My squat failure + eccentrics

[BendtheBar]

Yesterday I failed my first squat rep ever. Probably the most I have ever challenged myself on squats.

In any case, my question has to do with eccentrics. Halfway down my brain said "no way", and I bailed. I actually half-squatted it back up. My form was solid, I stayed tight. Something just clicked on the way down and told me to stop. I felt like I couldn't control the weight.

Today I am asking myself why?

What I am trying to figure out is if this was from a specific weakness, say hamstrings, or simply from not overloading via the use of briefs/reverse bands to become acclimated to supra-maximal eccentrics.

Thoughts?

Mentally going in I knew I had it. My confidence and focus were 100%.

[ehubbard]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Yesterday I failed my first squat rep ever. Probably the most I have ever challenged myself on squats.

In any case, my question has to do with eccentrics. Halfway down my brain said "no way", and I bailed. I actually half-squatted it back up. My form was solid, I stayed tight. Something just clicked on the way down and told me to stop. I felt like I couldn't control the weight.

Today I am asking myself why?

What I am trying to figure out is if this was from a specific weakness, say hamstrings, or simply from not overloading via the use of briefs/reverse bands to become acclimated to supra-maximal eccentrics.

Thoughts?

Mentally going in I knew I had it. My confidence and focus were 100%.

Weight and video please.

I notice sometimes when things feel too heavy I mentally give up. I guess you have to attack it and not be a you know what. If you miss do you have a fail safe that wont potentially maim you?

[ravimolasaria]

Was it the same wt. [585] or you added some wt. ... ??

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by ehubbard

Weight and video please.

I notice sometimes when things feel too heavy I mentally give up. I guess you have to attack it and not be a you know what. If you miss do you have a fail safe that wont potentially maim you?

No video from yesterday. Wasn't much to see. I dipped and felt weak as heck, like there was no way I could sink lower. I've never had this happen before so i aborted.

Weight was buffalo bar 625. Hit 580-585 plenty of times with good speed. I do have pins and can bail.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by ravimolasaria

Was it the same wt. [585] or you added some wt. ... ??

625.

Here is my 585 from 10/4:

585 Buffalo Bar Squat PR - YouTube

585 Buffalo Bar Squat PR - YouTube

575 from August 17th:

575 Squat Single - 8/17/2012 - YouTube

575 Squat Single - 8/17/2012 - YouTube

I have been hammering form this year and my fail felt just like every other rep. Nothing unusual took place. Perhaps I just went too heavy. Or maybe I got a little forward and didn't feel it. That didn't feel like the case though. I just felt like I couldn't lower it, if that makes sense.

[ehubbard]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

No video from yesterday. Wasn't much to see. I dipped and felt weak as heck, like there was no way I could sink lower. I've never had this happen before so i aborted.

Weight was buffalo bar 625. Hit 580-585 plenty of times with good speed. I do have pins and can bail.

Well, I used to experience that in gear quite frequently, where you would go down and start thinking about how heavy it felt and then just bailed and came back up with it. This can happen too when you pysche yourself out with a certain number and start thinking oh it's such and such amount and that's heavy and then you loose your aggression and either miss or bail on the attempt. Mentally, I think you just need to chalk it up to a bad day and get pissed off about it.

I have pins too, but unfortunately they are where I put my hands so I use the safety straps (which I know wont work with your current setup). You would be so much better off training with other people, so keep searching. Unfortunately, it can be very challenging to find good people. But having the confidence in a good training partner to see you through a heavy squat attempt and to hand out your benches is HUGE.

The other thing it could be is if you made a huge jump to 625 and didn't get your body and mind ready for the weight. You dint exactly give any detail in your log (which is hard enough to read with all the high fives and posts you get in there

[BendtheBar]

Thanks for the feedback. I wasn't too happy so didn't feel like logging at the time.

I bought some briefs but have yet to wear them. I can now see how they can be beneficial, especially with eccentrics. Perhaps time to get my head out of my ass and use reverse bands too.

I imagine it is time to get more proactive and find some local guys.

The past 2 years have been an interesting journey. I was able to hammer out a lot of progress using frequent 85-90%+ work, but now I am sensing that this alone isn't going to be as magical as before.

[Off Road]

I've done it too. I think it comes down to all-out fear of failure. You know you can control the weight on the way down but you fear that it will not come back up, so you cut the rep short. It is all in the head.

[ehubbard]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

The past 2 years have been an interesting journey. I was able to hammer out a lot of progress using frequent 85-90%+ work, but now I am sensing that this alone isn't going to be as magical as before.

Maybe its time to cut back the training frequency?

Where do you live again?

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by ehubbard

Maybe its time to cut back the training frequency?

Where do you live again?

Wisconsin.

I recently dropped back my max work a bit. It was 2x a week, but for the last 5 months it's been once every 5 days. No variation work at all, just squats.