*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

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LiE said:
Squat is coming along nicely for me. Today saw me do 110kg x 10, 120kg x 8 x 2.

Should be interesting to test my max on squat as previously it was 130kg x 4.
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It's quite surprising really, you have an amazing deadlift. Although your squat is lagging behind somewhat.

I found with myself if the one improve, so did the other somewhat.

Have you tried, doing one heavy week followed by light week at 50-60% of your maxes for 15-20 reps?

I do that every few months for a month or two and it really helps me upping my maxes by getting past sticking points. Specially by focussing on Explosive Strenth and Speed during the light week.
 
Normally I do 3 weeks of strength followed by 4 weeks of mass centric training. I may incorporate some high volume stuff in between depending on time. I think the main reason my squat is lagging is down to not training legs for a long time, because I was a noob. Then when I started to get into legs I caused a strain to my groin which put me off again. Squat feels very comfortable now going really deep, so I just need to stick at it.

Deadlift for me at the top end of my max needs a little work in the form area I think. I'm surprised how many people don't do a deadlift from low down each rep, instead opting for almost half a rep by only going down a little.
 
My problem is my legs are still fairly small. Although being infrot of a computer most of my life for around 80% of the day doesn't help. Haha

I'm more focussed on strength then mass really. As such I only do plenty of reps on my light weeks, even then just focussing on speed and explosive power.

On the note of deadlift, during my reps I make the plates touch the ground before coming back up.
In my college gym a lot more people are deadlifting from seeing me and my frieds. Sadly no only do they curve their back badly and do half reps basically, they also hyper extend their backs backward at the top; instead of just straightening.
 
^^ that is perfect deadlifting form, more or less.

Box squats were fun today, so tempting to go heavy now that I've nailed the form. Might do triples at 160kg next monday but that's pretty much as far as I'll take it considering it's meant to be a light squatting day.

Bench seems ok (was worried about shoulder), 4x4x110kg was pretty easy. Shoulders were a little hot afterwards but nothing messy.

Deads on wednesday will begin to get interesting. 4x4x212.5kg will be a rep pb, but considering I did 5x210kg a couple of months ago I'll be more interested in the speed of the lift than worried about completing the sets (hopefully).
 
collisster said:
How do people have such good squats? I'm really struggling to improve mine. I'm on 65kg for 3 sets of 5 reps atm yet I can DL 130kg :/
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form - is yours good? if not this will hamper you.
have you progressed up to 65kg then stopped, or are you still progressing?

some times it can be good to not squat. do something else to hammer the legs, say leg press heavy, extensions heavy and RDLs heavy, for a few weeks.
calves - are yours lagging? you'd be surprised how much your calves are involved.
 
Deadlifts should be lifted from a dead stop. Hence 'deadlift'. Not only is it safer as it allows you to reset for each rep and will help lessen any rounding should your form be poor but it's also harder than 'touch and go'.
 
Morba said:
form - is yours good? if not this will hamper you.
have you progressed up to 65kg then stopped, or are you still progressing?

some times it can be good to not squat. do something else to hammer the legs, say leg press heavy, extensions heavy and RDLs heavy, for a few weeks.
calves - are yours lagging? you'd be surprised how much your calves are involved.
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I've been working on my form, I went down to 10kg a side so I could get just past parallel so I guess I'm progressing, Its just the weight is so low!

cheers
 
collisster said:
How do people have such good squats? I'm really struggling to improve mine. I'm on 65kg for 3 sets of 5 reps atm yet I can DL 130kg :/
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Foot wear also plays a large role. Don't squat in runners!
The padding in it, is made for shock absorption so all the force you're trying to drive into the ground is going into the padding first.

So you lose a lot of energy befor ethe bar actually starts moving.

Try using converse or going barefoot.

Also like Morba said, check your form. I prefer wide stance for squatting as it involves my glutes and hamstring a lot more.

Also strangely, lately my calves have been suffering from massive doms during squats, which only confirmed that I was neglecting them quite a bit recently.
 
I just wear a pair of High top Chuck Taylors. Does the job for me.

I got a new pair last week, as the inside on my old pair was sloping out the the outside, from my feet pushing down and out on them.

Apparently having shoes for over 3 years isn't that good if you use them for everything haha. I'd say that little slope contributed to my leg injury.
 
Either my back day in general, the introduction of towel pull ups, high rep shrugs or the HIIT row to finish has butchered my traps, rhombs and rear delts. Never had DOMS this bad before in these areas. It's going to make my push split, specifically any pressing quite difficult. Not to mention the tendeness before I've the bar on my back to squat!
 
collisster said:
I've been working on my form, I went down to 10kg a side so I could get just past parallel so I guess I'm progressing, Its just the weight is so low!

cheers
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You might want to think about learning to box squat. IMO no one should just get under a bar and squat if they haven't done it before partly because people tend to worry about the depth but with a box you don't have to. Having seen the difference it has made to my brothers squats, a friend's and my own I can definitely recommend them. If you use them right, and it is heading towards your goal (mainly powerlifting), there is no real need to train back squat other than on your max lifts.

I'm not saying go do it now because you are in the middle of progressing in another way but just give it a thought.
 
Djdom56 said:
You might want to think about learning to box squat. IMO no one should just get under a bar and squat if they haven't done it before partly because people tend to worry about the depth but with a box you don't have to. Having seen the difference it has made to my brothers squats, a friend's and my own I can definitely recommend them. If you use them right, and it is heading towards your goal (mainly powerlifting), there is no real need to train back squat other than on your max lifts.

I'm not saying go do it now because you are in the middle of progressing in another way but just give it a thought.
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Agree agree agree.

Just learn to box squat safely, as it can cause some big damage.
 
I wish I had a squat rack and box for box squats at the college.

They're knocking down the walls during the summer and building a new one, so hopefully we'll get some new stuff in then.
 
I use the sides of the Olympic Squat Rack at my Gym to get down parellel to the ground, seems to work for me. I'm sticking to low weights though until I build my strength and confidence - last time I recall doing only 3 sets of 8 reps at 60kg, which is a bit crap really...but hopefully I can go up today.
 
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