[quote]mikemike87 wrote:
Good stuff panzerfaust and a very informative page here. Looking buff too.
Your squats still look fine. Some forward lean is ok. Just keep pushing to get familiar with heavy wight and improve. Your really good at grinding out hard reps. There is a point in each hard rep where you kind of stick a little. My friend actually looked similar when squatting. I always felt it was a leg drive issue so had him leg press like hell and he improved a lot. So I started thinking more about your squat.
What I’m looking at in your videos are your dead lift and squat. When you dead lift the hips are up high and so your thighs are clearly above being parallel to the floor. If I remember right you dead lifted for a longer time than you squatted. It makes sense that during the motion of a full squat the depth of your hips and thighs below the range of your hips and thighs in dead lift will be lacking in strength. During the motion of a full squat when your hips and thighs reach the level that is equal to your hips and thighs in dead lifting when squatting up out of the hole you should have lots of strength.
That’s what I’m seeing in your vids especially during tough reps. You lift out of the hole well in squat. After that acceleration slows. Then at the point where your hips are at a level similar to your dead lift acceleration ramps up at its greatest. You actually pop at that point. There’s even a cadence there. When you watch yourself squat think hole, slow, pop beginning when you squat in the hole and you’ll see. It’s most obvious during heavy singles and the last rep of multiple rep sets.
hole = fast out of the hole. slow = the part where you slow down and grind. pop = the part where you quickly pop your hips up to finish the rep.
I think a little more attention to this specific area would be helpful and give you an even stronger squat slightly faster if you can make room. I’d normally say leg press to get everything above the waist out of the equation and bring leg strength up but you probably can’t do that. There are still several other options. Single leg squat, lunges, front squats, etc. Nothing crazy just a little more stimulation and work for that particular motion.
Of course if you keep everything the same you’ll obviously still improve a lot. Wow this was a lot longer than I expected I thought it would be a quick observation and suggestion. oh well its already typed up.
…and sorry to hear about the ab wheel. [/quote]
Hey Mike, thanks - yeah I seem to have packed out a bit, which is pleasing.
Similarly, I figure some forward lean is ok as long as I keep my weight on my heels, don’t “lose my angle” during the upward drive, and keep the bar in a safe vertical path. As long as I avoid the dreaded “squat morning” I am happy!
That’s a Damn helpful observation, thanks! I definitely know the sticking point you are talking about. Occasionally I seem to find a way around it (whether this is in my stance, depth, or the way I set my body I am unsure) but generally this sticking point is what defines whether I make or fail a lift. But yeah, on any “hard” rep, I bounce out of the hole easily, stagger through the parallel > half squat position, then transition easily from half squat > lockout.
I’d never related it to my deadlift but that makes perfect sense - the angles definitely match up. I’m a high hips deadlifter and can pull a hell of a lot more than I can squat. I only started back squatting this year really - prior attempts had been half squats done off a dodgy rack with no spotting arms. I did used to front squat quite often though.
You are correct in your assumption about the leg press, sadly… as that would be a great way to get more heavy leg work in without adding extra lower back strain.
So your suggestion is to add more “general” leg work in, as opposed to hitting the particular sticking point?
My immediate thought is squat partials - set the pins at my sticking point and do dead-stop reps from this point, with >100% of my back squat max. I have no idea whether this is wise, it just jumped into my head when you pointed out my weak spot.
Otherwise, of course, I could definitely add some unilateral work in, and I do enjoy front squatting.
Thanks man!
