Keith_Wassung
Total Posts: 228
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12-19-05 09:42 AM - Post#166818
By Keith W. Wassung
It is my contention that the bottom one third of the full squat represents the primary limiting factor for most people in the increase of lower body strength and development. Since the full squat often acts as a barometer and or catalyst for the development of the entire body, then this portion of the squat may very well be a primary limiting factor for the entire body. This is also the area of the squat where the greatest potential for trauma and injuries can occur.
By bottom position, I am referring to the fully descended position to about 30 degrees above parallel. This area is the toughest part of the squat and there is often a feeling of discomfort, vulnerability and anxiety as to whether the proper depth has been achieved. This is likely due to lack of flexibility in the hips, knees and ankles and the fact that we spend very little if any time in this position in our everyday lives.
The best way to overcome this apprehension is to squat as deeply as you are able to. This negates the anxiety of wondering if you hit the right squat depth each time. Obviously a competitive powerlifter will have to spend some time squatting to break parallel, but many would be wise to squat deeper more often in order to build their confidence and overall lower body strength. From a very early age, I learned to squat much deeper than parallel in the gym and in powerlifting meets and I don’t feel that it put me at any competitive disadvantage. I competed in over 60 powerlifting meets and never once received a red light for failure to hit proper depth. You can use up a lot of energy and mental focus trying to just break parallel that could be better spent on the execution of the overall lift.
The second thing you can do is to develop a habit of squatting instead of sitting whenever you can. Obviously you cannot do this at a business meeting or at church, but you can work it into daily habits such as petting the dog or picking up something from the ground. Do this a dozen times a day for about two months and you should notice a marked increase in your comfort and confidence in the bottom portion of the squat.
The third thing you can do is to perform some adjunct squat movements in your training which will strengthen the bottom one-third of the squat movement. The following are two of my favorites.
Deadstop Squats, also known as Bottom Position Squats, are an incredible exercise; in fact I predict it will someday become a contested lift in some type of strength competition. I like to do these after I perform regular full squats. Using either a power rack or a set of adjustable squat racks, place the bar as low as you possibly can and still be able to position yourself underneath the bar in the bottom part of the squat position. When you are properly set up for this lift, you should feel as though you are in a very powerful position, rather than a feeling of being cramped and “out of position” A lot of this has to do with lack of hip, knee and ankle flexibility. I have found a great way to loosen and warm-up the hips and knees is to pedal a stationary bicycle and alternate normal pedaling, with a pedaling movement in which you place the outer edge of your feet on the pedals with your knees spread out wide. It looks a bit obscene, but it gets the job done. When you first begin doing bottom position squats, you may have to initially start at about a half squat, and gradually move the pins down until you find the right starting position. Make sure your entire body is tight and then elevate the weight upwards until you are standing straight up, then, using precision control, lower the bar down the pins. Take a few breaths and then repeat for the target number of reps. You will find that your biomechanical position and technique must be near perfect when handling maximum weights. I like this movement for several reasons. When you start the movement from the bottom position, you are directing all of your initial energy into doing the toughest part first and once you break past this initial phase, the rest is easy by comparison. I also like the fact that there is virtually zero ballistic impact on the knees and I have had many people who claimed they could not squat because of pain in their knees, be able to do deadstop squats without any pain in their joints.
Pause Squats are full squats performed exactly like traditional full squats with the addition of a 3 second pause in the bottom phase of the squat. Take the weight off the supports and descend to your lowest squat position, holding that position for approximately 3 seconds, then drive the weight upwards to completion. You can use either a training partner to count off the seconds or you can do it yourself. Either way, I like to use a cadence and command of 1…..2….3. followed immediately by a powerful “GO”! Perform these after your regular squats with a rep range of anywhere from 3-6 reps per set. This exercise will teach you to stay tight throughout the entire range of motion in the squat and will greatly enhance your ability to drive out of the bottom.
Keith Wassung
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cajinjohn
Total Posts: 12495
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Hit the bottom If you want real power.
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Hockey Hooligan
Total Posts: 590
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Quote:
Keith_Wassung said:
By Keith W. Wassung
It is my contention that the bottom one third of the full squat represents the primary limiting factor for most people in the increase of lower body strength and development.
Keith Wassung
Same with deads too.
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Michael Testa
Total Posts: 98
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Keith, this may be a bit mashochistic, but if one does a HIT full body routine, which includes 20 rep squats, how many sets of pause squats would you recommend them doing? And, where would you put them in the workout?
| "Michael, let your freak flag fly."--Dan Martin |
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Anonymous
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Quote:
Hockey Hooligan said:
Quote:
Keith_Wassung said:
By Keith W. Wassung
It is my contention that the bottom one third of the full squat represents the primary limiting factor for most people in the increase of lower body strength and development.
Keith Wassung
Same with deads too.
Not so sure I agree with this...the bottom 1/3 of a dead is not at all like the bottom 1/3 of a squat..not sure what you mean exactly...
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Hockey Hooligan
Total Posts: 590
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Sorry... I meant that the most difficult part of the deadlift is the bottom positon, when you have the least momentum.
I didn't mean that they were the same movement, just that they share a similar sticking point.
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Keith_Wassung
Total Posts: 228
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I think that totally depends on your structure and build. I can get a ton more weight off the floor then I can lockout with-so the first part of the deadlift is much easier for me.
Counselor Testa,
to answer your question about pause squats-You can throw them in at the end of your regular squats-I am not a big fan of doing 20 rep squat sessions, multiple times a week for weeks on end. I think they are the kind of thing that you do now and then or cycled with a more moderate rep scheme, ie one workout you do 20 reppers then the next session, 5x5 or something like that.
Good to see you by the way-things going well for you?
Keith
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cajinjohn
Total Posts: 12495
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I totaly agree with this last post by Keith.
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Hockey Hooligan
Total Posts: 590
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Sorry I forget that my monkey arms make me a different lifter to others. Come to think of it I've never got a barbell offf the floor that I couldn't lock out.
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There is no rest short of the grave
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sam tsang
Total Posts: 2411
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Keith,
I have a related question then. I have problem with the OH squats at the bottom. For regular squats, I don't have problem with the bottom. At the bottom of the OH squat, I hvae trouble maintaining my balance. I try to lean a little forward with the body so that the bar will get over my head and not merely above my forehead. The problem comes when I start to get on the ball of my foot. I can't seem to get down there without nearly falling over. Why is that? Is there something wrong with my form?
Sam Tsang
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Keith_Wassung
Total Posts: 228
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Quote:
sam tsang said:
Keith,
I have a related question then. I have problem with the OH squats at the bottom. For regular squats, I don't have problem with the bottom. At the bottom of the OH squat, I hvae trouble maintaining my balance. I try to lean a little forward with the body so that the bar will get over my head and not merely above my forehead. The problem comes when I start to get on the ball of my foot. I can't seem to get down there without nearly falling over. Why is that? Is there something wrong with my form?
Sam Tsang
Sam,
That is a very common problem and it may have multiple causes and corrections. The overhead squat is commonplace in the routine of Olympic lifters who use it to improve their squat style snatch. Virtually every Olympic lifter uses some sort of built up heel in order to maintain their balance-especially in the bottom position. You can do one of two things-(1) put a very small board underneath your heels-something like a 1"x4" will work, you can gradually take that down to thinner board-like a thin piece of plywood. I know a lot of folks warn about elevating the heels when squatting because of potential knee strain-and I agree with them about using an elevated heel for full squats-but the overhead squat is different and you will never use the amount of weight that would cause in problems. (*If you have not figured this out yet and it took me a while to as I am sort of slow-the overhead squat is really not a leg exercise-the legs just happen to be involved-its primarily a core./posterior chain move and of the best one available)
The second option would be to squat in a shoe that has a wide base and a heel-like army boots or work boots-something like that. You need to be doing all of your leg work in a high top sort of shoe that has a lot of ankle support and has a wide base. I see people squatting in running shoes and related footwear and it causes their foot turn in slightly at the bottom as the base is sort of mushy. I also do not like to squat on any type of surface that has any type of give to it, like a rubber mat.
Another suggestion is to keep the bar in the right position by squeezing the bar as if you were try to "pull it apart"-just before I hit the bottom position I start pushing upwards on the bar and this helps to keep the bar in the right position, which is critical
My final piece of advice is to take a very light barbell-start with the bar itself-get into the bottom position of the overhead squat and then do a series of wide grip, behind the neck press-8-10 reps. This will also teach you to maintain a tight body position and to keep the bar in the right line-its also a great warm-up move for a workout. Keep the weight light-its a warm-up not an exercise.
I hope that helps
Keith
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sam tsang
Total Posts: 2411
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Thanks, Keith,
This is helpful. I'm off to the gym to try.
Sam Tsang
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IB138
Total Posts: 9321
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Quote:
Keith_Wassung said:
Deadstop Squats, also known as Bottom Position Squats, are an incredible exercise ... I also like the fact that there is virtually zero ballistic impact on the knees and I have had many people who claimed they could not squat because of pain in their knees, be able to do deadstop squats without any pain in their joints.
I'm going to give these a try.
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Phil_N
Total Posts: 2924
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Quote:
sam tsang said:
Keith,
I have a related question then. I have problem with the OH squats at the bottom. For regular squats, I don't have problem with the bottom. At the bottom of the OH squat, I hvae trouble maintaining my balance. I try to lean a little forward with the body so that the bar will get over my head and not merely above my forehead. The problem comes when I start to get on the ball of my foot. I can't seem to get down there without nearly falling over. Why is that? Is there something wrong with my form?
Sam Tsang
LOLOLOL...
You people kill me... you absolutely kill me...
I've got a novel idea...
If you want to do Olympic lifts, which OH squats are
"The bottom position of the Snatch"
Why don’t you buy Olympic Lifting Shoes???
Ohhh man, I'm such a genus
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Keith_Wassung
Total Posts: 228
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Genus?
acutally an overhead squat is not an Olympic lift, the only Olympic lifts
are the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.
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Phil_N
Total Posts: 2924
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Quote:
Keith_Wassung said:
Genus?
acutally an overhead squat is not an Olympic lift, the only Olympic lifts
are the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.
OMG! Talk about beyond cattie
It called, learning to read
Quote:
Bubo:
If you want to do Olympic lifts, which OH squats are
"The bottom position of the Snatch"
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sam tsang
Total Posts: 2411
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Easy, Bubo,I already wear powerlifting shoes which do not vary that much from Olympic lifting shoes in my estimation.
Keith, that was helpful. I find that perhaps my grip was a little narrow as well which contributes to my imbalance.
Now as a related question, you stated earlier in an article about training overhead lifting/pressing. I want to know when you said that you have to put one foot in front of the other during the press, do you switch around to the other foot to balance out the stress? Is there a rationale behind why one foot goes forward while the other goes back other than balance? You also made the statement that you can actually OH press more than you bench. It's realistic according to your article. Although i've heard that claim by people who've written on Olympic lifting, I fail to see how that can happen? Please elaborate. Thanks for any or all advice.
Sam Tsang
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IB138
Total Posts: 9321
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OMG! Bubo is just sooooooo smart.
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ccrow
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Olympic lifting shoes would be ideal but I make due with boots. I prefer a low boot though, a high top is going to interfere with ankle flexibility. In a powerlifting squat the shins stay vertical so there is little movement at the ankle. In an olympic style squat the ankle bends quite a bit as the toes go out past the toes. I use jungle boots with the insoles taken out so there's no give at all and I only lace them up to where the ankle bends. If you aren't flexible you aren't going to be able to do overhead squats. Zerchers might be a better learning tool if your shoulders are very tight. You should probably be able to do a dislocate with your snatch grip on a broomstick if you want to train the overhead squat. If you lose one backwards, you might be doing a dislocate whether you like it or not, so it's probably better to find out if your able to do one before you load up :) If you are reasonably flexible and you just can't get even one rep to feel right, I'll bet 9 times out of ten it's a positioning problem. Your grip has to be snatch width - for someone over 6' tall, it's usually collar to collar. So for an average height man, it is within a few inches of the collars. Your stance has to be at least shoulder width with the toes pointed out a bit. One other thing, unlike Keith, I find the challenge in the overhead squat is in the overhead part, balancing at the shoulders. My core muscles snore through the hardest sets I can muster, not even starting to work. This is probably because my overhead press sucks, and Keith presses small apartment buildings.
The most important test a lifter has to pass
is the test of time.
-Jon Cole
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IB138
Total Posts: 9321
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Quote:
ccrow said:
as the toes go out past the toes.
This has to be a neat trick. :-)
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Phil_N
Total Posts: 2924
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Quote:
Barney Shannon said:
OMG! Bubo is just sooooooo smart.
No bro, it's more like..
I iz soooo smart, it hurts LOL
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Michael Testa
Total Posts: 98
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Quote:
Keith_Wassung said:
I think that totally depends on your structure and build. I can get a ton more weight off the floor then I can lockout with-so the first part of the deadlift is much easier for me.
Counselor Testa,
to answer your question about pause squats-You can throw them in at the end of your regular squats-I am not a big fan of doing 20 rep squat sessions, multiple times a week for weeks on end. I think they are the kind of thing that you do now and then or cycled with a more moderate rep scheme, ie one workout you do 20 reppers then the next session, 5x5 or something like that.
Good to see you by the way-things going well for you?
Keith
Keith, things are going very well for me, if a bit busy. How are the twins?
I have a nice pair of Adidas Oly shoes that I like to squat in, especially so when I use a cambered squat bar, such as the buffalo bar. I have a 2" version of this bar from PDA.
I will include the pause squats in my routine once again. I did these a couple of years ago with very good results. I usually pause for about 3 seconds in the hole. I was able to work up to about 275 for 2 sets of 3 after my regular squat session.
| "Michael, let your freak flag fly."--Dan Martin |
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