I guess you have a good point there. Thank you!
alot of it w/ OLY lifters is that their levers are going to always be best for squatting levers…because those are the same ones that’ll be best suited for the actual lifts…so most of the the ppl that get anywhere, are goign to have these levers
(aka long(relatively) torsos, and short femurs will help their overall posture and mobility (long femurs and short torsos tend to bend at back rather than hip from my observations), and they’re ina much better position to stay upright also
I’ve always been a fan of DMAE. I’ll be honest though, I never really researched nootropics beyond that. You’ve got me really interested in oxiracetam now (especially after reading your other posts about it)!
A poster on the first page may be on to something regarding the adductor magnus.
I just took a look at some anatomy pics to get an idea of the attachments on the hip, looking at what would “tuck” or “pull” the pelvis under at the bottom of a squat, those muscle being:
Glutes
Hamstrings
Adductors, gracilis etc
The hamstrings at the bottom of a squat are not fully stretched though, remember that the knee is bent, yet when we stretch our hams, we keep a straight leg. Could this really be the problem?
Many of the Adductor muscles attach from the femur to the Ishium of the hip bone, so when you are at the bottom of a squat, they could tuck your hips.
I think probably there are some people who will never be able to squat ATG without tucking, simply due to their skeletal structure. To maximize this, it makes sense to actually keep the flexors and lower back tight during a squat, and have flexibility in the hams, glutes, and adductors.
If you can plant your hands on the ground while standing, i would say thats good enough hamstring flexibility, i think there is too much of an emphasis on stretching the hams, which could reduce the explosiveness of the hips.
a solid squat stretching routine would include the following:
quad stretch
90/90’s or pigeon
adductor stretch
goblet squats
3rd world squats
i think these are the most useful for reducing hip tucking at the bottom.
I don’t have a degree or anything, most of this is based of simply looking at an anatomy diagram, and figuring things out mechanically
this is all simply opinion, feel free to tear me apart
having read more of the posts he general consensus seems to be to strengthen the weaker muscles instead of stretching the strong ones.
i guess some of what i posted could still apply to an intermediate lifter who already had properly firing glutes
wasn’t there some article written here or somewhere else that discussed not allowing their pupils to squat until they could hold a bodyweight squat, below parallel, for 1 minute or so?
Mike Boyle just wrote something recently about squats and mobility, that if they can get to the position while supine, the obviously the problem isn’t mobility, but rather it is instability, weakness, etc.
immobility is a bitch, but the underlying reason is more than likely not as easy to spot. Shortened and weak hip flexors, inhibited glutes…
I am getting out of my chair right now and going to do the third world squat. Just for fun.
Ok, my squat form is the athletic squat from rippetoe’s starting strength, but I use an olympic bar position. When I squat down, even if I think about keeping my lower back tight, to go hams to ankles, my lower back rotates down. However, if I lean a little bit further forward, onto like my midfoot, I can squat down without the tail under. Should I find some oly lifting type shoes to squat in? Anyone find any problems with this? It’s not really a forward lean as much as it’s squatting more between my legs and more in the hole than pushing my body behind me.
Note that I did all of this unloaded in a full size mirror.
[quote]schultzie wrote:
The hamstrings at the bottom of a squat are not fully stretched though, remember that the knee is bent, yet when we stretch our hams, we keep a straight leg. Could this really be the problem?
[/quote]
The hamstrings can’t go through a full range of motion in both joints at the same time. When the knees are fully extended, the hip can’t fully flex. That’s your typical hamstring stretch. As you flex the knees, the hip can flex even further. There are different ways to stretch. If the hamstrings are tight enough, I would imagine that they could be an issue depending on the degree of knee flexion. It never would’ve occurred to me, but Rippetoe mentions it in Starting Strength.
I had the “tail under” problem for a long time. I worked hard on getting flexible (I could do the splits), but it didn’t solve the problem.
For me, just focusing on spreading my knees out as far as possible on the way down pretty much fixed everything. Also, watch this girl: She’s got a perfect powerlifting squat.
Videotape yourself squatting, and find out what you’re doing differently from her. Your forward lean might be different because of the bar placement or limb/torso length, but she gives a good example of how to squat correctly.
Another thing that really helps is front squatting. If you can keep your back arched with 315 on your shoulders, 405 won’t feel heavy when it’s on your back.
Also, stretching never did much for me, but foam rolling is awesome.