how closely related are dead lifts to squats?

[bblazer]

bblazer - when i go really low on squats, which is how im doing it now, i feel like my hamstrings on the inner side of my thigh are about to rip out. im just pushing through it anyway. do you think this is from a problem with my form? or just from being kind of new to squats

It could be from being new to them, and/or a flexibility problem. I'm assuming that you feel this driving out of the hole. Can you tell if it is your glutes or hams that fire first? It should be our glutes.

Make sure you have are stretching your hams and glutes before you squat, and that you are doing at least 5x8 warm up sets starting at about 30% or your intended max for the session and making gradual weight increases until you get to your working sets. As an example, Karl Gillingham does at least 30 min of warm up squats before he gets to his 3-5 work sets.

Your warm up sets are also a great place to be nailing down your form too, since it will be with light weight. Be sure to go slow too, and actually warm up - don't just knock them out. You should have a good sweat going before you head into your work.

B-

 

[diedeadEnough]

It could be from being new to them, and/or a flexibility problem. I'm assuming that you feel this driving out of the hole. Can you tell if it is your glutes or hams that fire first? It should be our glutes.

Make sure you have are stretching your hams and glutes before you squat, and that you are doing at least 5x8 warm up sets starting at about 30% or your intended max for the session and making gradual weight increases until you get to your working sets. As an example, Karl Gillingham does at least 30 min of warm up squats before he gets to his 3-5 work sets.

Your warm up sets are also a great place to be nailing down your form too, since it will be with light weight. Be sure to go slow too, and actually warm up - don't just knock them out. You should have a good sweat going before you head into your work.

B-

thanks man, yes im feeling this when im going back up, but only when im really low. i think my glutes are going first, but before i got serious about squats, i did leg presses in the gym for a while. and felt hardly anything in my hams, but mostly glutes. so now its like my hamstrings are working harder to make up for it. i guess i kind of answered my own question but i didnt realize it until you told me this.

for warm ups, today i started real light, 95 pounds. i did sets of 12, adding on 20 pounds everytime until i got to 185. on 185 my max might have been around 15 or so on my 5th set. but im trying not to go to failure just yet. then i worked my way back down by 20's until i got 100 reps total. i didnt really have a good sweat going though, next time ill try warming up a little more like you said.