Squats
Well. A lot of information here. Had about a 10-15minute convo with the guy that helps me out about this. He has been training for almost 8 years now, and its all from experience and what has worked. So here it goes.
As you might notice, in my squats i am running into troubles. It really is only when i come out of the hole, its just hard to get out. One thing that was noticed by him, is that im going to low (sound weird?). I thought so, but me and him are the same height. He can squat ATG, close to perfect form, if not. He only goes to a spot higher than me. If you see my post about the safety bars, and the #12 setting whatever, that is where he squats to, and its ATG, no rounding back or anything. Again him and I are the same height, except i squat down to like 14, and my back ends up rounding. So he said that i should put the bars up, and touch and go, because i will hurt myself with the rounding back, and ultimately it is making it harder for me going lower than i actually can. I told him though that when i tried that, one side would hit and the other wouldn't. Well he suggested look at the mirror a few workouts, go down slowly (i am dropping to fast) and make sure both sides touch then go up, then when you get a metal image and a feeling for how i have to go down, turn back and squat facing the wall again. That was a suggestion so i can squat without rounding my back, and get into what my depth should be.
The second thing he said, he noticed that i add weight every workout. Even though it is good, he said it doesn't hurt to take my time. I have YEARS ahead of me, and i am years ahead of myself just starting out right in general, with a good diet and proper training. So he told me, take my time with the progress, move up when you feel comfortable, when its easy enough to move up, but make sure its not so easy that your not getting anything out of your workout. Just a nice time to move up when you feel adding that 5lb's won't affect the form much. He said it doesn't hurt, and ultimately in the end, it will help me a lot more than just piling on weight and fucking up and feeling shit about the workout.
So the next part was about getting out of the bottom of the hole. He suggested quite a bit, and they sound like really solid suggestions.
I told him, i am having troubles getting out of the hole, i get stuck there. First, he said im piling on the weight, and if i can't get out of the hole then it might just be too much weight, but some reps might just be off and thats okay. But he said try lowering the weight and see how it goes. Sounds pretty legit, because the weight is fucking hard, and im a pussy lol.
Now here is what he suggested about getting out of the hole. One thing i can try, is doing wide stance squats. Go down slowly, good form and explode up. The point of wide stance is that it will help getting out of the hole because it is working my inner thighs, and my hips aren't going forward as they would be when i get troubles in the bottom of my squat. (i think i got a little bit of the hip thing wrong, didnt understand that part when he was talking). When i wide stance squat it will strengthen different muscles in my thighs, and legs. And its a different motion, so when that progresses, my squats will progress because it helps strengthen parts of the leg, and it works different things.
He also said to get used to using more weight, try quarter, or even half squats. but not to use those as your squats all the time, never forget to full squat because half and quarter squats are gay. That was the main reason he said try half and quarter, it will help getting used to using more weight on my back and body, and when i get to squatting full i will be used to using more weight so it won't be much of a problem. It all carries over.
And another tip to help with squats. An elevated heel while back squatting. I told him i tried this in front squats, when he showed me and that my knees killed the next day. Well he said thats bad, and it will hurt your knees so if they hurt a lot not to do them, however he said try out back squats because they are different then front. or even try a thinner plate, cause when he showed me front squats it was a 10lb plate, so he mentioned trying a 5lb, or 2.5lb and see how it feels. If it hurts you don't have to do it. Reason he suggested this was because it helps with the back, it won't round as much when you go deeper, and it will help my depth in my squats and my back from rounding. so when i go to squat i won't have my back rounding as much, and i can get better depth.
Last thing he said about squats. The squat where you rest the weight on the safety racks, and squeeze under, then lift it onto the racks. put it back on the safety bars and repeat. He said this will help getting out of the hole, teach me how to drive out, and explode better and help all around just getting out of the bottom of the squat. He said to try it out, and it will carry over into the full squat because i will be accustomed to a better motion betting out of the bottom of the squat.
So he suggested these because in the end, they will ALL carry over into my full squat, and help with depth, my back, and everything else. as i progress on one, i will progress on the other, and it will be a chain and help in the end.
Any input on that? I also told him that i squat twice a week heavy, he did say thats good i could do these on my light squat day. Then he told me that he does a heavy day, light day, medium squat day and works these things to help when he squats heavy. So he suggested i could even try that out.
What do you think?
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