Saan's Strength Log

[Saan]

It’s about time for an update.

My 1RMs shot up after spending the winter doing 10x3 on the big lifts and 5x5-7 on accessory work. Now I’m at 145 lbs. bench press (this is huge for me, after being stuck around 125 lbs. for months), 225 lbs. back squat and 285 lbs. deadlift (I’m certain I’ll have my 300 soon). Yesterday I deadlifted 12 singles at 255 in 15 minutes.

I’ve got a video of the 225 squat up but I didn’t film the recent bench or deadlift. My squat form still has much room for refinement but I think I’ve improved tremendously. I still want to compete in something soon but I’m just not sure what, where, when. In the meantime, I’m still working on getting stronger–hopefully tightening up my diet this spring will get me a little leaner as well.

SaanSaturday

[Oleena]

[quote]Saan wrote:
It’s about time for an update.

My 1RMs shot up after spending the winter doing 10x3 on the big lifts and 5x5-7 on accessory work. Now I’m at 145 lbs. bench press (this is huge for me, after being stuck around 125 lbs. for months), 225 lbs. back squat and 285 lbs. deadlift (I’m certain I’ll have my 300 soon). Yesterday I deadlifted 12 singles at 255 in 15 minutes.

I’ve got a video of the 225 squat up but I didn’t film the recent bench or deadlift. My squat form still has much room for refinement but I think I’ve improved tremendously. I still want to compete in something soon but I’m just not sure what, where, when. In the meantime, I’m still working on getting stronger–hopefully tightening up my diet this spring will get me a little leaner as well.

SaanSaturday

[/quote]

In a way, you’re form being slightly off makes the squats even more impressive! You must have an amazing core to be able to do that.

[Saan]

Heh. That’s an interesting perspective.

My squats look a lot better under 200 lbs. but they are definitely the lift I have the most trouble with. I started doing them later than everything else because my first gym didn’t have a squat rack. Hopefully they’ll catch up eventually.

[Court1]

[quote]Saan wrote:
It’s about time for an update.

My 1RMs shot up after spending the winter doing 10x3 on the big lifts and 5x5-7 on accessory work. Now I’m at 145 lbs. bench press (this is huge for me, after being stuck around 125 lbs. for months), 225 lbs. back squat and 285 lbs. deadlift (I’m certain I’ll have my 300 soon). Yesterday I deadlifted 12 singles at 255 in 15 minutes.

I’ve got a video of the 225 squat up but I didn’t film the recent bench or deadlift. My squat form still has much room for refinement but I think I’ve improved tremendously. I still want to compete in something soon but I’m just not sure what, where, when. In the meantime, I’m still working on getting stronger–hopefully tightening up my diet this spring will get me a little leaner as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SaanSaturday[/quote]

Hey Saan - Just a few thoughts on your squat which might help. You are super strong and I think your squat numbers will keep flying if you clean up your form some more.

Take your time! You takes lots of time getting set under the bar, but you rush as soon as you unrack. You can see in the video that your feet are barely set before you begin your squat. Get your feet set, take a second and then squat.

My next point ties in with the first. If you take that extra second once your feet are set, you can use it to take a big breath of air and get your chest back up. The process of taking your steps back have a tendency to make people’s chests drop so they are kind of hunched over before they begin.

Since you take one breath when you unrack and don’t breath again until your way up, your chest stays down AND you have a tendency to rush the lift because you have no oxygen

Personally, I take a deep breath before I unrack like you do, but once I have set my feet, I take another smaller breath. It’s not a full breath, but I just let a bit out and then refill with air. This forces your chest back up and will help with not folding as you squat.

When you fold, you turn it into a goodmorning instead of a squat. If you can keep your chest up and back tight, you will use more of your legs to get through the lift instead of relying on your (super strong) back.

If you do take another video, if you can, try taking it from the side. It will give people a better view of what exactly you are doing in your lift.

[Saan]

Thanks, Court, for the helpful advice. Sometimes I do take a second smaller breath but I certainly don’t take my time and I will try that. I know I have a tendency to goodmorning the weight up–I keep working on this but it seems to get better only slowly. It’s clearly still happening in the 225 video but it was much worse before.

I’m not sure if I can get a video from the side–a limitation of the small space in my home gym–but I will see what I can do next time. I think you are right that my squat numbers will fly up if I can fix my technique–my legs hardly feel fatigued at all after back squats and I know I have a lot more in me.

Thanks again.