Joe Norman Interview
 

Doing an interview with powerlifter and squat beast Joe Norman. If you have any squat or powerlifting questions you would like answered, beginner to advanced, raw or gear, please post them up and I will pass them along.

Monster Squat

I'm sure I'll come up with some. Will post later.

Al

One question I will ask is:

What do you think about raw squatters and the use of briefs, and how do they know when they are ready to use them?

How often do you lift in gear vs raw?

Best squat assistance for geared lifting?

Al

How does a lifter avoid the tendency to lean forward when trying to hit depth.

Many powerlifters use Chucks (??), would you ever recommend against Olympic lifting shoes which are worn by some and why?

Everybody in the sport of powerlifting should start out as a raw squatter.

Raw squats are where you get your core strong and build up your strength while giving all the muscles involved in supporting the lift much needed work. If you get into gear too soon, the gear takes over some or most of the support from the following muscles: gluteus medius & minimus, core abdominal muscles and the erector muscles in your back. These are the muscles that stabilize the larger harder working muscles during the lift.

As far as “how do you know when you are ready to use gear”. Get a good solid base before starting to experiment with the gear. Lifting in gear adds a whole new dynamic to the squat. If you are still in the phase where you are learning and perfecting your form, adding gear will make it difficult to do so.
Once you have a good base and are ready for gear here are a few tips:

• Take two or three warm-up sets and then get the briefs on. You will want to be in the briefs with a weight that is relatively easy for you to handle. This way, if something doesn’t feel right, you will be able to make adjustments to handle the weight without a problem.
• Do not compromise your form to accommodate the breifs.The gear is there to help, not to inhibit. Stay in form at all times throughout the lift. If you don’t break parallel, don’t worry. Add more weight and keep going.
• Take it slow. The briefs will pull at your body as you descend, going slow will give you time to get adjusted to it.
• Experiment with your foot position. Some briefs are made for wider stances and some for narrow. Make sure you get a pair that will best accommodate your raw stance, but be prepared to play with foot position anyways.

Currently, I pretty much lift raw all the time. I like to set raw goals for myself with the different squat exercises that I rotate through. I rotate through the following exercises:

• Band Squats
• Cambered Bar Squats
• Chains Squats
• Safety Bar Squat
• Band Assisted Squats
• Heavy Traditional Squats
• Light Traditional Squats

This is a normal 7 week squatting schedule, changing the exercise every week. 7th week light.

In the past, I will have done the rotation with briefs two different ways. The first is to change the exercise every week and lift raw up to just under my max for that exercise, then get in briefs and continue up until a single brief max. The other way is to do the same exercise two weeks in a row, the first week raw and the second with briefs. I rarely train fully geared, briefs and suit. I’m a big fan of brief only lifting, this gets my back stronger and ready for the weights I handle once in the suit.

When I’m getting ready for a competition, I like to do more of the heavy top end overloading exercises and all in briefs. Twelve weeks out from the meet

• Week 1 Band-Assisted Squats Heavy 90-95% Squat Max 1 Rep PR
• Week 2 Chain Squats Heavy/Overload Last attempt should be slightly above Squat Max 1
• Week 3 Squats Medium-Heavy 90-95% Squat Max 1 Rep PR
• Week 4 Box Squats Light-Medium Keep the sets at 3 reps, this is a down week to get some volume work done
• Week 5 Band-Assisted Squat Heavy/Overload Last attempt should be well above Squat Max 1 Rep PR, getting close to goal weight
• Week 6 Chain Squat Heavy/Overload Last attempt should be at or above goal weight
• Week 7 Squats Heavy By this time you should be able to squat above your PR getting close to your goal weight
• Week 8 Squats Light Triples with less than 50% of your Squat Max 1 Rep PR
• Week 9 Squats Heavy Last Attempt should be close to or at your goal weight
• Week 10 Box Squats Light-Medium Keep the sets at 3 reps, this is a down week to get some volume work done
• Week 11 Squats Super Light 3 sets of 5 with a warm-up weight
• Week 12 Meet Day

As for the best squat assistance for geared lifting.
I would have to say, anything that works you core and lower back. Gear takes over a lot of the work from your support muscles so working your core will make your squat go up.

• Good Mornings
• Pull Throughs
• Reverse Hyper
• Abs

More weight! LOL!

You can try a few of the following

• Pick a spot on the ceiling and stare at it throughout the lift, even in the whole; this will keep your head from dropping and making you lean over.
• Leaning forward in the whole is usually a flexibility issue. Stretch, stretch a lot, even on non-squat days. Get more flexibility in your hips.
• Move your stance around. Experiment with lighter weights, moving your feet closer, wider, pointing your toes forward and out. Find the foot and leg position the lets you get down without leaning.
• As I said first, more weight! If you find yourself leaning but you are able to handle the weight easily, don’t worry about hitting depth. Go up in weight slowly until you can hit depth without compromising your form.

No I wouldn’t recommend against it. Two of my training partners wear them and have great success.

I did try a pair of Olympic shoes once but they throw me off balance too much.

I personally do not like Chucks. After a few uses they wear down too much and the canvas lacks the needed support. I use Van skateboard shoes, leather high-tops. The soles are made to grip a skateboard and grip the floor great when squatting. Also, it takes a long time to wear out the thick leather.

If you are used to lifting with them and they work fro you, stay with them.