Increasing Strength

[BendtheBar]

Ok, 120 pounds of chains incoming.

March on soldiers.

[Fazc]

Rock 'n' roll!

[LtL]

Interesting video from the Power Project relating to our discussion on staying upright:

You Tube

You Tube

Could the root cause be lower down the chain?

[BendtheBar]

He's really thrusting his arse backwards on those box squats. It looks exaggerated to me.

That's common among a lot of the Rippetoe guys. They tend to drive their butts back almost unnaturally before descending.

Edit: I now hear Mark addressing that.

In this guy's case it's fairly simple. It's not a very natural squat. It's more form-locked and mechanical. He's forcing those hips way back before he descends instead of letting them move back naturally as he descends.

[LtL]

I was just thinking that for Faz, the lower bar position may cause him to sit his hips back more and lose his upright chest position.

I look forward to seeing his thoughts later.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by LtL

I was just thinking that for Faz, the lower bar position may cause him to sit his hips back more and lose his upright chest position.

I look forward to seeing his thoughts later.

Sorry I missed that convo and was probably sticking my nose in the wrong place.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by LtL

I was just thinking that for Faz, the lower bar position may cause him to sit his hips back more and lose his upright chest position.

I look forward to seeing his thoughts later.

Mark raises a few good points in that video, however they are all things I've already thought of and have implemented changes to correct.

However the last and final thing thing to correct is quad weakness. I know correcting quad weakness will allow me a *more* upright position relative to squatting with weak quads. This will be true whether it's low or high bar.

My conundrum is this; will the low bar position still prevent me from having the overall type of squatting form I want despite improving that key area or put in another way, will low bar prevent me from putting my quads in a position where they can be used optimally.

From out last exchange further up, I didn't get the feeling you understood fully what I was trying to put across. I think if only I can make you understand you will know what I'm trying to accomplish here.

[LtL]

Ok so now I understand and I guess my answer will be similar to your point above: low bar to high bar is around 2inches difference max. Stronger quads will enable you to maximise quad involvement AND lower back from a lower bar I think.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by LtL

Ok so now I understand and I guess my answer will be similar to your point above: low bar to high bar is around 2inches difference max. Stronger quads will enable you to maximise quad involvement AND lower back from a lower bar I think.

Yes stronger quads will help no matter high or low bar. I am certain of that.

But my conundrum is whether low bar will allow me to squat in the way I want to squat when I have better quads. Or will the low bar itself prevent the form from happening.

There is no quick and easy answer here, it's a wait and see situation.

[Fazc]

Since my raw strength is getting back up there now, and my body feels horrible right now from overwork I was thinking of going back to a 2 weeks on, 1 week off kinda deal. That should allow me to avoid injury moving forward now, which is massively important especially now, and should provide some periodisation I need now.

Tossing this idea around:

Saturday:

Low Bar Squat, Paused Bench, Deadlift - Top single

Sunday:

High Bar Squat, Bench, SLDL - Top 8

Tuesday:

High Bar Squat, Bench, SLDL - Top 3

Thursday:

High Bar Squat, Bench, SLDL - Top 5

Done 2 weeks heavy, 1 week off. BUT that's subject to change depending on a few things the next few days...