Squatter's Journal-The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[markievicz]

great bench test Jim , i would definately add paused singles to your session from now until meet day.

also , i think , with your attitude to training and considering your strength you are selling yourself short looking for 275 - aim for 285 on meet day.

i know you have it in you

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by 5kgLifter

High bar:




Low bar:

Thanks Babs. You are truly a superhero in my book.

The key Jim with high bar is not to go so high that you place it on the neck. Just rest it right on the traps.

[Squatter]

Originally Posted by MikeM

Great benching, Jim!

You are ridiculous strong on those squats too.

If I may make a suggestion, and I hesitate as I really don't want to screw you up with a meet coming up, so for what it's worth:

When I see you squat, I see you lower your hips until parallel, but then your hips stop going down and you just lean over to get the bar lower, but your butt has stopped moving down, so you good morning it. Obviously you have a silly strong back and can get away with that, but that is not a good way to squat long term for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, I think your problem might be in your stance and in your flexibility. You've heard Al preach knees out and you are clearly trying to do that, but I think you only do it by pushing your actual knees themselves out. That's not enough. You have to open your hips from the top of your legs and actively drive your knees, and really your whole legs, out of the way by using hip muscles, not just widen your knees using your thigh muscles.

Bottom line, stick your manhood out to make room for your body to sit in between your legs and not just fold over on top of them.

Don't just fold your body over your thighs to get low. Get your butt low to get low.

So to fix this, high bar is a great start, but work on flexibility, especially hips by stretching your hip flexors and adductors, glutes, etc. All the crap around your hips and butt. Then widen your stance a bit with lighter weight to get the idea of where your butt needs to go, and really force your knees out using your hips to stick your jewels out. Maybe even turn your toes out more too and force your knees to track with your feet to get a feel for this, with lighter weight of course! Play with it to get the feel for where you should be. With light weights, you want your thighs touching your calves. Rock bottom.

Then start ramping the weight back up, you're wicked strong so you'll be smashing again in no time. And, as Al said when the weight gets heavier you will not be able to go as low, but you'll still see those three pretty white lights. And believe me, after grunting a weight up, you don't want to see anything but white!

Btw, this will also help you generate some speed to your squats, which will help you rebound and use stretch reflex better, and lift heavier weights easier, etc.

Again, this is just my unsolicited .02! Don't screw yourself up before a meet based on my advice. I just see something you are doing that I had trouble with too, and this is how I am fixing it.

Hope that helps or is food for thought or whatever. Take it with a grain of salt too as I'm not an expert in anything.

Good luck buddy!

Mike - I love you like a brother. First you help me out with my bench, and now this utterlly fantastic explanation of how to push my knees out <>. Your right, I was doing it wrong as nobody explained to me how to do it.

I am going to get started Saturday AM.

Originally Posted by mab54

Some really good benching tonight Jim, and you will smoke that weight next time no problem!

Thanks Mike!! I wish I could tell if my CNS is not ready to go before I schedule my session and begin training. I will get it and more next time!!

Originally Posted by markievicz

great bench test Jim , i would definately add paused singles to your session from now until meet day.

also , i think , with your attitude to training and considering your strength you are selling yourself short looking for 275 - aim for 285 on meet day.

i know you have it in you

Thanks Mark!! I am going to reduce my sets to 4 and add a couple of singles. I may have 285 in me, but not sure if I can pause that amount of weight. I got 8 weeks to make it happen

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Thanks Babs. You are truly a superhero in my book.

The key Jim with high bar is not to go so high that you place it on the neck. Just rest it right on the traps.

OK Steve!! I will wear a neck brace/collar just in case!!

[MikeM]

Hey, we're in this together. You inspire me too. I want to be strong like you when I grow up!

I just hope it works for you too. You'll know it's working if your butt is sore afterward. Forcing your knees out forces your butt to work harder, which is a good thing, but right now you're only used to it firing hard at lockout, now it will be working harder all the way through the lift.

Also, the very top of your hamstrings where it attaches to your butt will feel a little sore too as they stretch a bit farther than they're used to. That was my experience anyway.

I got all this from Elliott Hulse Strength camp, btw. His advice has really helped me a lot, and his videos crack me up.

Good luck!!

[Squatter]

Originally Posted by MikeM

Hey, we're in this together. You inspire me too. I want to be strong like you when I grow up!

I just hope it works for you too. You'll know it's working if your butt is sore afterward. Forcing your knees out forces your butt to work harder, which is a good thing, but right now you're only used to it firing hard at lockout, now it will be working harder all the way through the lift.

Also, the very top of your hamstrings where it attaches to your butt will feel a little sore too as they stretch a bit farther than they're used to. That was my experience anyway.

I got all this from Elliott Hulse Strength camp, btw. His advice has really helped me a lot, and his videos crack me up.

Good luck!!

Thanks so much Mike!! Right now, 14 hours after, my whole body hurts, but in a good way. I did feel it quite a bit more in the glutes and hammies this morning. I have never heard of Elliot Hulse - I will have to check it out.

[Squatter]

HIGH BAR SQUAT SESSION

This was the 1st time I have ever high bar squatted. It felt pretty good overall. There is a bone that sort of sticks out a bit right below my neck, at the top of my traps that is sore. I spent about 30 minutes each of the last 2 evenings practicing with just the bar.

I am very happy with what transpired early this morning (Saturday AM). This was just a get acquainted do what I feel like session - no goal and no plan. After the 385 I knew I was finished. I then had to spend 10 hours painting at the house. I am actually pretty good at rolling.

High Bar Squats
65 X5
95 X5
135 X5
185 X5
225 X5
255 X6
285 X6
315 X3
350 X2
385 X1

I am now going to take a few days off, deadlift max, and then take a few more days off and then start up the routine again Mothers' Day weekend. I miss her so much.

Squatter225X5HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter225X5HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter255X6HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter255X6HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter285X6HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter285X6HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter315X3HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter315X3HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter350X2HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter350X2HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter385X1HBSquat - YouTube

Squatter385X1HBSquat - YouTube

[BendtheBar]

225s started great Jim. Very good depth and more upright. Those are perfect. Bar stays over your toes. Compare them to the 315 and you lose depth. Some hesitancy is kicking in causing you to change mechanics.

If you can make everything look like that 225 form you'll be good to go.

[Squatter]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

225s started great Jim. Very good depth and more upright. Those are perfect. Bar stays over your toes. Compare them to the 315 and you lose depth. Some hesitancy is kicking in causing you to change mechanics.

If you can make everything look like that 225 form you'll be good to go.

I did realize I was losing depth as the weight went up, but I did think I still hit at least legal depth, or did I not? I was likely a bit hesitant as this was the first time doing HB Squats of course. I did feel confident throughout and just before the first rep after unracking I was quickly reviewing what I had to do. I am confident in knowing I can get the same depth on 315 as I did on the 225's Steve, but I don't know about 350 and above.

Overall. were they not alot better than the session last week? I thought they were. I am going to keep working hard at it tho.

[BendtheBar]

315 was very good depth. That was a no-doubter. 350s looked good as well. I don't see any issues with either of those reps. 385 was close. Some judges and feds will pass, some won't, so it's a coin flip.

Definitely improving.

Don't worry about the depth or judges though Jim. Just do your best, learn, see what happens and keep improving. The fed I competed at last would pass your 385.

[MikeM]

Jim you did awesome!! Incredible. That transition of form took me weeks to figure out and deal with. You just did it. Those 225 up to 315 are perfect. I agree with BtB that you lose a bit at 315, but you still probably get three white lights, no question in my mind. But the higher weights, not so sure. From the front they don't look like they'r low enough, but that's a tough angle to tell. You're monster strong and it seems like your hips go low enough, but not sure.

No matter what though, further on, you have some motor pathways that need to be re-wired. When you get to such and such depth, your hips are used to stopping and your low back is used to leaning in to take over. You have to stop that. That is a tough habit to break. You have to break it.

Ummmmm. That means stop going heavy. Reinforce the groove that is good. You will sacrifice weight for better form. You have to be willing to accept that. If you're not, your squats probably get white lights but maybe not. Just saying, how important is this meet? Not going to speculate on that. You will need to stop going heavy for a bit and build back up. Your decision.

Very proud of you. That shit was hard for me to figure out and get good with and you just flat out did it from the get go.

As an aside, this method of squatting really has helped my confidence. I know I can drop into any squat and it will get white lights because I train that way. All my squats are as close to rock bottom as possible.

You're so used to massive squats because you're so silly strong, now you can be just as confident if not more because you're technique is as good as your strength.

You've always been stronger than your technique. Try the other side of the fence. That's pretty cool too.

I'll stop ramblin'!! No way I'm an expert, but I do feel like there is a natural way to approach squats and it's not by hoping a judge will favor you. You are so strong. Show it.

Sorry, a bit preachy from a guy who has no credentials. There you go.