Joliver
E-Fighter Extraordinaire
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2013
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After I finished lifting tonight and I was approached by some crossfitters that were interested in "increasing their squatting power." Gym owner ask me for a favor with these moneybags, so I decided to help them out instead of mocking two adult men who regularly used the word "burpee."
So I wanted to see how much they could squat. They "didnt go below 5 reps." So the obvious answer is to do more work (heavier weight) in less time (fewer reps), because that is the definition of power. That didn't satisfy them.
I tried to adjust their stance. Widen things out to utilize the powerful hips, hams, and glutes. "We need to be able to do olympic lifts," and so that answer didn't satisfy them. I wasn't in an argumentative mood.
I went through a quite a few tips before I got fed up with reasons as to why they couldn't do what I suggested. It really became a "....see that is the difference between PLing and funtional training..." fest. I wanted to say "putting you two in the truck of smart car and turning it over would be a great functional test for me" but I just kept staring at his girls boobs and came up with a new solution.
I finally got them on the rack and squatting. I found a simple solution to a simple problem that limits the potential of every novice squatter. They drew in, and contracted their abs.
Why have a smaller base for heavier lifting? It is flawed but common logic. I had both of them unrack 315 with a full belly of air--which was harder to teach than I thought it would be. After the bar was on their back, I had both of them exhale and flex as hard as they would with a max effort squat. Both of those suckers ended up on their toes. That is right. The bar goes forward.
Do the experiment at home if you dont believe me. Grab a bar...or broom if you are an idiot...and set up in your squat position. Exhale forcefully and contract your abs. If you went forward, you just realized that you just did two things: First, you limited the amount of time you can exert maximum force--kind of like blowing out all your air under water; you wont win a "hold your breath contest." Second, you just shifted your base from your designed groove that should be maximizing your hips, glutes, and hams to your quads. Shifting your groove in mid lift is bad enough. Shifting it in favor of a smaller, less powerful muscle group is terrible.
A big belly full of air is preferable because a wider, more stable platform is always better to project power.
There are a few exceptions, but on the whole....the best squatters fill the belly and squat.
So I wanted to see how much they could squat. They "didnt go below 5 reps." So the obvious answer is to do more work (heavier weight) in less time (fewer reps), because that is the definition of power. That didn't satisfy them.
I tried to adjust their stance. Widen things out to utilize the powerful hips, hams, and glutes. "We need to be able to do olympic lifts," and so that answer didn't satisfy them. I wasn't in an argumentative mood.
I went through a quite a few tips before I got fed up with reasons as to why they couldn't do what I suggested. It really became a "....see that is the difference between PLing and funtional training..." fest. I wanted to say "putting you two in the truck of smart car and turning it over would be a great functional test for me" but I just kept staring at his girls boobs and came up with a new solution.
I finally got them on the rack and squatting. I found a simple solution to a simple problem that limits the potential of every novice squatter. They drew in, and contracted their abs.
Why have a smaller base for heavier lifting? It is flawed but common logic. I had both of them unrack 315 with a full belly of air--which was harder to teach than I thought it would be. After the bar was on their back, I had both of them exhale and flex as hard as they would with a max effort squat. Both of those suckers ended up on their toes. That is right. The bar goes forward.
Do the experiment at home if you dont believe me. Grab a bar...or broom if you are an idiot...and set up in your squat position. Exhale forcefully and contract your abs. If you went forward, you just realized that you just did two things: First, you limited the amount of time you can exert maximum force--kind of like blowing out all your air under water; you wont win a "hold your breath contest." Second, you just shifted your base from your designed groove that should be maximizing your hips, glutes, and hams to your quads. Shifting your groove in mid lift is bad enough. Shifting it in favor of a smaller, less powerful muscle group is terrible.
A big belly full of air is preferable because a wider, more stable platform is always better to project power.
There are a few exceptions, but on the whole....the best squatters fill the belly and squat.
thanks to MM
