I’ve read that ME box squats should be performed with a narrow stance. But how narrow should it be? Should it be as narrow as an oly stance, or just more narrow than a competition stance?
You would want to do them more like an oly stance, or a least narrower than your comp stance. You also want to do them off a low or high box. I usually do mine off a bench that puts me 3" above parallel.
oly stance…you really want to keep the hips out of the movement as much as you can…bm
BM,
When you say keep the hips out of the movement as much as you can, how is best to do that? Do you mean keep the torso as upright as possible?
Big Martin-
would you explain the point of keeping the hips out of the ME box squats
seems like using different form, a different set of muscles would be counterproductive to building up your squat
I’m thinking BM’s saying that because on dynamic squat day, your hips are really getting hit hard, and on the max effort day it would give them a rest and you would use the closer stance for more brute overall leg strength.
Quote from Louie Simmons
" For box squatting, the form is the same as regular squatting. Before descending, the glutes must be pushed out to the rear. Because you are going to squat to the rear and not down, this sets up the body for a stretch reflex. Next, push the knees out to the sides. This accomplishes two things: It places much of the stress, or work, on the hips, and it will greatly increase your leverage in the bottom of the squat. By pushing the knees out, you are at least attempting to keep the knee joint in line with the hip joint."
[quote]Basso wrote:
Quote from Louie Simmons
" For box squatting, the form is the same as regular squatting. Before descending, the glutes must be pushed out to the rear. Because you are going to squat to the rear and not down, this sets up the body for a stretch reflex. Next, push the knees out to the sides. This accomplishes two things: It places much of the stress, or work, on the hips, and it will greatly increase your leverage in the bottom of the squat. By pushing the knees out, you are at least attempting to keep the knee joint in line with the hip joint."
[/quote]
He is talking about DE squatting here. These folks are asking about ME squats.
I use my deadlift stance.
First off, know that the westsiders vary their stances and do not have a set stance that they use every time so to make generalizations like, “always do your ME Box Squats with a close stance,” is foolish.
You can answer this question yourself, by thinking about a couple of things 1. What is your weekness? If you are a begginner to novice lifter your hips/posterior chain will most likely be your weekness so why would you want to take them out of the lift?
- What do you feel you get the most carryover from? Everyone is different, I see many people who benefit from the wide stance more and then others who benefit from the narrow stance.
[quote]Josh99gb wrote:
First off, know that the westsiders vary their stances and do not have a set stance that they use every time so to make generalizations like, “always do your ME Box Squats with a close stance,” is foolish.
You can answer this question yourself, by thinking about a couple of things 1. What is your weekness? If you are a begginner to novice lifter your hips/posterior chain will most likely be your weekness so why would you want to take them out of the lift?
- What do you feel you get the most carryover from? Everyone is different, I see many people who benefit from the wide stance more and then others who benefit from the narrow stance.
[/quote]
No Dude it dosent matter if your a beginer or a 1000 pound squater wide stance squating twice a week isnt going to do anything but beat the hell out of your hips…MAX EFFORT WORK DOSENT BRING UP WEAK POINTS ITS ASSITANT WORK AND SPECIAL EXERSICES…if you have weak hips hammer the pull throughs, sled dragging ect…dont do ultra wide stance squat twice in a span of 4 days once for speed and once for max effort work shit you might as well have you training partner take a sledge hammer and beat your hips…for max effort work use a close stance go down to a low box box and stress the spinal erectors, low back, and quads…oh yea i learned all this is in a personal convo with dave tate, jim wendler, jl holdsworth, and kevin dewesse last year at the arnold classic…bm
[quote]Major Dan wrote:
Big Martin-
would you explain the point of keeping the hips out of the ME box squats
seems like using different form, a different set of muscles would be counterproductive to building up your squat
[/quote]
no its not counter productive…actually it will really build up maximal strength in the low back and spinal erectors…these moves are best doen with special bars…the camberd sqaut bar will really build up the torso, abs, while the safety squat bar kills the low back and build the spinal erectors and mid back to a great degree…plus there is a need for brute leg strength…this is why louie loves belt squats and jim wendler loves the power squat machine…becuase no matter how good your form is you have to have brute leg strength…these low box squats help develop this…bm
While we’re on the topic…
For athletes, should DE squats be performed with a narrower stance to build RFD in the quads? Many people including Joe Defranco believe the quads are important during the acceleration phase of a sprint.
With athletes, I vary the stance a lot. But dont neglect the wider stance because like Wendler says, "Squatting wider will make you stronger when you go back to a closer or more “athletic” stance. The key with athletes from other sports is to change things up. Just a change of 3-4 inches can make a huge difference. Also varying the box height works well rather than just sticking to 1 or 2 heights. People who participate in sports like volleyball or basketball need to really work a low box in the offseason to make up for the imbalances that naturally occur during the season from doing a lot of jumping which is a short range of motion.