Landon adhesions are… well, tight spots. It feels like the muscle in that little area is bunched together. Almost as if someone put a little spot of glue on a patch of muscle. Yes, you can feel them. Sometimes they are mild and feel like soarness, but different. Other times, like mine are, they are more noticeable b/c they are very near the ligament and the joint. So movement is impinged, too. The muscle won’t stretch properly and feels ‘off’. Hope that isn’t too vague.
I have been using a modified Westside template for my workouts. I train for athletics, strength, and aesthetics to some extent. I use full front squats, full back squats, standard bench presses, amongst various standard Westside ME exercises in my ME rotation. And, on DE Squat/DL day, I use speed full back squats instead of box squats. The one problem I’ve noticed is the lack of quad training. So, I’ve added in some front squats or split squats to my Squat/DL. We’ll see how this goes. Bench is progressing nicely, though.
Quads arent really important in the squat. I havent trained my quads in almost a year and i have put over 200 and close to 300 lbs on my squat in that time. In my opinion, you are missing out on a great deal by doing regular back squats instead of box squats.
GREEKDAWG
the box squat does not have much carryover to a full olympic squat…
but they(box squats) have a TREMENDOUS carry-over to your clean/pull. the box squat is the most effective way to build explosive strength in the posterior chain.
i trained at westside for a few weeks years ago, and louie himself coached me through a box squat workout. if your low back, butt and hams do not feel totally fried after a box-squat workout you are doing them wrong.
i experimented with a westside OL routine when i was doing the highland games, with louie and daves input, and trial and error, i think i came up with a pretty effective OL PROGRAM.
I will give you a run down if you are interested.
Landon, I was standing on the boards, pulling the weight off of the floor in front of me. With the height of 4 boards, the bar was basically crushing my toes against the boards.
Pulling 500 off of 4 boards felt as hard as the 600 at my last meet.
HeavyThrower I think we would all be interested to see the routine.
the program was the product of about three years of training for the highland games. i felt that this, the final draft of it, gave me the most carry over to the field, but i also acheived personal records in several of the “power” versions of the olympic lifts, even improving on my college numbers when i was a shot-putter and hammer thrower.
monday - power-snatch/power-cleans, 60-70% 6x1-2 each.
-jump squats with bout 30%
-heavy reverse-hyperextensions and ham glute calf machine.
-abds
-sled dragging
tuesday-power jerks, 12x1x60-70%
-overhead tricept movemnet of some sort, heavy, 3-5 sets 3-5 reps. n=my favorite was barbell tricept press.
-shoulder complex stuff
-chins
-light revers hypers
-sled
wed-off
thurs-heavy pulls of some sort(usually snatch grip from floor, or clean grip from hang) work up to max.
-(choose one of following)heavy squat movement, dead lift or goodmorning, work up to 1-3 rep max.
-ham/calf glute machine
-heavy revers hypers
-abds
-sled
Friday-choose one of following and work up to a 1 rep max: STEEP incline bench, floor press, push press.
-STEEP incline DB presses 3-4x5-8 reps
-shoulder complex stuff
-light tricepts
-light revers hypers
-sled
my PR’s: power snatch-220
power clean-285
power jerk-330
push press-300
snatch grip high pull 335x3
clean grip high pull from
hang-275x3
If we’re talking about the relative contribution of Olympic vs. Box squats to the clean or snatch, let me put up an interesting link, if only to stir the pot a little. Might as well question the value of back squats altogether, why we’re at it, 'eh? 
http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/sportivny/library/farticles007.html
Heavy thrower,
thanks.
Goldie,
okay. I will say fuck it and just do the boxes for now.
Ike,
What’s your opinion on box squats vs. full back squats?
Greek,
Hard to say. I’ve historically been pro-Olympic stance for athletes, in agreement with CT.
But I can see how wide box squats could shift emphasis to the hammies.
Anyone ever thought about doing Dynamic Box Squats (as per normal Westside) and Max-Effort Olympic squats? (both front and back, with the fronts obviously being more specific for an O-Lifter)
As Goldberg mentioned above… low box squats are almost olympic squats when I do them. But the SSC is negated…
How low a box are we talking about, here? 'cause when I squat, there is probably around six inches between my arse and the floor.
350!!!Im so happy!!
Ike-We can keep debating or you can do it. Dave Tate uses this analogy. Do you think a 700 lb power squatter can do a 400 lb olympic squat? By the same token, can a 400 lb olympic squatter do a 700 lb power squat? If on one day every few weeks you wanna do a super low box squat with a narrow stance then go ahead. But use the box. It is far superior. Ive done it both ways.
Ike, there are times when my group will use a 6-9" box for low box squats on ME day. This is maybe once every 8 weeks or so, but this doesn’t mean you couldn’t incorporate them more often.
Damn, Spiderman is rolling…
nice work, keep it coming.
Goldie/Ike/Landon,
I like that idea and will throw in full squats on a couple of my ME days.
BTW, did my first DE box squat workout today…this might sound lame…I know I’m not supposed to feel sore, but am I supposed to feel anything? I felt actually refreshed if anything.
Side question about Dynamic Day:
I know it is an explosive/dynamic concentric, but what about the eccentric? is that explosive as well?
Greek,
You typically get sore if you make the eccentric phase of the lift slow, and with DE squat/dl days, you want to be coming down in a controlled fashion with decent body speed, and exploding off the box after a 1/2 sec pause or so. Same with bench … come down quick controlled, and fire the barbell up.
If I am ever sore on any ME/DE workouts it’s due to the assistant/supplemental exercises I chose I think. For instance, I’ve never began to feel sore after a good DE box squat session, but some heavy romanians, or bw+weight glute-hams on bench I may feel bombed in the hams.
Anyways, I’m glad you tried it greek, and I hope westside really treats you well. It’s very open to your needs!
Stay strong,
Landon
This may not help you much, but your eccentric should be as quick as possible while maintaining proper form. Do not crash into the box out of control. I’d suggest searching around the 'net for some videos of people box squatting. There might be some at www.sithmenace.com , but then again, these might only be vids of people going for max attempts (I can’t remember).
check out growordie.com, there are videos in the training journals