My Cousin is the WORST Squatter I've ever seen!

[AnimalMass1]

Guys, (and Spatts)

I have to get some help for my cousin. He's been training with us (Springfield Crew) since August, and his squat hasn't gone up one pound.

Now, I know the KC crew has worked with The Project and really helped him out. (That's not to put The Project down, I just know he has made some great gains since he has been with Hannibal and Spatts - and that he was an extremely inexperienced lifter before that).

Here's the deal. My cousin couldn't squat 155 with the safety squat bar today. He benches over 225. I swear, I've never heard of such a pitiful squat to bench ratio.

He just looks painful to watch. (Maybe I can get one of you guys to post a video of him for me.) He epitomizes everything that is wrong with squatting: his knees are way in front of his ankles, his knees come together worse than anyone I have ever seen, he doesn't sit back, when he hits the box, he sits on it for about 5 minutes before attempting to stand up again. It actually makes me sick to my stomach to watch him squat.

He says he has really bad hip pain and hip tightness when he squats. I have come to the conclusion that his hips are his weakness.

The reason I believe this, is for several reasons:

1) He can do glute ham raises very strict and even with bands around his neck all day long.

2) His Goodmornings aren't bad at all - and way above what he squats, even when doing them low and strict.

3) He deadlifts 350, which sucks, but is still over 200 lbs more than he squats.

So I assume, if hips are his problem, there are several things we can do; he needs to take a hot shower or bath before squatting, he should get some liniment or something to put on his hips as well, we should really get him into some groove briefs, and maybe he should start pulling ultra-wide sumo alot in order to bring his hips up, also maybe spread eagle situps?

Please help me help him. It sucks when you have 3 pretty damn good lifters in a gym (one of which squats over 800) and none of us can figure out why he is so bad at this.

Thanks!

AnimalMass

 

[spatts]

AM, PM me and I'll take a lok at (or post) the vid.

 

[GRIMMER]

I know that when i first started squatting with a wide stance i had terrible hip/ inner thigh/ groing pain. The best thing i did was to gradually brings my stance out and if his box is pretty low you should bring t up to maybe an inch or two above parrallel. until he can learn to sit back properly.

Briefs were a great investment as well.
The exercises that yoiu mention especially spread eagles worked great for me. Band adductor work is good for outer thigh.

 

[Liftbig]

yeah defiantly move his stance in a little then gradually move it out like grimmer said, and the higher box is a good idea too.

get him dragging a sled for his hips too, this is helping me.

 

[genemachine]

New news here is that he's thinking about quitting. And for the first time in my life, I'm not discouraging him from doing so. The poor guy just doesn't have it. If he's going for a PR and you scream obscenities at him, or bitch slap him, He just looks startled and very afraid. I don't know what to do. When he lost 155 on the safety squat bar the other day, I just almost died... four months and no gains. He complains about the belt pinching him, and the ridiculously large shirt biting the backs of his arms. Truth is, I don't think he's willing to do what it is going to take for him to get stronger... oh well, different strokes for different folks. (That really doesn't rhyme)

 

[spatts]

Do you think he would complain about the details less if he were seeing results?

For the record, screaming at me doesn't work either. Just makes me want to smack the person silly till they shut up so I can concentrate. It's like trying to reach instant karma with Yoko Ono playing at full blast. Makes me see red...toward the person, not the weight.

 

[genemachine]

Yeah, probably. But again, I don't think he's willing to make the necessary changes. You know me Spatts, I'm not a large guy to say the least, but I'm eating like a freak to gain weight, etc. I love powerlifting, so I'll do what it takes to get ridiculously strong. He's much smaller than me and doesn't want to gain weight. Nicest guy in the world, but I'm not really sure he cares that much.

 

[spatts]

...and that's ok. It's better he be real with himself, and for you guys to let him know that's cool.

 

[bigokie]

Hey AM, well powerlifting is not for everyone. It hurts like hell and is hard on you and if you do it enough you are probably gonna get hurt. Now having said that, if he is willing to keep it up, you are just gonna have to find out how to motivate him to lift harder. If someone slapped me before a lift I would probably knock out there teeth. I like being yelled at though. So you just gotta find out what works.

If he decided to stick with it, start him out on a taller box. It's much easier to get form down. Then after a while lower it slowly. Briefs are gonna help a lot. Have him do some hip work with bands. That should help some too.

Powerlifting is not for everyone. He'll have to give it everything you got just to be good at it. He'll have to make sacrifices to get better, he'll just have to choose for himself.

Later

 

[genemachine]

True, true. I had a conversation with him earlier to let him know that it's cool if he doesn't want to do it. And I agree with bigOkie that if he does, I'll do whatever it takes to motivate him. Didn't want to give anyone the wrong impression about the obscenities and bitch slap. I was trying to communicate an attitude in the gym that says mind over matter. We're not mean to him, nor have we ever bitch slapped him, just a figure of speech. I'm very cool with him opting out if powerlifting just isn't in him. I've just been trying to gently communicate to him that he should lift for the type of results he wants. If you want to look like an A&F model, Westside just wont deliver on that. So I'll keep you posted on what he decides. I feel like we should definately implement the exercises that you all have suggested, and see if he gets results with them. Maybe then he will be able to make a more well-founded decision. Thanks for the help!