Improving your squat

[lok3]

One thing Atg squats is more of an all leg workout. One weak point would hinder growth for other points ;D try it and ull realise that failure would occur even before ur quads tire out if uve been doing parallel all this while. ;D

[captnJ]

Univarse9 said:

The reason why I want to switch over to ATG is because it appears my back isn't growing as fast as my legs, so parallel squats for me are getting increasingly harder to balance. I almost fell forward yesterday, good thing my calves pulled me back.

I am still doing stuff like good mornings and deadlifts to build up the back, but for now, I wish to switch over to ATG to continue progress on my legs.

This is my eigth training week, and I take a break for the whole of next week before restarting again.

Okay, this just popped into my head at the last minute. Could CNS tiredness have something to do with this?

Id probably say (as ususal this is hard to tell over the net ) that you should just do maintanance leg work in the meantime. ATG or parallel squats just maintain them, while you work up your back and hamstrings. Its near impossible to gain in everything all at once. Once your back /hams are up to it you squat will automatically increase cos you fixed the weakness.

regds
Jonathan

[Univarse9]

Point taken.

[Oracle]

captnJ,
do u have a bigger glute and stomach after doing numerous heavy squat? coz mine have increase significantly. aftermath of squats?

[captnJ]

oracle said:

captnJ,
do u have a bigger glute and stomach after doing numerous heavy squat? coz mine have increase significantly. aftermath of squats?

uh look at the pics:) haha glute yes i have bowling ball glutes but hip width is genetic.. look at j.Lo but if you squat heavy it may increase in size and depth. tummy of cos wun be the skinny kind of metrosexual look but it does not necessarily have to be paunch

[peacefuljoy]

wt do u guys think of doing squats using dumbells instead of usin barbells? wt diff in effect wil dat b? thanx!

[lok3]

peacefuljoy said:

wt do u guys think of doing squats using dumbells instead of usin barbells? wt diff in effect wil dat b? thanx!

big diff.U can use more weight wif a barbell ;D.more weight=more overload=growth .If u dun haf excess to a barbell, do lunges instead

[PullupAddict]

if u do not have barbells, do single-legged squats

[Oracle]

captnJ said:

uh look at the pics:) haha glute yes i have bowling ball glutes but hip width is genetic.. look at j.Lo but if you squat heavy it may increase in size and depth. tummy of cos wun be the skinny kind of metrosexual look but it does not necessarily have to be paunch

your advice on the speed squat really helps in building up the strength. today i thought i was going to rely on knee wrap etc but didn;t bring. so, still can go for 180kgx6reps speed squat with a little grunt. the 200kg prove to be a challenge. 4 reps but not parallel. thanks.

[peacefuljoy]

thanx a lot guyz for replyin and ur advises ;D

[captnJ]

oracle said:

your advice on the speed squat really helps in building up the strength. today i thought i was going to rely on knee wrap etc but didn;t bring. so, still can go for 180kgx6reps speed squat with a little grunt. the 200kg prove to be a challenge. 4 reps but not parallel. thanks.

Hey oracle... i said before bro!! speed squats are done for multiple SETS with FEW REPS!! you ARE NOT FAST on the 6th rep of 180kg... if you are... then increase the weight and do 2 reps at higher weight!! when i say fast, i mean NO sticking point, explode the weight up in less than a second the bar should almost fly off your shoulders if you dont hold it down. For example, my max squat is about 215 kg. I do speed work with 130 or so... less if i use bands as well.... speed work is done for aobut 8 sets with 2 reps 1 min rest btw sets. sets of 6 are NOT speed work.

give it a try.

regds
Jonathan

[Oracle]

captnJ said:

Hey oracle... i said before bro!! speed squats are done for multiple SETS with FEW REPS!! you ARE NOT FAST on the 6th rep of 180kg... if you are... then increase the weight and do 2 reps at higher weight!! when i say fast, i mean NO sticking point, explode the weight up in less than a second the bar should almost fly off your shoulders if you dont hold it down. For example, my max squat is about 215 kg. I do speed work with 130 or so... less if i use bands as well.... speed work is done for aobut 8 sets with 2 reps 1 min rest btw sets. sets of 6 are NOT speed work.

give it a try.

regds
Jonathan

i see. thanks for the advice. will do more sets and less reps. the tempo for my 6 reps was 101. i will keep it at 101 for 2 rep/set?

[captnJ]

101 may be too slow. it should be 10X x being explosive. you see, speed day is for ... speed! weight is NOT impt!! you should use aobut 60% of your max to really blast it up. The other time in the week that you squat or do leg exercises that sthe heavy day.

[Oracle]

just talked with ultimate and he pointed out that my squat technique has another major flaw; my knees start to close up when i descend down. I heard that the knees should point in the same direction as the feet outward. So how can i overcome this?

[captnJ]

oracle said:

just talked with ultimate and he pointed out that my squat technique has another major flaw; my knees start to close up when i descend down. I heard that the knees should point in the same direction as the feet outward. So how can i overcome this?

start squatting wide with feet pointed STRATGHT ahead. thats right:) it will be hard at first thats cos your hip flexibility may not be good enough. In addition to this imagine spreadding the floor with your feet. This will push the knees out. if knees go slightly further to the sides thatn the lower leg... also ok:)

BTW when u squat wide and push the floor apart, you will feel the weight on the outter part of your foot. This is correct. After doing this wide stance squat, I have no problems with knees closing in on any stance of squat. Cos the hips are now strong enough to keep the knees where they are supposed to be.