Hey there, I finished a succesfull cycle using snatch pulls, power hang snatches and back squats. My next phase calls for hang cleans and front squats. How worse would I be off substituting front squats with snatch deadlifts off a podium?
I’ve had a blackout with front squats in the past, and I know it doesn’t sound that tough, but I’m a bit afraid it’ll happen again. Would my back squats decrease if I did snatch deadlifts off a podium and some single leg work for 3 weeks, then switch back again?
ill be curious to see everyone else’s opinions on this one.
but i personally feel front squats have a HUGE upside to doing them. it might be good to start off lighter and focus on form and breathing while getting back into them, but itd prolly be good for you to “jump back on the horse” if you will.
well the DL has a huge upside as well. I think whats going to help any of us help you more will be you telling us more. What are you trying to achieve??
sorry, just training for athleticism and explosiveness. My weak point is my maximal strength. I can squat 1.5 x bodyweight well below parallel, deadlift almost twice my bodyweight. I’m currently using an old schedule by charles poliquin, it can be found on sorinex.com (look for jud logan under training tips).
I think you should have some kind of squat in your routine at all times, and on the rare occasion you dont really hit the stepups or split squats very hard. The front squat is a unique exercise and is probably good to have in your program as much as possible especially when you are doing olympic lifts that could possibly call for it.
It really depends on how you do back squats and the type of lean you have in your torso, because if you have a significant lean in your torso doing back squats, they are very similar to deadlifts with regard to the posterior chain involvement.
If this is the case I would def not skip the front squats but go lighter!! Because it sounds like you are struggling to keep your torso upright and probably holding your breath to increase your thoracic pressure.
I think you should definitely try front squats again…they are an excellent core excercise as well hitting just about every muscle in your body…they have also greatly improved my deadlift strength…and i agree with shadowz that you should have a squat variation in your workout…even if you have to start with light weight and work your confidence back up with the front squat…its an excellent excercise that shouldnt just be thrown away…go back at it and see how it works out…good luck
[quote]arnoud verschoor wrote:
Hey there, I finished a succesfull cycle using snatch pulls, power hang snatches and back squats. My next phase calls for hang cleans and front squats. How worse would I be off substituting front squats with snatch deadlifts off a podium?
I’ve had a blackout with front squats in the past, and I know it doesn’t sound that tough, but I’m a bit afraid it’ll happen again. Would my back squats decrease if I did snatch deadlifts off a podium and some single leg work for 3 weeks, then switch back again?[/quote]
Good advice so far
I would say try to do lighter front squats and maybe some goodmornings. I would try not to do snatch deadlifts (or a variation) again, because you used them last cycle.
(lighter) front squats and GMs would be something new for your body to adapt to
[quote]arnoud verschoor wrote:
Would my back squats decrease if I did snatch deadlifts off a podium and some single leg work for 3 weeks, then switch back again?[/quote]
Depends what your weak point in the squat is. It might go up. It’s impossible to say without knowing your weak points.
If you are worried about your squat numbers decreasing, do a couple of mid-weight sets of squats each workout. This will keep the movement neurologically imprinted in your body.
Hey bro, I was trained by Fred Hatfield, and he told me, whether true or not, that he only truely squatted 8 weeks from competition. And he squatted 1014 @ 255 BW before all the new equipment we have now (1987). He used all kinds of different movements.
In the same light, Westside Barbell guys use boxsquats almost exclusively, along with the GHR’s, Goodmornings, reverse hypers, sled drags, and all kinds of shit that is changed every 3 weeks or so! And alot of the DL strength transfers to the squat and vise-versa.
I love squatting, deep, and I love hamstring exercises, but all training will ellicit response in training if effort is put forth. Just use correct technique, use intensity, and be observant of sticking points!!! Your stuff seems good, but all the previous posts will work as long as technique is there and also force, AND SPEED!!!
Whatever problems he is having with front squats is inherent to the exercise, the weight is probably up too high but overhead squats will just magnify his weaknesses even more, so much so that he may not even be able to benefit from them just yet…
Thanks everyone. The blackout issue is due to the bar sometimes being directly on my throat. I can’t prevent this (tried again today), even with a clean grip (I’m flexible enough for the clean grip), I still get light headed. I’ll try the zercher grip, wish they had a safety squat bar over here.
Do you all think a big full back squat can be built exclusively on doing full back squats (and hamstring exercises of course), with variations in intensity and loading?
I think you have to have some variation in there. You can have the bar on your back, but do the squats a little differently every so often.
I cycle box squats, start-from-the-bottom squats, pause-at-the-bottom squats and PL-stance squats. My PL-style squat has gone up every time I’ve gotten back around to it. In fact, so have the others these last few months.
But I stalled quite often when I did back squats only in a single fashion