The Syla5 Files

Ouch, sorry to hear man. What warm ups/stretches did you do prior? I've noticed I'm quite stiff in the morning and have to really hit my hips in order to get squats working for me,.

its nothing to serious really, i just havent squatted heavy (110+) since the meet, and before that it was also a while since i was squatting 110+ as well.


As for warmups, i do the bar, then i do some cross band walks, then i do the mobility wad hip opener, and i did some warmups, 55x5 75x3 95x2 then on to my working sets.

I think its a little bit of no strong squatting for a while, and no substantial fuel in my body from eating a full days diet!

I have a video that i will upload and my concerns re form at that as i get heavy my knees collapse in, i force them out again, but i need to understand where this weakness is coming from and how to get rid of it.
 
Short of icecold dropping in, my coach pointed this out to me and said the best way to correct it (obviously) is to force your knees apart right at the top of the movement, otherwise recovering it is pretty impossible.

I've also stopped squatting in trainers, which seems to have helped...
 
i squat bare foot anyway, also this only happens at the bottom of the rep, i can easily force the knees back out again. I am wondering if it is a tight something or other that is causing the issue. On the plus side, my depth seems to be better with no tuck which i am happy with :)
 
It could be that you aren't initiating the movement properly from the bottom. It's quite common for the knees to come in and use the quads to push the weight up, rather than using the glutes.
 

there we go 107.5x5 first set from this morning, 2nd and 3rd sets belted up so a little more stable but still similar knee issues.
 
5's week 2 has come to a close.

Totals for the big lifts at the end of this week were as follows:

Deadlift 125
Squat 107.5
bench 70
OHP 47.5

All done for 3 sets of 5

I wasnt to please with my squat or deadlift performances but i think this is a combination of not lifting anything heavy in quite a few months and also never lifting heavy in the mornings.

Deadlifts 2nd set on video, although i didnt rest up long enough between sets, the angle isnt great, but i still feel the wider stance is more beneficial then my old stance.


next week i am going to carry on with 5's but i think the weights wont change much, as i will be squatting twice next week i am going to stick with 107.5 on monday and then move to 110 on friday. Deads i shall keep at 125.

Considering my body weight is now around 69kg i am happy with these numbers for my first post cut heavy lifts, but i want to push cycle 2 harder!
 
I'm presuming the knees coming in at the bottom could be 'out side of the hip' related (sorry, don't know the fancy names)

That or ankles? There will be something tight along the leg chain anyway :p
 
Well yes. But if his knees are popping in at a low point (which to the video it doesn't seem like anything) then I would presume there is some tightness somewhere.

i dont know if lie is talking about my DL video or not lol.

As for your thoughts on my squat, knee issue, i am thinking the same, some kind of tightness, but i am wondering if it is a weakness somewhere that i need to work on.

Going to change a couple of the exercises next time i hit 5's. I am ditching leg press for walking lunges and BB curls for chin ups as i think this will be better over all :)
 
Well, I can only give you ideas for whats worked for me and what has been tight I guess. I'd try stretching the outer part of my hip, and potentially do squat stretches.

Something like this seems to help me currently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUKWnGcu5Ss

I basically start with the knees narrow, work down and then work out, basically floss my way through the pain :p
 
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He may not have full tightness in the glutes/hamstrings which can cause the form to change as you begin to lift and the slack is taken up. However you also need to actively try maintain the arse down chest up que. It's very easy to fall into a pulling the bar off the floor lift rather than a pushing the bar away from the floor lift.

edit: deadlift of course.
 
Hmmmm... squats definitely have the travelling knees.

Can you get your bum further back? I can't really see from the angle, but combining that with pushing your knees out to the right angle at the top is something I've been working on to get my glutes more involved in the squat.

Regarding the deadlift, LiE's suggestion rings true - there seems to be a lot of 'pull' on the bar during the first half of the lift.

Nice weights, however - kicking my posterior with over 20kgs more mass (not necessarily muscle, of course)!
 
next week i am going to carry on with 5's but i think the weights wont change much, as i will be squatting twice next week i am going to stick with 107.5 on monday and then move to 110 on friday. Deads i shall keep at 125.
Don't be a pussy! ;)

You have an easy 5kg on the squats and more on the deads if you tighten up.

Knees coming in during the squat is definitely not a hip tightness issue here, just weak/poorly conditioned glute medius and VM.
 
Knees coming in during the squat is definitely not a hip tightness issue here, just weak/poorly conditioned glute medius and VM.

Fair enough.

But surely, if there is something blocking you in a ROM during the downwards motion of a squat, your knees are going to move in to a position that they can move in to? ie inwards? if you can clarify what I mean, then let me know :p

Doesn't help that I can't explain it properly.
 
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Fair enough.

But surely, if there is something blocking you in a ROM during the downwards motion of a squat, your knees are going to move in to a position that they can move in to? ie inwards?

Doesn't help that I can't explain it properly.

No - it's just the required muscles aren't keeping his knees out. I think.
 
Tight "outside of hip" isn't going to be blocking the good positioning here. If anything, he needs to stretch his adductors (inside of hip).

However, the big tell here is that he CAN have his knees out, but they move in under load.

The solution is more squatting and forcing the knees out constantly.
 
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