There are two kinds of squat racks at my gym. One that I use for free squating and the other is a machine that allows the barbell to only go up and down (no horizontal movement); think the second one might be called a power rack … anyway…
I find that when I free squat low and deep as possible I can lift more than I can in the “assisted”/power rack.
Shouldnt it be harder to free squat? does this possibly mean I have a muscle imbalance? I’m guessing my quads are way out of proportion to my hammys…
ok… i just worked out that I am actually talking about a smith machine… and i might be able to lift as much with it because it forces you to have crappy form… if I’m reading correctly 
ok… and the smith machine works the quads more… i think…
I fully answered my own question… great… thanks me 
[quote]tuppydog wrote:
There are two kinds of squat racks at my gym. One that I use for free squating and the other is a machine that allows the barbell to only go up and down (no horizontal movement); think the second one might be called a power rack … anyway…
I find that when I free squat low and deep as possible I can lift more than I can in the “assisted”/power rack.
Shouldnt it be harder to free squat? does this possibly mean I have a muscle imbalance? I’m guessing my quads are way out of proportion to my hammys…[/quote]
The second one is called “Smith machine”. It’s basically worthless except for some super-specialized stuff like ballistic BP. Don’t use it if you don’t know exactly what you are doing.
I find it hard to believe that you can actually squat more unassisted, but even if thats the case it has nothing to do with a muscular imbalance.
Having weak Hamstrings (compared to one’s Quad strength) on the other hand is quite common.
How is your Deadlift compared to your squat ?
The second machine you described is called a Smith machine. It has it’s uses, but for squatting, I would stick to the squat rack. Any imbalance you might feel you have will be corrected there. Don’t force yourself to try to lift more than you can safely handle. Focus on form, and your whole body will respond.
I started free squating 2 years ago… unfortunately i only discovered the full olympic squat about 8 months ago, I probably shouldve started with it…!
I have studied quite a few videos and read a bit on squating technique so I dont think I’m too bad… but I still feel like I have a lot to learn! (i didnt even know what a smith machine was !!
I stopped doing deadlifts a while back and basically just do 3 or 4 squat variations and maybe some lunges on legs days. So no idea how my DL’s are compared with my squat…
Still seems odd to me that I would find olympic squats harder in the smith machine than without… ??
Stopping your deads is one of the worse things you could do in my opinion (But Im wired like that b/c I look forward to leg day and deads day and dread chest). If you have ever done heavy squats and your lower back gets really tight deads really help (like I said in my exp). How much weight are we talking about when you squat? and how much do you weigh?
[quote]tuppydog wrote:
Still seems odd to me that I would find olympic squats harder in the smith machine than without… ??[/quote]
It’s probably because the smith machine is altering your form and forcing you into a weak position at the bottom. You really shouldn’t be using the smith machine for squats.
but if you find deads and squats on the same day too taxing (i do) id suggest doing power cleans instead of deads and leave the deads for another day. if you havent done deads for a while, your cns and glutes will probably be fried for a few days after
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
but if you find deads and squats on the same day too taxing (i do) id suggest doing power cleans instead of deads and leave the deads for another day. if you havent done deads for a while, your cns and glutes will probably be fried for a few days after [/quote]
I agree 100%. I try to keep my leg days and back days as far apart as I can. So I do Back( w/ deads) on Mon. and Legs on Fri. I dont know if I would do cleans on a leg day though b/c you can really hurt your self if you dont know what you are doing as far as Cleans, but if you do I would got 50 - 70% if you do them with squats. And never do them with out a spotter. I myself like to give them their own day. But once again thats what I prefer.