OP: Do you foam roll? I would roll out your glutes and hip flexors. It might help.
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
I haven’t stretched – period! – in maybe five years. I thought I’d never need it. So I’m not the “person who’s tried everything.” What’s the first thing to try?[/quote]
Haha! Good to see I am not alone in this - it must be a female sports psychology.
First thing to try is get a man with big capable hands to properly stretch you and put up with all the blame and rage you are going to throw at him for making you cry.
: D
Ha, that sounds fun.
All the women I know are absurdly flexible, though. I just thought “I’m tough, I lift weights and run, I don’t need no stinkin’ stretches.” I gave up ballet at six when I realized that this whole business with making us touch our toes wasn’t going to blow over.
Here ya go, SquatRx. Probably the best thing on YouTube.
I don’t think it really matters if you watch all his 20 something videos, but the first 4-5 have some solid advice, you’ll be squatting like a champ in no time.
Personally, overhead squats were basically all I needed to stretch out. I wouldn’t go over 95lbs, do a few reps, then do with Bill said and just stretch it out at the bottom. My back used to round at the bottom with back/front squats until I started stretching with overhead squats.
I’d help ya stretch…
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
Buy Magnificent Mobility
the whole point of the god damn DVD is to increase hip flexibility
the first time i ever did the squat to stand drill, i remember my hips going craaaaazy[/quote]
I will second this recommendation…what the 3rd world squat won’t fix MM will.
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Ha, that sounds fun.
All the women I know are absurdly flexible, though. I just thought “I’m tough, I lift weights and run, I don’t need no stinkin’ stretches.” I gave up ballet at six when I realized that this whole business with making us touch our toes wasn’t going to blow over.[/quote]
Me too!
I remember as child looking at the “delicate” girls in my ballet class and thinking:
‘I can do better than this’.
We must be from the same tribe, Alisa.
Hey, is that V for Vindication?
; )
[quote]Therizza wrote:
I’d help ya stretch…[/quote]
Yeah, but can you stretch both of us?
.
.
.
…On your bike, Therizza.
maybe… well girl + bike = super awesome, so sure!
Thanks for the help. I’m a little to poor right now to by Magnificent Mobility, but I will put it on my wish list (yes $50 is a little steep for me right now).
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Problems: I have trouble leading with my hips
[/quote]
Solution:
Google butterfly kick swimming.
Watch a video on how to do it.
Go to a pool, get a kick board and nail the technique down.
Once fluent on technique get one of these:
[photo]24022[/photo]
Then do the following program:
25x25 meters
Once gold on that move on up to;
15x50 meters
Then on to:
10x100 meters
Ultimately:
5x200 meters.
Take as much rest as you need between sets.
Do not worry about speed - you are not clocking racing time. Instead, focus on initiating motion from the gut and sustaining it. It is very important to sustain it without compromising your technique and buoyancy.
Do not switch the power on ( those power fins will allow you to propel forward without the need to add more; they act as stabilizers )- the goal is for you to learn how to whip from the hip and sustain the locomotion.
I was a butterfly swimmer and successfully translated the hip action from the water to the iron and also throwing a good punch when boxing.
The above exercise will also give you strong, powerful pelvic muscles.
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
All the women I know are absurdly flexible, though.[/quote]
Don’t worry about that.
If you are tight that means you can squeeze more juice out of your lemon.
Think about it.
When it comes to women I say tight is the new loose.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Huh. Here I had thought I had recommened methods of improving the other flexibilities and also the for dorsiflexion and only then suggested he could consider the plates if need be.
Geez I must not have said what I thought I did.[/quote]
Oh sorry me for trespassing your exclusive rights on the subject (read the last two paragraphs in my previous post.)
Yes, you did. Also, I’m not refuting your suggestions on improving flexibility, but on using props to elevate the heels (while squatting with weights) to work around a given inflexibility. Barring a physical impediment (last two paragraphs of my post), any sport coach would frown of such idea.
Moreover, I would actually think you’d appreciate the links I added (actual and factual article on the subject of squat inflexibility, on exrx.net to boot) as complementary information to your previous suggestions on improving flexibility, no? Am I infringing in some exclusive rights on this?
Really? Let me get back at you as soon as I can with sports reference on the subject. And I did not say that they are “targeting” the quads. I said they are “better recruiting” the quads (in the scope of improving explosive motion). In bodybuilding forums, it pays to make a distinction between “targeting” and “recruiting”. One never knows if there is a tard out there who thinks I’m saying “recruiting the quads” in an oly lift as in “targeting the shit out of the quads in the latest leg extension routine I got from Iron Man!!!(10+1)”.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Why you think using a board or 10 lb plates under the heels puts more stress on the lower back I can’t even begin to imagine.
(Take a disputative tone as you did and I’d hope you wouldn’t then object to blunt refutation…)[/quote]
Could you could please let me know where I stated that putting 10lbs plates under the heels puts more stress on the lower back? Point to the actual sentence or paragraph where I said that. This is what I said on the subject:
[quote]me:
Consider this. If you have a joint that is inflexible, and you get the muscles that flex it to be stronger while never stretching it, it will remain inflexible at best, or become more inflexible in the long run at worst.[/quote]
If you could please let me know how THAT, or anything in my post could lead one with proper reading comprehension to “read” I’m saying putting 10lbs under the heels put more stress on the lower back (as I’m quoting you verbatim), I would appreciate that very much.
Please also could explain to me why that specific sentence is false. Or better yet, explain how the last two sentences in my previous post - where I explain the real possibility that, after careful flexibility training, the specifics of your anatomy still makes it difficult to deep squat without lifting the heels - don’t really paint any picture in my post.
Thanks… disputatively.
As responding everywhere you go wrong is lengthy, I’ll start with just a quick paragraph that really covers the matter for everyone else:
The lifter in this example cannot do full squats in just his ordinary shoes for working out, and also has limited ankle flexibility. However he can do full squats with good form if he uses the 10 lb plates under his feet, and therefore probably could do them in some Olympic lifting shoes as well.
I would rather that he work on his ankle flexibility, for which I provided a suggestion, and if he needs them to squat well, use the 10 lb plates.
You would rather, for some reason of nobility I guess, that his squat continue to suffer until the dorsiflexion gets as good as it should be. Because heaven forbid he should use plates and get similar effective total lift as an Olympic lifting shoe.
OK, now on to rest (no one else need read it, it’s not exciting):
[quote]elnyka wrote:
Bill Roberts wrote:
Huh. Here I had thought I had recommened methods of improving the other flexibilities and also the for dorsiflexion and only then suggested he could consider the plates if need be.
Geez I must not have said what I thought I did.
Oh sorry me for trespassing your exclusive rights on the subject (read the last two paragraphs in my previous post.)[/quote]
You lead right off with crap, I see.
No, you only think that.
Funny how they design shoes for Olympic lifting that have that built right in, but if someone wants to squat low but doesn’t have the shoes to you it’s heinous for him to get the same height with small plates. How rational is that?
There you go again.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:And the idea that Olympic lifters use shoes with heel lift because they’re aiming to recruit their quads more is ridiculous, btw. No, they are looking to be able to go deeper, to use better form overall, and lift heavier weights. Not to target a muscle.
Really? Let me get back at you as soon as I can with sports reference on the subject. [/quote]
Yeah, you just do that. We will all take that as proof that Olympic lifters do as they do in order to improve quad recruitment. Obviously the fact that you read it somewhere, you take as proof.
It’s a funny thing: when a muscle is recruited more, the training effect is more targeted towards it. Just works out that way.
Additionally, the reason they do this is as I said – to be able to lift more and/or with better form – not because they care which muscle is more recruited. If there were a way to snatch and C&J more weight with more emphasis on the posterior chain, they wouldn’t be crying “Oh but I want to recruit my quads more.” And if a given lifter is deciding whether to use shoes with more heel lift or not, the deciding criteria are what I said, not because he wants to recruit the quads more.
Oh yeah.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Why you think using a board or 10 lb plates under the heels puts more stress on the lower back I can’t even begin to imagine.
(Take a disputative tone as you did and I’d hope you wouldn’t then object to blunt refutation…)
Could you could please let me know where I stated that putting 10lbs plates under the heels puts more stress on the lower back? Point to the actual sentence or paragraph where I said that. This is what I said on the subject:[/quote]
You don’t remember what you said?
[quote]Hey, using some heel lift was good enough for Arnold.
Not everyone is Ah’nold. And we should never discount the healing, anti-inflammatory properties of the juice. A very athletic person with an oak for lower back (and specially on the juice) can get away with a lot of shit that a person wondering about inflexibility on full squats might. [/quote]
Perhaps you will claim that your paragraph there, despite immediately following, was not remotely intended to be read as having any relation to what you’re replying to. Which was the use of a little heel lift if that’s what it takes at a given time to get good form and depth in the squat.
There is no point going further with you on this. Go back to your book. Thanx
You win.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Alpha F wrote:
First thing to try is get a man with big capable hands to properly stretch you and put up with all the blame and rage you are going to throw at him for making you cry.
: D
Did you call? Look, I don’t want our friendship to be based upon pain, but if you insist 
BBB[/quote]
LOL!!!..you do not know what you are asking for though I do think handling me will be a breeze for you - you will probably just look at me and laugh. That usually disarms me completely.
You are a good sport, BBB.