I’ve been lifting for a few months now and I’m doing the 5x5 and ramping up the weight to my top set. My first question is whether I’m taking too long between my reps while squatting.
On my 5th set, I do the following: unrack the weight, take a deep breath and hold it, squat deep, come up and breathe 2-3 times, take another breath and hold it, repeat. I can get a lot more weight in my 5th set by doing this, but am probably taking 2-4 seconds between reps as a result. Is this a bad thing to do?
Second question is about deadlifts. My gym has those hexagonal weights. Deadlifts have been a pain because sometimes when I set the weight down between reps, it’ll roll forward or back when the weights land on an edge. Any solutions to this?
If your gym has a powerrack or squat rack with adjustable safety bars, you can pull with the barbell on the safety bars. Lower the safety bars to the point where you can put weights on the bar, but the weights clear the floor by an inch or two.
If your lifting for appearance, the differance in range of motion will not cause a problem. If your lifting for competition, place a board under your feet.
[quote]jweinstein wrote:
If your gym has a powerrack or squat rack with adjustable safety bars, you can pull with the barbell on the safety bars. Lower the safety bars to the point where you can put weights on the bar, but the weights clear the floor by an inch or two.
If your lifting for appearance, the differance in range of motion will not cause a problem. If your lifting for competition, place a board under your feet. [/quote]
[quote]blindetheft wrote:
I’ve been lifting for a few months now and I’m doing the 5x5 and ramping up the weight to my top set. My first question is whether I’m taking too long between my reps while squatting.
On my 5th set, I do the following: unrack the weight, take a deep breath and hold it, squat deep, come up and breathe 2-3 times, take another breath and hold it, repeat. I can get a lot more weight in my 5th set by doing this, but am probably taking 2-4 seconds between reps as a result. Is this a bad thing to do?
Second question is about deadlifts. My gym has those hexagonal weights. Deadlifts have been a pain because sometimes when I set the weight down between reps, it’ll roll forward or back when the weights land on an edge. Any solutions to this?[/quote]
Don’t let the weight come to a full rest on the ground. Instead, let it just barely touch the ground. If you do this, you will have constant tension
My gym has the polygon weights too (I friggen hate em). I find the best thing to do is to make sure you line the plates up exactly and collar them as tight as you can so the you’re less likely to get shifting etc than can make putting the bar down flat tricky.
I don’t think just touching the floor will work because you’ll have no way to get tight for the next pull. Generally, if the bar is only angled a bit I’ll just deal with it but if you really get a corner and it bounces just stand up, correct the bar and reset.