you necessarily have to work on overhead squats…
I love the lift and I think that they have a lot of value. I have some ideas on my site
Go to the old stuff…
My link above should work now.
The following has been mentioned before or alluded to but specifically it might be that…
A) Your knees aren’t tracking over your toes when you’re executing the movement. Your knees should go over the second toe but may tend to ‘dip in’ at the start of the push.
b) You’re going down further than normal under load (mentioned before) - this may lead to your hams bouncing off your lower leg ? basically using them as a break - which adds to stress on the knee. Take the decent slow if this is the case. It may just be the greater range of movement aggravating some ‘squatter?s knee’ type problem.
Interestingly, whilst I like them (and do them most weeks) I was talking to a gent the other night who I understand is a founder member of the British Weight Lifting Assoc who has been lifting since the 50’s and he said they were popular a while back but it was seen by many groups (Euro, east Euro and Soviet coaches) that they interfered with the breathing to much but that their use was exported to the States (with returning coaches who had come over to see training practices) where they have remained in use.
He is coming from the point of view of a competitive coach for the SPORT, not looking at the general conditioning uses.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt seeing as he was there at the time and has been lifting since my father was in a school cap!
Get some goddamn high heeled shoes if you want to OH squat properly (or any other olympic lifting related movements).
This way you will be able to keep the perfect position while keeping your legs closer which in return gives you more strenght and use less your hips and more your hamstrings and glutes.
Have a nice day.
I’m 45 and recently discovered this exercise. I’ve never had any exercise have a more dramatic impact on my entire body. And I’d have to say that because of the nature of the problems it addresses like flexibility/muscle-imbalances etc. which are classic problems which plague us “older” athletes that overhead squats are even MORE beneficial as you get older!
It took me 3-4 months to even get to the point where I could do 95 lbs in good form. Getting to that weight alone in good form made some radical differences in my body. Working on these has improved my flexibility, core strength, balance, and very noticably my posture.
It has largely fixed nagging issues I’ve had with both my lower and upper back as it strengthens midback low/mid trapezius in such a way that targetted exercises for these areas never have for me. A stronger lower/middle trapezius sorts out so many muscle imbalances created in the upper body by more traditional weight training movements.
It truly makes the upper and lower body work structurally together like no other exercise. I wish I knew about this exercise when I was younger while playing competitive sports! It’s definitely a difference maker!
-Pete
I just started doing OHS for the first time today and really enjoyed the challenge. Today I did 95x12, 115x12, and 125x12 solid, and when I finished I noticed some things that could become and issue once I start using heavy loads. Mainly, what have you guys found to be the best way to set yourself up for this exercise? The options I see are: a)rack the weight high, as if you were doing front squats, walk it out, then push press it up into the start position
b)rack the weight at thigh height, walk it out, then hang clean followed by a push press into the starting position.
I am assuming that the best grip to use for this exercise is a snatch grip, correct?
Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
This may already be obvious to you, but it’s easier to take the bar from the rack in the back squat position, slide the hands out to snatch position, and then jerk or push-press it from behind the neck: The back squat position allows you to slide your hands out and get the weight overhead more easily.
If your shoulders are substantially weaker in the press than in the push-press, jerk, and the top of the overhead squat, you may want to take care not to lower the weight too slowly to your shoulders and watch your volume and intensity–I messed up one of my shoulders going a little too gung-ho with the behind the neck push-presses on a regular basis.