Big Boy Basics

[Tblock1]

wait so with chains how would you attach the weight? the way you are doing it seems like a pretty good way of doing things because your body has to balance the weights

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I'm curious about your shoulders. Can you describe how they hurt or what specifically about the back squat hurts them?

For me the squat is king of all lifts. It's good to see you do them even if they seem to cause you some trouble. With an athletic squat you can use a wide thumbless grip so there's less stretching/straining of the shoulder/chest. I mean really wide so long as you can retain your upper back arch.

 

[Andalite]

wait so with chains how would you attach the weight? the way you are doing it seems like a pretty good way of doing things because your body has to balance the weights

With chains I would simply put the chains on me and use lighter dumbbells in my hands. So picture 50 lbs of chains wrapped around my torso and 10 lbs dumbbells in my hands. I don't like holding heavy dumbbells in my hands: its difficult to hold them up....say I was to take 100lbs, how would I hold that up? 50 lbs per hand lol?

 

[Andalite]

I'm curious about your shoulders. Can you describe how they hurt or what specifically about the back squat hurts them?

For me the squat is king of all lifts. It's good to see you do them even if they seem to cause you some trouble. With an athletic squat you can use a wide thumbless grip so there's less stretching/straining of the shoulder/chest. I mean really wide so long as you can retain your upper back arch.

I suffer from genetically lose shoulder joints. They're highly prone to excruticuingly painful dislocations actually. Thats why you'll always find me doing more pulling movements versus pushing movements. I also focus more on overhead pressing instead of bench work.

My key lifts are:
Deadlifts
Overhead Press
Front Squats
Weighted Pull-ups
Pistol Squats
Unilateral Overhead Press
Overhead Squats

I do Back Squats but not that often. But, I don't like having to choose between front and back so in order not to limit myself one way or another I just do them both and I am putting my heart into back squats as well

 

[Andalite]

SQUAT TRAINING - Mesocycle 25 Week 1

This happened last night. It was one of those nights.....I went in late and Kaizzad was awesome enough to keep the gym open for me extra time.

Front Squats:
285 lbs x 1 rep @ 90%
255 lbs x 5 reps x 3 sets @ 81%
My legs were torched. Firstly I was sore as hell from Sunday's Pistol Squats and then I did this.

Back Squats:
315 lbs x 1 rep
I think my form is improving slowly.

Swiss Ball Jackknife Pikes:
BW x 12 reps x 2 sets

Video:

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I don't want to come off as mr. nitpick every time I see your back squat, but I have to comment in hopes it will help your form.

Your descent looks good and everything looks good as you rise up until you are hitting the sticking point. At this point you really need to work on keeping the shoulder blades retracted tight and getting the chest up.

With the coaching I've been getting and having tested my max a couple weeks ago I definitely can see what happens if the upper back tightness is not maintained enough.

If your upper back is rounding over with 315 imagine what would happen with 400. Keeping the upper back arched is paramount. Before the national level and former 242lbs class champ helped me get my squat form back because of patella troubles I tested my squat max and even though I got the weight up I lost the upper back arch coming up like you did and I was lucky I didn't bomb out.

Get the upper back really tight. Focus on keeping that tight and the elbows pointing down and pointing them forward on the sticking point. Go straight down. Don't worry about your lower back because if your upper back is arched hard and you are looking forward with the elbows mostly pointing down then when you drop into the hole you could take a snap shot and it would look perfect because the back from the ass up should look like a straight line, not over arched.


Anyhow, I won't post anymore squat critiques in your thread, but I hope you don't take this the wrong way. You're doing excellent man. Keep up the good work.

 

[Andalite]

I don't want to come off as mr. nitpick every time I see your back squat, but I have to comment in hopes it will help your form.

Your descent looks good and everything looks good as you rise up until you are hitting the sticking point. At this point you really need to work on keeping the shoulder blades retracted tight and getting the chest up.

With the coaching I've been getting and having tested my max a couple weeks ago I definitely can see what happens if the upper back tightness is not maintained enough.

If your upper back is rounding over with 315 imagine what would happen with 400. Keeping the upper back arched is paramount. Before the national level and former 242lbs class champ helped me get my squat form back because of patella troubles I tested my squat max and even though I got the weight up I lost the upper back arch coming up like you did and I was lucky I didn't bomb out.

Get the upper back really tight. Focus on keeping that tight and the elbows pointing down and pointing them forward on the sticking point. Go straight down. Don't worry about your lower back because if your upper back is arched hard and you are looking forward with the elbows mostly pointing down then when you drop into the hole you could take a snap shot and it would look perfect because the back from the ass up should look like a straight line, not over arched.


Anyhow, I won't post anymore squat critiques in your thread, but I hope you don't take this the wrong way. You're doing excellent man. Keep up the good work.

Dont worry about it. I have no issues with you critiquing anything. I may not agree with you on everything but I definitely appreciate you taking the time out on this.

Also, you don't need to justify yourself with these big guys you get coached by

I agree with you: back needs to be tight. I'm gonna focus on this. I'm ironing out one tiny flaw at a time. 2 weeks ago I had a huge butt wink. This time there was hardly any. Next week I'll keep my upper back tight.

Thanks for the critique buddy

 

[Andalite]

PRESS TRAINING - Mesocycle 25 Week 1

This is last night's workout. I've worked out 4 days in a row and each workout has been hell. I am really looking forward to the next 3 days of rest I have. I will do some mobility drills on Thursday just to work on hip mobility but other than that there is nothing much planned.

Unilateral Overhead Press:
65 lbs x 5 reps
70 lbs x 5 reps
70 lbs x 5 reps
75 lbs x 2 reps
I am going to be alternating Unilateral Overhead Presses with Overhead Presses on a weekly basis.

BodyWeight Pull-ups:
13 + 10 + 10 + 9 = 42 reps
Decent. Gonna work on adding reps every week. I still want that 50 reps in 4 sets combo.

Facepulls:
75 lbs x15 reps x 2 sets

Cable WoodChops:
25 lbs x 15 reps
37.5 lbs x 15 reps
37.5 lbs x 15 reps
This was hard.

Video:

 

[the_alcatraz]

Good workout bro...looking solid!

 

[Andalite]

Good workout bro...looking solid!

Thanks, bro