Author Topic: chasing athleticism  (Read 923831 times)

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LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #180 on: August 16, 2012, 02:46:28 pm »
+1
Btw i realised that what I thought was a groin strain is actually probably my quads. It was fairly high up my leg so easy to confuse. The reason I mention this is, it makes sense that my leg strength has been lower this wk for that reason. By that I mean the front squats have been a lot harder than they should have been (not being able to triple 105 maybe cos its heavy, but 100 and 85? yeah thats def odd).

The other thing is today i was practicising squats and trying to figure out a way to make my backsquat more upright and athletic. I tried putting a plate under my heels, and using a highbar position (incidientally this makes no difference whatsoever to my backsquat form whether its highbar or lowbar placement). But I can't do it, no matter what I try my back isn't upright its always always angled as usual.



What I dont understand and i'd be grateful if someone can point it out to me, why can't I get my backsquat to be similar to my front squat? What is it about putting the bar on my back which makes this impossible? I can do an upright looking front squat - but all my backsquats regardless of stance, bar placement, knee break and so on makes no difference.

That looks pretty good to me considering your levers.

 If you want to remain more upright in your squat, start with the weight centered more towards the heel a little. This will enable you to push the knees a little farther forward, without getting onto the toes and affecting the knees in a negative way. 

  The position you have there in the hole is a world away from a 90 degree torso low  bar hump squat, and will generate tons of quad/glute activity.
Relax.

LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #181 on: August 16, 2012, 02:53:50 pm »
0

  Also, those pictures from Rippetoe are not indicative of the position REQUIRED in any squat, nor optimal in many peoples definition.  Those are drawings from THEM, keep that in mind.

 I posted some videos of a 6'2 guy with a very short torso/long leg  build doing heavy squats with the low  bar position, and keeping a much more vertical torso than many have with a high  bar position.  There is only so far you can push the torso angle though and that pic is not  bad at all.  As your LEGS get stronger and you get used to driving the squat that way, you will start to naturally get more vertical as well.

« Last Edit: August 16, 2012, 03:13:17 pm by LanceSTS »
Relax.

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #182 on: August 16, 2012, 03:18:42 pm »
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Knees point ahead?

Wish me luck going lower than half squat depth with my knees pointing straight forward...

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #183 on: August 16, 2012, 03:21:27 pm »
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Knees point ahead?

Wish me luck going lower than half squat depth with my knees pointing straight forward...

lol .. you gotta be squatting pretty deep to achieve that I think! I can do it with FS but no way with LBBS. Btw you mean, knees pointing up not forward right?
« Last Edit: August 16, 2012, 03:23:59 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #184 on: August 16, 2012, 03:23:02 pm »
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Quote
That looks pretty good to me considering your levers.

Thanks. I think my form on BS is kind of ok now. When the weights get heavier though, i'll start getting bent over and it will be squatmorny. It's kind of inevitable.. but lets see, this is the first time i've obsessed with getting form perfect rather than just good enough to get by

Quote
If you want to remain more upright in your squat, start with the weight centered more towards the heel a little. This will enable you to push the knees a little farther forward, without getting onto the toes and affecting the knees in a negative way. 

love the tips. Will try that tomorrow, thank you!

Quote
The position you have there in the hole is a world away from a 90 degree torso low  bar hump squat, and will generate tons of quad/glute activity!

true its not a blatant GM atm.

Believe it or not but i've come a long way in my backsquat from just this last month so i'm happy to keep trying to improve it. hopefully i can get it to a point where its good enuf and then i can just concentrate on maintaining form while adding mad weight (the plan is to do that once im done cutting to 10% bf). So i'm trying to get my ducks in a row for once i'm ready to gain some weight and hopefully add some 40kg to my backsquat to finally get that 2BW BS etc.

I just spent a good amount of tonight reading stuff about squatting and ive got some ideas to try out tomorrow for being more upright.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jxTc2ITA8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jxTc2ITA8</a>

I watched some chinese oly lifters backsquat and i noticed they're looking UP not just infront. im going to experiment with that to see if it makes me more upright. I also read that for HBBS you want to lead up with the chest (not hips) out of the hole).. but im not sure if that will work with my current squat.

Btw i'm not sure when it happened, but i think ive decided at some point I want to switch to HBBS. I dont know if you'll approve lance, because i know you like aspects of the LBBS, i just feel like i'd like to squat in a way which will make my legs stronger and make my front squat go up without the actual pain of front squatting heavy often. I still wanna FS 2x a week, and at least 1x heavy but getting a bit intimidated by setting a PR every time i do them since im not very sure if my form is good
« Last Edit: August 16, 2012, 03:28:23 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #185 on: August 16, 2012, 03:32:06 pm »
0

  I think its a fine idea if you want to switch to high bar, but keep plenty of direct ham work in your program so your knees dont start bugging out. 

The low bar position is easier on many peoples knees and helps the imbalance issues that many have, but should still be done in a similar manner to a high bar squat and intentionally made into a deadlift so you can lift more weight. 
Relax.

LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #186 on: August 16, 2012, 03:34:32 pm »
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Knees point ahead?

Wish me luck going lower than half squat depth with my knees pointing straight forward...

I dont think that picture is optimal for everyone, it was only to show that there are many different opinions on squats than what rippetoe preaches has to happen.  Look at the low  bar squats that are in the article thread, many different ways to do things, depends on what your goals are. 
Relax.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #187 on: August 16, 2012, 03:38:08 pm »
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  I think its a fine idea if you want to switch to high bar, but keep plenty of direct ham work in your program so your knees dont start bugging out.

Definitely, i'll not stop doing RDLs, they're always staying in my training now regardless of what squats i'm using.

Quote
The low bar position is easier on many peoples knees and helps the imbalance issues that many have, but should still be done in a similar manner to a high bar squat and intentionally made into a deadlift so you can lift more weight.  

ive been having knee problems lately but never had them when i did only LBBS. I think from bad reps on the FS. Understood though, i'll keep that in mind.

Thanks again lance.

Also that picture (raptors) was drawn by lon kilgore. i can't remember who drew the 2nd one but it might have been kono but i could be wrong
« Last Edit: August 16, 2012, 03:55:44 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #188 on: August 16, 2012, 04:14:31 pm »
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I dont think that picture is optimal for everyone, it was only to show that there are many different opinions on squats than what rippetoe preaches has to happen.

Um... there are?

LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #189 on: August 16, 2012, 05:23:04 pm »
0

  I think its a fine idea if you want to switch to high bar, but keep plenty of direct ham work in your program so your knees dont start bugging out.

Definitely, i'll not stop doing RDLs, they're always staying in my training now regardless of what squats i'm using.

Quote
The low bar position is easier on many peoples knees and helps the imbalance issues that many have, but should still be done in a similar manner to a high bar squat and intentionally made into a deadlift so you can lift more weight.  

ive been having knee problems lately but never had them when i did only LBBS. I think from bad reps on the FS. Understood though, i'll keep that in mind.

Thanks again lance.

Also that picture (raptors) was drawn by lon kilgore. i can't remember who drew the 2nd one but it might have been kono but i could be wrong

 Kilgore the first one ya, kono the second one.  http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympic-squat-tommy-kono.html
Relax.

LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #190 on: August 16, 2012, 05:39:53 pm »
+1
  also, didnt see your question earlier on chest/hip drive, but I like the cue of "driving the floor away from you".  Think of staying tight and upright on the way down, then push the floor away from you, while maintaining the torso position.  This seems to work the best for most imo.
Relax.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #191 on: August 17, 2012, 11:36:26 am »
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  also, didnt see your question earlier on chest/hip drive, but I like the cue of "driving the floor away from you".  Think of staying tight and upright on the way down, then push the floor away from you, while maintaining the torso position.  This seems to work the best for most imo.

good one, i should collect these into one place somewhere!
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism: w8d3
« Reply #192 on: August 17, 2012, 11:42:38 am »
0
Training
TM warmup (~3 minutes, damn i havent done cardio for months! i shud add some in to help with fat loss, maybe weds)
SQ 2x112.5 (to think i was conservative ONLY going for 112.5 lol .. i bombed this, horrible forms)
FS 3x105 (PR), 3x95 (backoff set)
SQ 3x6x102.5  (ok form, I wish I had some traps so I could do HB, the damn thing is uncomfy on my bone lol)
5x30m sprints (best time 04:38 - i couldnt get close to this time a 2nd time though, all my other times were around 04:60 so dunno, might just be an erronous measurement altho i did feel very quick on that sprint so .. we'll see)
~5 SVJ jumps
BP 6,5,5 77.5 (ive stalled already, now what? fuck)
~20 deadhang chins

FS form was horrible, my 3rd rep was super ugly. upper back rounded like a mothafucker. just a bad training week, my legs have been piss weak, hoping next week will be better. i would post the video but its too ugly.. edit i'll post it anyway

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Szmw2i06Ug" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Szmw2i06Ug</a>

Was good to sprint after almost 3 wks off. have picked up where i left off which is good.

Did some jumps, my SVJ is VERY close to my 2 step RVJ (is this called drop step?) - but I could hit the rim SVJ with the base of my palm, close to my wrist, so thats 7.5" above the rim, making my SVJ 29.5" - it counts for fuck all though cos i still cant dunk )

This whole thing took me hours. I've decided to move RDLs to mondays. Also moving bench assistance to mondays. And i'm thinking i should do bw chinups on weds, and on mondays and fridays i should do banded ones in the AM so my usual PM workouts dont get too long.

i'll make a detailed post of my program soon, have to move around a few exercises so workloads btw sessions is evenly distributed

Bodyweight: 83.6kg
« Last Edit: August 17, 2012, 11:57:49 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism: seeking program feedback
« Reply #193 on: August 17, 2012, 03:52:18 pm »
0


ok guys tell me why its stupid or what i should fix .. or do differently

also shud i be doing PENDLAY ROWS? What day?

Anything else i shud add or remove
« Last Edit: August 18, 2012, 05:55:47 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

LanceSTS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #194 on: August 17, 2012, 05:16:02 pm »
0

  What are your top 5 priorities or goals  in order 1-5?

 
Relax.