Blog Section > ADARQ & LanceSTS - Q&A
some questions
entropy:
I've been waiting for the right time to make a thread on your Q&A and always held back because I wasn't sure if it was a good enough question but i might have one now.
1. Tell me about the SSB. You are aware of my issues with squatting (fwd lean out of da hole, squatmorning tendency, trouble making it a quad dominant exercise rather than my stronger hamstrings etc). I've been reading about the safety squat bar. Could it help me? I tend to lose good position coming out of the hole, and according to what i've read the SSB allows you to be strongest in the weakest position (bottom) of a normal squat which is where I am having trouble
2. I made the change from LBBS to HBBS recently and it helps with the issues above but my squat is still very hamstring dominant. I have hamstring soreness postworkout even if I haven't done any specific hamstring exercise and no sprinting. In fact if you didn't know where I was putting the bar, it would be hard to distinguish it from my LBBS. I also think the imbalance btw hamstrings and quads is part of the reason why i've got problems coming out of the hole. Anything I can try to fix the imbalance? Because it seems if I just try to push my squat up, my hamstrings just get stronger, and my quads not so much.
2. I have a friend who is about 25, 6' tall, a good athlete in his day and weighs a fat ~90kg/200lb (maybe a few kilos less than this). He's got a wicked first step and very quick to accelerate from stationary even though he's fairly overfat. How does this work? Is it just genetics? I ask because he's far from the 10% I would need to be athletic, he's probably closer to 30% and yet the excess (dead) weight doesn't seem to stop him from being able to accelerate quickly when guarding him
LanceSTS:
--- Quote from: entropy on September 07, 2012, 03:19:24 pm ---I've been waiting for the right time to make a thread on your Q&A and always held back because I wasn't sure if it was a good enough question but i might have one now.
1. Tell me about the SSB. You are aware of my issues with squatting (fwd lean out of da hole, squatmorning tendency, trouble making it a quad dominant exercise rather than my stronger hamstrings etc). I've been reading about the safety squat bar. Could it help me? I tend to lose good position coming out of the hole, and according to what i've read the SSB allows you to be strongest in the weakest position (bottom) of a normal squat which is where I am having trouble
--- End quote ---
The safety squat bar is great if you have one, there are so many things you can do with it, and yes, it makes a back squat a "higher" high bar squat. If you have trouble staying upright in the squat, yet you can front squat upright, the safety bar can be that "tweener" that gets you to a more upright, squat.
The other thing about it is, you can turn it around and use it for front squats, wrapping the arms under and over the pad. This is by far the most comfortable front squat for most athletes, and really allows you to fatigue the legs without any issues with the rack position.
The other thing you can do with a safety squat bar is, keep your hands on the rack as you squat, making sure you are in a solid position in the hole and on the way up. You can gradually reduce the arms involvement as you groove and train the movement pattern, and eventually end up with a similar squat that you were only able to achieve via holding the rack previously.
One thing to remember though, if you try and "good morning" with a safety squat bar, it will rape your low back due to the higher positioning on the traps.
--- Quote ---2. I made the change from LBBS to HBBS recently and it helps with the issues above but my squat is still very hamstring dominant. I have hamstring soreness postworkout even if I haven't done any specific hamstring exercise and no sprinting. In fact if you didn't know where I was putting the bar, it would be hard to distinguish it from my LBBS. I also think the imbalance btw hamstrings and quads is part of the reason why i've got problems coming out of the hole. Anything I can try to fix the imbalance? Because it seems if I just try to push my squat up, my hamstrings just get stronger, and my quads not so much.
--- End quote ---
yes, you have a similar problem as many with your torso/leg length ratio that have been low bar squatting, youre much better at driving your hips up, than driving the chest and shoulders up first. The single best way to fix this imo is to front squat until that movement pattern becomes dominant. If you got a safety squat bar, holding the rack lightly as you pull yourself into a solid bottom position, and driving out upright would help this as well.
--- Quote ---2. I have a friend who is about 25, 6' tall, a good athlete in his day and weighs a fat ~90kg/200lb (maybe a few kilos less than this). He's got a wicked first step and very quick to accelerate from stationary even though he's fairly overfat. How does this work? Is it just genetics? I ask because he's far from the 10% I would need to be athletic, he's probably closer to 30% and yet the excess (dead) weight doesn't seem to stop him from being able to accelerate quickly when guarding him
--- End quote ---
Can be a number of different things, his timing, high rate coding/excitable cns, and even with the extra weight he may still have a fairly decent strength/bw ratio. but to make your first step lethal, watch where the defenders weight is. The second you get them back on their heels, or too far forward, make that step. It will appear 208% faster to the defender, even though its the same speed as your usual steps, its how you timed it. Also, 98.576 % of statistics are made up on the spot.
entropy:
Thanks lance. I appreciate the information, from your description the SSB sounds promising and 'll try find a gym which has one so I can test it out before I think of ordering one. Here is what I understand from what you have described about my issues - which I am grateful for because it's cleared up the picture in my head.
Basically - from a long time of LBBS squatting, i've got ingrained issues with driving hips out of the hole. This is only a problem because in the hole my back is inclined the greatest amount. In this inclined position that my back is in at the bottom, the additional factors of a)the weight bearing down, wanting to push my chest lower, rotating my torso to the ground, and b)my hips driving up hard, making the rotation i described even more likely. The SSB helps here because at the bottom, I can self-spot myself to stay upright, and all the while pushing hard against the floor with my legs - making it a leg dominant exercise because i have addressed the desire of the torso to rotate towards the ground. This is what you've described and it sounds spot on.
I just realised something now. When I first got my WL shoes, I hated them because the high heel would make it easier to tip forwards out of the hole in my low bar squats. But what I didn't know then was that was because I was driving hips first out of the hole and combined with the forward lean causing lower back placement, it made the whole situation worse. But i'm wondering now is if I put the bar in a high bar placement and then use WL shoes with a normal high heel, if that will help rather than hinder with staying upright. I wish I hadn't had my WL shoes modified now. I should have rather modified my squat to high bar.
--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---2. I have a friend who is about 25, 6' tall, a good athlete in his day and weighs a fat ~90kg/200lb (maybe a few kilos less than this). He's got a wicked first step and very quick to accelerate from stationary even though he's fairly overfat. How does this work? Is it just genetics? I ask because he's far from the 10% I would need to be athletic, he's probably closer to 30% and yet the excess (dead) weight doesn't seem to stop him from being able to accelerate quickly when guarding him
--- End quote ---
Can be a number of different things, his timing, high rate coding/excitable cns, and even with the extra weight he may still have a fairly decent strength/bw ratio. but to make your first step lethal, watch where the defenders weight is. The second you get them back on their heels, or too far forward, make that step. It will appear 208% faster to the defender, even though its the same speed as your usual steps, its how you timed it. Also, 98.576 % of statistics are made up on the spot.
--- End quote ---
great tip, can't wait to try it out! i forgot to mention when I weighed ~30kg more than I do now, Lance my standing vertical was still around 22" .. which is where it had been since my teen years when i was about 40kg lighter. I would have expected it to have gone down but it never did.
Raptor:
The last thing I would've thought about was Lance being hyperdunk's son. Boy that explains a lot!
LanceSTS:
--- Quote from: entropy on September 08, 2012, 05:06:54 am ---Thanks lance. I appreciate the information, from your description the SSB sounds promising and 'll try find a gym which has one so I can test it out before I think of ordering one. Here is what I understand from what you have described about my issues - which I am grateful for because it's cleared up the picture in my head.
Basically - from a long time of LBBS squatting, i've got ingrained issues with driving hips out of the hole. This is only a problem because in the hole my back is inclined the greatest amount. In this inclined position that my back is in at the bottom, the additional factors of a)the weight bearing down, wanting to push my chest lower, rotating my torso to the ground, and b)my hips driving up hard, making the rotation i described even more likely. The SSB helps here because at the bottom, I can self-spot myself to stay upright, and all the while pushing hard against the floor with my legs - making it a leg dominant exercise because i have addressed the desire of the torso to rotate towards the ground. This is what you've described and it sounds spot on.
I just realised something now. When I first got my WL shoes, I hated them because the high heel would make it easier to tip forwards out of the hole in my low bar squats. But what I didn't know then was that was because I was driving hips first out of the hole and combined with the forward lean causing lower back placement, it made the whole situation worse. But i'm wondering now is if I put the bar in a high bar placement and then use WL shoes with a normal high heel, if that will help rather than hinder with staying upright. I wish I hadn't had my WL shoes modified now. I should have rather modified my squat to high bar.
--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---2. I have a friend who is about 25, 6' tall, a good athlete in his day and weighs a fat ~90kg/200lb (maybe a few kilos less than this). He's got a wicked first step and very quick to accelerate from stationary even though he's fairly overfat. How does this work? Is it just genetics? I ask because he's far from the 10% I would need to be athletic, he's probably closer to 30% and yet the excess (dead) weight doesn't seem to stop him from being able to accelerate quickly when guarding him
--- End quote ---
Can be a number of different things, his timing, high rate coding/excitable cns, and even with the extra weight he may still have a fairly decent strength/bw ratio. but to make your first step lethal, watch where the defenders weight is. The second you get them back on their heels, or too far forward, make that step. It will appear 208% faster to the defender, even though its the same speed as your usual steps, its how you timed it. Also, 98.576 % of statistics are made up on the spot.
--- End quote ---
great tip, can't wait to try it out! i forgot to mention when I weighed ~30kg more than I do now, Lance my standing vertical was still around 22" .. which is where it had been since my teen years when i was about 40kg lighter. I would have expected it to have gone down but it never did.
--- End quote ---
Exactly on point with the squat, if you keep your chest and shoulders UP, you CANT turn it into a squatmorning/low back exercise. The good with the ss is it allows you to use your hands to keep this position, once youve strengthened that movement pattern it will be a lot easier to repeat it without the arms spotting you.
re sv, yea, its a "slower' jump, so your leg strength to bw ratio matters a lot, compared to a running jump where more fat mass tends to have a greater effect, regardless of strength ratios. If you had cut weight yet maintained your strength after you had trained, you would have likely seen a nice increase.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version