Hot answers tagged squats
11
When you lift heavy deadlifts and squats, your whole body is under high compressive force. The muscles squeeze your blood vessels, which increases the hydrostatic pressure of your circulatory system. In other words, your blood pressures spikes up during the lift. The body attempts to restore homeostasis during the lift by engaging physiological responses ...
9
Between this post and the prior one asking for 5x5 squat help, I strongly recommend seeing a qualified personal trainer and also your Dr. for a physical prior to any more exercising. Based on your posts, you're overweight, out of shape and do not have a background in weightlifting, this is a combination that could get you SERIOUSLY injured. Stop, get a ...
9
Yes! Squatting -- as part of a proper regimen of exercise, eating and rest -- can lead you to lift huge weights, improve lung capacity, or reduce body weight. The squat exercises the body's largest muscles and is one of the most basic functional movements. Until the invention of sitting toilets, squatting was a daily necessity for all humans even into old ...
9
Ideally, your knees travel out directly in the same line as where your toes are pointing, and your toes should be pointing out at somewhere between 20° and 45° from a line drawn perpendicular to your torso straight out in front of you.
If your knees are collapsing in, yes, it is poor form. It indicates that you have relatively weak leg abduction. ...
9
Does an alternate form minimising quad and hamstring development exist?
No, there isn't a squat that minimizes quad and hamstring development. If you don't want your legs to get stronger, just skip lifts that involve them.
Might it be preferable to substitute in power cleans for one of the squat workouts?
It depends what your goals are. If you want to ...
9
You're already doing the first and most important thing: you're working the upper body more than your lower, since you're on GreySkull LP rather than a more squat-and-lower-body-pull program like StrongLifts or Starting Strength.
It is important to note that you're entering the realm of bodybuilding at this point: developing aesthetics instead of strength, ...
8
You put the most important thing first. If you are working on your press strength, put it first. The advice to put squats first are for people who are brand new to lifting. Squats are the one exercise that take a lot of effort to get right, but have the biggest rewards as far as strength and muscle development go. If you've been lifting for more than two ...
8
That's the difference between conditioning and strength. Try 200lbs for 20 reps to get another view into conditioning, or pushing a sled.
A well rounded training program will address the following points:
Skill: if you compete or are learning new exercises, you have to hone your technique
Strength: this is well understood, you have to be strong enough ...
7
Properly done squats are safe on the knees, assuming no prior knee problems, and will actually reduce risk of knee injury from other causes.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe goes into detail on why this is the case. His book is focused exclusively on barbell training, but the information still applies for dumbbells, and he also describes how to prepare ...
7
I can assure you that with proper form it is safe, provided you take the proper precautions. I just squatted 200kg without any spotters a couple weeks ago. Deadlifts are less of a challenge, because it is easier to drop the lift.
Use safeties with your squat rack (like these)
Practice dumping the bar on the safeties with a weight you are confident you ...
7
Footage would be great. I have to re-correct this in my squat form periodically. There can be a number of issues that contribute to it:
Bar too high or too low on the back: pushes out of the optimal bar path, and can cause excessive leaning.
Knees traveling too far forward: pushes the hips up and the upper body forward.
Weak upper back or core: unable to ...
7
As a fellow big-legged lifter, I think you are over-worried about the leg development. There's several reasons for doing squats, including posterior chain development. What I've noticed is that the legs are going to be where they are. If you are predisposed to have big legs/glutes/calves, they aren't going to get a lot larger than when they start out. ...
7
Not being able to do a heels-on-the-ground 3rd world squat is a major mobility problem in my opinion. If I were you, I'd do the following:
Squat all the time. At least a half-dozen times a day, stop whatever you're doing and practice your third-world squat. Use a table or door for balance until you can do it without one. Spend some time down there. Tell ...
6
The exercise famous for being hard on the knees is the leg press - not squat. If the squat is done with the correct depth (hip lower than the knee) so that the change of direction is NOT done while the knees are at right angles, it shouldn't hurt the knees. If you get some soft knee wraps you might be able to convince her to squat with those.
If not - I ...
6
Mark Rippetoe is adamant that the deadlift is not a squat with the bar in your hands. That said, I've used box squats for checking my squat pattern. I find a bench, stool, or box such that when my butt hits it, I've just broken below parallel. I just tap the box and come up. There are versions where you pause for a second before rising. The idea is to be ...
6
I will say that I have had more stress on my knees from martial arts training than I ever had from heavy squats. The book Starting Strength has some good information on why this is. The important and critical factor is getting the hips below the knees before changing directions.
The depth causes certain things to happen that protect the knees:
Posterior ...
6
It looks like you have some surface blood vessels that popped. It's not life threatening or something that would prevent you from working out, but common causes for it are:
Compression
Pinching
Both
The location of the marks leads me to believe that you have the bar on your neck and not on your back. This will put more stress on your neck than it is ...
6
As a 22 year old former college football and track player who is suffering from previous injuries, including a fairly severe back injury, I would advise that unless you are going to seriously compete in athletic events, I would stay away from very heavy lifts even if you didn't previously get injured.
What I have learned over my 16 years of athletics and ...
5
Jumps will have impact on your knees, as will running for extended periods of time. However, squats past parallel actually make your knees stronger. The reason for this has to do with muscle balance. The most common risk with exercise, is focusing too much on what you like without doing what's necessary for what you don't like to do. Core exercises are a ...
5
To some degree I think the shoe needs will vary based on individual anatomy and flexibility. For me (43yr old male with 2yrs of heavy lifting, 6 months olympic weightlifting) a taller and stiffer heel was needed to deal with my ankle flexibility issues. Without the higher heel I tended to end up with my weight to far forward onto my toes rather than heels ...
5
Looking at the letter of the question, no, you could do deadlifts instead. But in the spirit of the question, yes, you really should do a compound lift involving your legs and back. Try to pick at least one that you can do safely and without pain (front squat, back squat, ball squat, hack squat, standard deadlift, sumo deadlift). If absolutely none of them ...
5
I would recommend routinely doing the Diesel Crew shoulder rehab protocol and the associated shoulder warmup. The rehab protocol is good as both prehab and rehab for a shoulder that is causing pain due to muscle imbalances. There are good exercises in the protocol that address the external rotation, as well as many other uses you're probably not thinking ...
5
Short answer: probably none. The closest type of squat would probably be a front squat, but even that won't have as much carryover as you may want. However, the front squat helps improve your core strength which will help with the stability needed for pistols.
While it helps to squat more than your body weight, the biggest challenge is flexibility. You ...
5
Disclaimer: I am not a physical therapist or personal trainer, which may be what your friend needs.
I'd start with bodyweight squats, holding onto the two ends of a doorknob, or post-like object in front of them, as low as possible.
Do those frequently, increasing depth as much and as frequently as possible. Over time, rely on the post less and less: hold ...
5
Hyperkyphosis - hunched back-, due to muscle imbalance, is normally caused by weak mid back muscles (rhomboids, part of traps, levator scap, etc.) and tight pectoral muscles. This is common in high school age wrestling athletes for example. Seated rows, shoulder shrugs, rotator-cuff exercises; while paired with pectoral stretches can help correct this. If ...
5
If you are dumping the bar every time, you are going to failure--not AMRAP. There is a big difference. Every place I've seen AMRAP defined, it's as many good reps as possible, with 1-2 reps left in the tank. If form breaks down, or you aren't getting to full depth, your set needs to be over.
That said, I have experienced the light-headedness you are ...
4
Mobility & Chest UP!
Without a form check video--which is really the gold standard, putting this text-based feedback to shame--this sounds like a mobility issue combined with not keeping your chest up.
Your back and hips (and ankles, from the sound of your other question) are not flexible enough to get into a deep squat position while maintaining a ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
