Most pl articles I see advocate a wide stance for big squats, but as a raw lifter, is more of a medium stance more advantageous? I ask because it seems that whenever I see a raw meet, there’s less really wide squatters than at an equipped meet.
ps. I posted this question in the EFS q&a. If and when they respond, I can copy+paste their answer in here (as long as the mods are ok with it of course ;).
You’re right that most people have to bring their stance in when squatting raw vs. equipped. When I made the transition from equipped to raw lifting, I had to bring my stance way in. With the really wide stance I have no pop out of the hole raw. In fact it’s really a completely different lift for me when doing a raw SQ vs. an equipped SQ.
Am I mistaken, or does the width of stance affect which muscles are more recruited? It seems to me that a closer stance is more quad dominant and the wider the stance, the more dominant the posterior chain (hamstring/glute).
[quote]SRS2000 wrote:
You’re right that most people have to bring their stance in when squatting raw vs. equipped. When I made the transition from equipped to raw lifting, I had to bring my stance way in. With the really wide stance I have no pop out of the hole raw. In fact it’s really a completely different lift for me when doing a raw SQ vs. an equipped SQ. [/quote]
I seem to be the opposite as far as speed out of the hole. With a very wide stance, I shoot out of the hole but can’t lock out. The more narrow my stance, the slower I am out of the hole, but the easier the lock out.
[quote]Dr J wrote:
Am I mistaken, or does the width of stance affect which muscles are more recruited? It seems to me that a closer stance is more quad dominant and the wider the stance, the more dominant the posterior chain (hamstring/glute).[/quote]
Yes. That means you can vary your stance in training to target specific muscle groups. For competition, use your strongest stance.
Josh Bryant answered for me at EFS. His response:
I think squatting wide also pounds the hips pretty hard… not necessarily in a good way. From what I understand, you lack the hip support of power briefs or suits or whatnot, so your hips might take more of a beating.
This is, of course, all hearsay. I’ve no experience with gear. I have hurt my hips a little squatting (probably too) wide.
+1 wide raw squats kill my hips. check out scott yards log on elite. thats a medium stance, similar to the one I use.
i think my raw is a pretty wide stance(i also squat out of a monolift), however it is narrower than my equipped because of the lack of hip support, i like to squat wide but i do take extra time to warmup and stretch to help my hips out, if you like the wider stance and want to do it raw my advice is to be cautious and work out your stance through time to help strengthen your hips and make sure and properly warmup and stretch.
i hurt my hip by not taking that extra time(among other things), but now my stance is wider and i don’t have any more pain than when my stance was narrower, looking back i think i even have less pain now. side note-even with a very narrow stance i have some hip pain. but when i wear gear, my hip pain is pretty much non-existant and even gets better, even with a really wide stance. i love gear.
[quote]A Ninny Mouse wrote:
I think squatting wide also pounds the hips pretty hard… not necessarily in a good way. From what I understand, you lack the hip support of power briefs or suits or whatnot, so your hips might take more of a beating.
This is, of course, all hearsay. I’ve no experience with gear. I have hurt my hips a little squatting (probably too) wide.[/quote]
This.
The wide stance will kill your hips eventually.
[quote]Raging_Teddy wrote:
[quote]SRS2000 wrote:
You’re right that most people have to bring their stance in when squatting raw vs. equipped. When I made the transition from equipped to raw lifting, I had to bring my stance way in. With the really wide stance I have no pop out of the hole raw. In fact it’s really a completely different lift for me when doing a raw SQ vs. an equipped SQ. [/quote]
I seem to be the opposite as far as speed out of the hole. With a very wide stance, I shoot out of the hole but can’t lock out. The more narrow my stance, the slower I am out of the hole, but the easier the lock out.[/quote]
Let me just throw out a disclaimer that I’m a miserable squatter so view what I say on this subject with caution.
How is your speed into the hole when you squat narrow? I’ve been working my way towards a more narrow stance lately since it feels better for my hips/groin. What I’ve found is that the more narrow the stance, the more I benefit from having some speed on the descent.
^
I’ve noticed when I do olympic squats (high bar, heels propped on a 45 plate), I tend to go very fast in the descent which helps me bounce out of the hole.
I have noticed when the weights get higher i fare alot better going wide (raw) I still reach depth, but its much easier for me to get out of the hole and drive. Though after reading this maybe i should work my stance in more…
For the folks who are squatting wide raw and having hip pain is it in the hip or in the groin? Whenever I lift heavy, raw and wide, I tend to get pain in my groin, way up near my hip. Narrowing my stance seems to help, but then I end up switching shoes to using one with a bit of a heel so I can hit depth. Just wondering if anyone else has similar issues.
i used to go fairly wide,feet toucing power rack. but one day i seemed to lost all my hip strength. so i had to switch to going closer about medium width. i also noticed that with a closer stance, you get more rebound out of the hole. saw a video on wildiron talking about difference between gear and raw squating stating GENERALLY raw usually uses closer stance for the rebound factor.