*** The 2015 Gym Rats Thread ***

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mrthingyx said:
No, you are just not engaging your glutes. :)

You are using your quads to push your hips back and up, and then your back to lift the bar the rest of the way up. What you need to do is push through your heels and force your hips through; this is where your hamstrings, quads and glutes should all be working together. :)

Another cue to remember which might help is "big chest" to keep yourself upright and push in the right way. :)

Try it.
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Thanks for that! What are your thoughts on where your hips come down to in relation to your heels? I've read ideally your hips would be over the heels but my glutes don't seem to play when I try that.
 
FutileBreadMachine said:
Let me quote my man Rip on this:
"Bounce occurs optimally at the correct speed of descent. If your descent is too fast, the bounce will be less effective, and much less safe, because the only way to drop too fast is to relax something. Muscles tightened in the squat descent store elastic energy; tight muscles also keep your back, hips, and knees in the correct, safe positions. If you are loose enough to drop into the bottom of the squat much faster than you can come up, you need to tighten up more – and it may help to think of this as slowing – on the way down. A loose descent can allow joints to be jammed into positions they should not occupy, and this is how most people get hurt squatting: getting out of good position by going down so fast that they cannot maintain proper technique. This may be how squats got an undeserved bad reputation. Don’t contribute to the problem by dive-bombing into the bottom.
Rippetoe, Mark (2013-11-07). Starting Strength (Kindle Locations 1337-1341). The Aasgaard Company. Kindle Edition."

Also watch Chris Duffin's vids where he talks about ripping the floor apart with your feet so your quads and glutes are activated from the start rather than suddenly having to jump into action at the bottom of the squat.
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Rip is an idiot. However, in this case, he is talking about low bar squatting and is kind of correct. As is Duffin.
 
Delvis said:
I was merely pointing out you didn't appear to be breathing IN to your belt, thus making it somewhat pointless.

But it's no issue :p
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I was replying to Freefaller re; camera angles/catchers etc. It's easier to film from the front/side as there's a lot of open space behind the rack and I worry someone would run off with my phone while I had my back to it.

Tbh the belt isn't that tight anyway since I'm so tiny it's on either the tightest notch or 2nd to last notch (and is a size small anyway) and just gives me something to feel my abs against rather than having to breathe in deeply just to be able close the lever. It's a bit of a comfort blanket and I could probably get away with just a velcro-y oly style belt. :roll eyes:

EDIT - dropped back down to 62.8kg the last few days, FFS. I should just dreamer bulk and get fat again.
 
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Jon33 said:
Thanks for that! What are your thoughts on where your hips come down to in relation to your heels? I've read ideally your hips would be over the heels but my glutes don't seem to play when I try that.
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Depends what you're trying to achieve.

Most people have different anatomy, so no two people will squat the same way.

To take a view on this, we'd need to see you squat (video from side and back) because things like femoral length, hip socket shape, mobility (ankle, hip and thorax) all influence what somebody's squat looks like.

Some very general things to think about, however:

- foot/stance width;
- knee travel (no, it's not bad if done 'right');

Feet should be wider than your shoulders, so when squatting with just the bar, maintaining a neutral spine (i.e. brace like a boss with a big chest) and keeping the weight over your heels, where does your bum go?

It will take a bit of bouncing around trying to find the 'right' position (and then bedding this in with a lot of paused squats) but with a bit of luck you'll probably find it at around parallel with your feet wider than expected and your hips feeling like they're about to dislocate.

This is why top Olympic lifters can all (so it would seem) get very close to doing the splits: their hip/adductor/abductor/whatever flexibility is very good and therefore can cope with angles that most ordinary people cannot. :)
 
Go back on shift tomorrow night, waaaaah. Used today to mess about with lower body stuff, will probably do the same for upper tomorrow then I'll have a nice 4 day (aka night) rest.

90kg front squat (10kg PB) without much upper back caving, which was nice as the last time I tried 80kg that was slow and horrible, but that went up real quick so I did a double, 85kg went up quick, so tried 90kg and that wasn't too awful. 135kg deadlift (also 10kg PB). Braced better and didn't lose the bar forward like when I went for 130kg about 6 weeks ago. Woot. Was pretty slow mind you but 130kg went up quick. 140kg by xmas plz jeff. Didn't film either though so it didn't happen.
 
It's a small (manlet) world. Reks me number-wise on the big 3, we're about even on OHP and I think pull-ups are probably the only thing I'm ahead on (and rows but I do seals which makes it easier). Lots of catching up to do.

Pretty sweet thinking about actually since I have someone who knows what they're doing who can look at my iffy bench form whenever he's back down from uni. And teach me to sumo deadlift. And maybe coach me. *cough*
 
Hey guys, it's been 4 weeks (going onto week 5) since I started training again. I decided to run 5x5 (ICF) to get into decent numbers before doing anything else. I'm now at 120/80/140 for squats, bench and deadlifts respectively (5x5). Now, I'm wondering if I should continue with the 5x5 format, or switch to what I was doing prior to my stint of poor health (Greyskull LP), or look into an intermediate program such as the Texas method/531?
 
Begbie said:
Carry on until you stop progressing. Currently doing the same with Madcow.
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Thanks, I added 5kg each workout on the squat which definitely was too much, so I will take the linear progression slower this time. I'm thinking about throwing in a deload week at 60-70% after every 4 weeks to give myself a bit of a rest.

Out of interest, what did you run prior to madcow?
 
The Chemist said:
Thanks, I added 5kg each workout on the squat which definitely was too much, so I will take the linear progression slower this time. I'm thinking about throwing in a deload week at 60-70% after every 4 weeks to give myself a bit of a rest.

Out of interest, what did you run prior to madcow?
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I'd recommend madcow if your progression is stopping/slowing down. You won't progress as fast as SL etc.

I done 5/3/1, which I used to always love and worked great. Last attempt it was as though I wasn't getting anyway and the gym was always a grind. Changed to madcow (pretty much a simplier workout) and everything clicked again.
 
mrthingyx said:
Skinny manlet that consistently outlifts a fair few of us who are over 5'2?

I bet you have your own secret society or something... ;)
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Somnambulist said:
It's a small (manlet) world. Reks me number-wise on the big 3, we're about even on OHP and I think pull-ups are probably the only thing I'm ahead on (and rows but I do seals which makes it easier). Lots of catching up to do.

Pretty sweet thinking about actually since I have someone who knows what they're doing who can look at my iffy bench form whenever he's back down from uni. And teach me to sumo deadlift. And maybe coach me. *cough*
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One day I'll stop being so skinny, I'm trying to get out of the weight class but it means being extremely uncompetitive for a year or two, but it does mean I get to ignore cutting for a while too!

And I'm more than happy to help out Somnambulist, I'll let you know when I'm back and we can organize a training session or two. You'll be ahead of me in lifts in no time. My problem is that I have a permanent injury so I'm always broken in some way.
 
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