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Squats Issues???

Crikey, if you can't squat down with heels flat on the floor without wanting to topple over, how do you think you're supposed to squat properly with a weight on your back? Mind you, not everyone is built to be able to squat ATG. You should squat as low as it is possible whilst maintaining tight back position. Go any lower and you will encounter the dreaded buttwink and lose tightness - a recipe for disaster once you go heavy on the weights if you ask me.

If you're not able to squat down into an asian squat and hold it there without hurting like a bitch, identify what is lacking mobility and work on them hard. I find the best way to do this is to get a firm foam roller or rumble roller, and roll your leg on it starting from the ankle all the way to your pelvis. Any part which is tight will hurt like a bitch, which is your cue to roll on it some more and to start doing specific mobility work on that area. For me, my ankles and calves were the main culprit, followed by hamstrings, hip flexors, and glutes.. in that order.

Once you are supple enough, your sessions at PTC working on form would be far more productive, imo.
 
Front squats cause my lower back to ache and tighten up when performing. I do the squat to stand drill and have a tough time getting my chest up and my butt down.
 
David H said:
Front squats cause my lower back to ache and tighten up when performing. I do the squat to stand drill and have a tough time getting my chest up and my butt down.
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try some stretching of the hammies and glutes, maybe some foam rolling of glutes as well, found this really helped with flexmability and mobility of squatting lower without the lower back tension
 
Sounds like you have tight/weak hip flexors, lower back, glutes and possibly hamstrings - I would strongly suggest widening your stance slightly, also start box squatting (Will help with getting to depth, firing your glutes, strengthening glutes, hams, lower back) - if you don't have vert leap boxes in your gym then exercise steps will do - they are sometimes better as you can lower/add height easy - start stretching the hip flexors, lower back etc alot - as time goes on bring your stance in, lower the box > then remove the box all together after awhile...
 
Don't do box squats to fix your squats. Do box squats if you want to get better at box squats. Terrible for getting good at squats.
 
Bazza20 said:
Don't do box squats to fix your squats. Do box squats if you want to get better at box squats. Terrible for getting good at squats.
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Yea Westside are terrible at powerlifting and people like Joe Defranco are terrible at building athletes....def DO NOT listen to them....listen to Bazza....

They are one of the best exercises to help squat form, and build strength through the lower back, hamstrings, glutes - where all the power comes from when - you guessed it - squating...
 
The box squat is great if you want to be good at box squatting, it's a silly exercise that does nothing

if you want to be good at squatting, squatting is good.
 
Silverback said:
The box squat is great if you want to be good at box squatting, it's a silly exercise that does nothing

if you want to be good at squatting, squatting is good.
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lol...

Yes of course squat...but if you have issues it is a fantastic tool to get you a better squat....

Again - yes it is so silly that is why prob the most successful powerlifting gym in the world do it, most of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the world incorporate it.....yes so so silly....
 
Rugby88 said:
lol...

Yes of course squat...but if you have issues it is a fantastic tool to get you a better squat....

Again - yes it is so silly that is why prob the most successful powerlifting gym in the world do it, most of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the world incorporate it.....yes so so silly....
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It is not a fantastic tool to get a better squat.

if you are weak in the squat, you squat.

you fail to realize that you only see what these genetically gifted do now, not what they did to get very strong.

im not always right, but I don't feel I'm wrong with this, box squatting is a fad, that died in the arse, many years ago
 
Silverback said:
It is not a fantastic tool to get a better squat.

if you are weak in the squat, you squat.

you fail to realize that you only see what these genetically gifted do now, not what they did to get very strong.

im not always right, but I don't feel I'm wrong with this, box squatting is a fad, that died in the arse, many years ago
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Each to their own...
 
Box squats can help with someone who has no hip drive. Just doing regular squats as the only means of improving the squat will only reinforce poor movement patterns if the athlete isn't squatting correctly to start with.

Also, the box squat is a great savior for the knees. Continually squatting to depth with decent weights in a ballistic manner will take its toll on the knees over time. You can set the box to just below legal depth, keep the shin at a near vertical angle and greatly reduce the stress on the knee joint.

Some people can squat "ass to ground" with a really acute angle in the knee but their squats are barely legal depth because the tibia angles forward so far that technically the hip is still above the knee - not a legal depth squat and very damaging to the knee. The box can help re-educate this movement.
 
Rugby88 said:
Yea Westside are terrible at powerlifting and people like Joe Defranco are terrible at building athletes....def DO NOT listen to them....listen to Bazza....

They are one of the best exercises to help squat form, and build strength through the lower back, hamstrings, glutes - where all the power comes from when - you guessed it - squating...
Click to expand...

How good do westside go in the world of raw lifting.

Box squats work for equipped lifting.

How many great raw squatters use box squats, o lifters ?

Maybe learn some facts
 
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Silverback said:
im not always right, but I don't feel I'm wrong with this, box squatting is a fad, that died in the arse, many years ago
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This. box squatting was all the rage 5-10 years ago. Most who had a brain worked out it did fuck all for raw squats.
 
Bazza20 said:
How good do westside go in the world of raw lifting.

Box squats work for equipped lifting.

How many great raw squatters use box squats, o lifters ?

Maybe learn some facts
Click to expand...

Lol no...I'm not even going to get into it - these "threads" are getting boring...
 
My take on the whole squatting thing is the hip, and it's design, some can squat deep, some cannot, deep is relative, too deep can place force on the knee, in that the calve pressing against the hammy can and will cause issue with the knee too shallow places incredible sheering force on the knee.

squat as deep as you can safely, be careful, the squat stimulates a lot of muscle when done correctly, so it stands to reason that if the squat is done poorly you stand to face a lot of potential damage.

safely means that the muscle doing the mechanical work must be doing the mechanical work right to the last rep.

squatting (sitting) on a box has no benefit.

the only value I see for box squatting is that the trainee want to determine a safe level of squatting, whereby he just touches the box as opposed to sitting on it.

but this is what squatting is all about, starting light, being patient, finding out what sort of squatter you are.

the goal is 2.5 x BW for 20 reps

the load on the hip and spine at that point is massive when one sits on a box
 
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I think you're all debating different points of view. The people saying it does nothing for squats are coming from a powerlifter view point. Some people squat purely to work the quads for body building training. Once you go below parallel, the hamstrings and glutes are engaged more. So for a pure quad workout, box squats are excellent.
 
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