What the Difference Between an Oly Squat and a PL Squat?

[skaman607]

just wondering

 

[rjl296]

i think -
oly squat. ass to the floor, with bar in hands in front of body - by shoulders.

pl -wide, works hams/glutes and only to parallel

 

[slobberknocker]

Olympic guys do a lot of front squats, I know that.

 

[skaman607]

i think -
oly squat. ass to the floor, with bar in hands in front of body - by shoulders.

pl -wide, works hams/glutes and only to parallel

hands in front of body?

 

[Zander1983]

"hands in front of body" refers to a front squat (http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/FrontSquat.html).

 

[bignate73]

an olympic squat seems to be more of a sit down type squat that goes ass to floor, with the torso more vertical. more conducive to catching a clean or snatch.

a PL squat is a "sit back" squat, which distributes the weight much more over the hip/glutes. PL'ers have to drop below parallel but not ATF.

 

[endpoint]

an olympic squat seems to be more of a sit down type squat that goes ass to floor, with the torso more vertical. more conducive to catching a clean or snatch.

a PL squat is a "sit back" squat, which distributes the weight much more over the hip/glutes. PL'ers have to drop below parallel but not ATF.

Yep pretty much it.

the Oly squat has a closer stance, lower depth, the bar is placed higher on the BACK (rjl296) arms are usually in closer too (dont know why) The torso remains in an upright position.

this movement tends to favor the quads due to the close stance

 

[spatts]

A PL depth depends on federation too. The USAPL squat requirement is ATF, in the APF we only have to go parallel.

 

[skaman607]

So your knees go in front of your feet during an oly squat?

 

[casualbb]

Yeah, a little. Fred Hatfield seemed to think it was okay if your knees traveled past your feet a bit.

Off of exrx.net:

Contrary to propaganda to the contrary, prominent weight training authorities demonstrate the squat with the knees flexing forward at the same distance as the hips flex backwards. Fredrick Hatfield, Ph.D., the first man to squat over 800 lbs, recommends the knees to extend over the feet with the back more upright for quadriceps development.

-casualbb