Yesterday was my first day of squats for a long long while.
Felt okay at the time but I think i’m going to have to do my poos standing up today.

Felt okay at the time but I think i’m going to have to do my poos standing up today

LOL.

I’m worried now. back on the weights tonight for first time in ~6 weeks! 😯

A missed workout, a heavy bike week, tapering, recovery, sickness have been my reasons/ excuses.

Thinking a 50% deload would be appropriate. any thoughts?

After 6 weeks off, I’d be amazed if you can complete 50% of previous sets/reps….

I think a 50% deload might be a bit much. See how you feel; I suspect you’ll be upping the weight pretty quickly.

Hi.

I’ve not been for three and a half weeks due to being ill then being on holiday. Not sure I can be bothered with all this any more. I need to get some riding in to tackle the Ridgway double before the summer ends. Also fixed my knee so I can now run.

*sigh*

PS I think the Stronglifts app suggests 50% deload after a gap of more than three weeks…?

Did some high bar squats on Monday! Not full depth, stopping at about 15 deg above parallel because if I go any lower the right ankle’s limited dorsiflexion messes with my knee and hip and lower back but they felt good, smooth movement. Going to continue with these partial squats and rack pulls whilst I work on the ankle mobility. Not doing “proper” squats is an interesting test of humility… 😉

Separated AC joint is recovering well – think I’ll get back on the bike next week but will have to refrain from sending any jumps or drops until it’s comfortable benching again. It’s feeling strong in pull (2xBW rack pull) but feeble in push (1/4xBW chest press last time I tried!)

went for 50% (ish) and 3×5 instead of 3×5. if felt easy but i’m definatley sore this morning – not so much that it’ll impact on tomorrows bike session – which is what i was concerned about.

I need to get some riding in to tackle the Ridgway double before the summer ends

does it have to be one or the other?

Weird problem with my squats, feel like I’m having to push backwards through my toes using my calf muscles to straighten my legs, rather than my thighs doing the work, any ideas?

Can’t film my form as the gym is always busy and I don’t want to end up on any (more) lists and nobody in my gym has a clue on lifting.

Ask someone else to film you? Quicker.

Weird problem with my squats, feel like I’m having to push backwards through my toes using my calf muscles to straighten my legs, rather than my thighs doing the work, any ideas?

Hard to say without a video. Squatting is a combination of Glutes and Quads, so you won’t necessarily feel it in the quads (I don’t recall doing so). Also, you don’t get much feedback from the glute muscles, so they can be doing a lot of work and you won’t necessarily feel it at the time.

I wouldn’t recommend squatting with any significant weight until you’ve got a good range of motion, i regularly see guys trying to squat too much weight because of ego and most don’t break parallel or have imbalances that need addressing first.
Overhead squats can bring most meatheads crashing back to earth.

Thanks, I suspect I might be leaning too far forward somehow.

A bit the bloke on the right in this pic, but imagine the bar in the normal position like the one in the middle (so it’s in line with the front of the foot rather than the middle)

I used to be alright at this, need to go at a quiet time and grab some pics. Stupidly they have loads of mirrors but they’re all blocked by unmoveable stuff so you can’t see yourself.

The other thing is that I carried on cycling when I stopped squatting so I;ve probably got imbalanced strength in my muscles.

A bit the bloke on the right in this pic, but imagine the bar in the normal position like the one in the middle (so it’s in line with the front of the foot rather than the middle)

Everyone has a different ‘correct’ form when squatting as we all have different lever length ratios…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av3LO2GwpAk[/video]

Had an epiphany at the gym this afternoon…

I’ve been struggling with grip strength on DL for a while now, and really don’t want to resort to wrist straps. Someone suggested wrapping a paper towel around the bar for a bit of extra grip.

Well, hallelujah! It was like taking 40kg off the bar. What an incredible difference.

Weird. I’ll have to give that a try sometime. I take it you were using chalk as well…?

Personally, I was feeling a bit beat up and generally knackered and a few twitches were starting up so I knocked it on the head for the last three weeks. **** me, did it hurt today. Reduced the weight quite a bit and only knocked out two sets of my regular exercises.

Probably fall onto the crapper in the morning…

[Quote] I take it you were using chalk as well…? [/quote]

I’ve never tried chalk (although I’ve been meaning to), so I imagine it’s a similar result.

I’ve also been out of it for a couple of weeks, due to life and work getting in the way.

As well as chalk, are you using a mixed grip or overhand? Mixed grip helps to balance out the torque that tend to get the bar rolling. Also try taking your shoes off and lifting with socks. It’s surprising how much difference that can make, unless you are wearing lifting shoes.

Also try taking your shoes off and lifting with socks

Heh. I first read that as using your socks in place of the paper towels technique.

But yeah, I lifted barefoot for quite a while but stopped when the squat got heavy. I use a shoe with a firm base now.

I’ve been struggling with grip strength on DL for a while now, and really don’t want to resort to wrist straps.

I use wrist straps, mainly as I have tendinitis (golfer’s elbow) and straps stop me aggravating it, only downside is my grip is a lot weaker as a result.

I’m considering giving up the gym membership. I just want to ride bikes instead…

I just want to ride bikes instead…

wrong forum 😉

I’m making some progress! My ankle dorsiflexion has got quite a lot better, which is reassuring. I’m working on tidying up my deadlift and squat form and getting some weight on the bar when benching – the AC joint separation is taking a while to get back to (the new) normal. Videoing yourself teaches you a lot about your form.

I’ve been a bit ill this week and when I was doing deadlifts on Wednesday I kept feeling my SI joint complaining, so I’m going to work on some light full-depth pause squats after doing some SI joint mobility/stablilisation exercises I’ve found.

Incidentally I’ve switched from reverse grip on heavier deadlifts to matched overhand grip. Seems easier on the rest of me, and is fine for sets of 5, sometimes needing chalk or a full reset on the later sets.

Does anyone use the stronglift official app?

I’m trying to get going with it. It goes through a wizard thingy where I select what I can lift, but then suggests really low weights afterwards.

I’m going to look a right royal plonker squatting a 20KG bar with a 1.25KG plate on each side 😆

I use the app, and find it brilliant. It’ll tell you what weight you’re on, how long to rest, at cetera.

It will start conservative, but you can change the weight manually if you’d rather. I started at 50kg, and jumped up in the first couple of weeks to 80kg.

you’ll look more of a plonker when you can’t walk if you start at the wrong weight 🙂 the app is grand

I’m going to look a right royal plonker squatting a 20KG bar with a 1.25KG plate on each side

As far as I concerned the first “rule” of lifting is to leave your ego at the door. Far better to spend time at an appropriate weight getting the technique and movement right than doing the exercise half arsed and injuring yourself.

I always start a squat session with just the bar, i’m more impressed with depth than weight and all compound moves are a learned skill.
Plenty of goons can squat big, but few are atg.
Squatting is as much about mental toughness as strength.

Yes I’d second that. I don’t squat big at all but they are deep squats. Lots of guys I see do huge weights but half squats . Bit pointless really

When squatting I find the deeper I squat the easier it is to come back up, this I usually squat as deep as I can go, way past parallel. Anyone else find this?

When squatting I find the deeper I squat the easier it is to come back up, this I usually squat as deep as I can go, way past parallel. Anyone else find this?

I find to do a half-rep, you need to decelerate the weight on the way down, before trying to accelerate it back up again. With a full rep, you almost ‘bounce’ out of the bottom. My opinion, obviously.

Does anyone have quite a wide range of weights for their lifts? Have you done anything to bring it back together? I reckon my OH would be a 1/2 or less of my DL.

I find to do a half-rep, you need to decelerate the weight on the way down, before trying to accelerate it back up again. With a full rep, you almost ‘bounce’ out of the bottom. My opinion, obviously.

Similarly I go down slowly and up as fast as I can. Force is mass x acceleration. More acceleration = more force required.

I had to drop the weight a little bit to break that habit. Feels better, still slightly below parallel but not right down. More controlled I think.

When squatting I find the deeper I squat the easier it is to come back up, this I usually squat as deep as I can go, way past parallel. Anyone else find this?

wish i did, but no 😀

Similarly I go down slowly and up as fast as I can. Force is mass x acceleration. More acceleration = more force required.

same, controlled going down, no bouncing, then explode back up fast as i can.

controlled going down, no bouncing,

Yemen – don’t be dropping at speed, no point in doing that.

More controlled I think.

I’d try and go lower if you’re able, it’s a much better exercise for doing so.

YoKaiser » Have you done anything to bring it back together?

Have you done a proper deload – rest and 15% reduction? Focus on form when the weight is lighter and slowly get back up. Depending on the weight you’re using it might be worth looking at a different programme if you’ve been doing 5×5.

Edit : I’m assuming you’re claiming to have massive difference between the OH and DL, in which case that’s totally normal. So ignore the above if so.

Where do we stand on spotting? If I need assistance to do the final 2 reps of the final 5×5, I haven’t met that weight have I…?

I’ve been back on stronglifts for a month now and things are starting to get heavy and hard.

When squatting I find the deeper I squat the easier it is to come back up, this I usually squat as deep as I can go, way past parallel. Anyone else find this?

Try it with a 2 second pause at the bottom and see if it still holds true.

Could be you have very strong glutes and can recruit them well (deeper means more glute dominant). Or, more likely, you’re using your hamstring tendons as springs…

When squatting I find the deeper I squat the easier it is to come back up, this I usually squat as deep as I can go, way past parallel. Anyone else find this?

That’ll be the stretch shortening cycle.

I always start with a bare bar when squatting and work up from there.
I always get 5-6 warm up sets in before my working sets.

Nothing good comes from skipping warm up sets.

I usually do 2 warm up sets around 10-20% off my work set. But this will vary from person to person.

Out of interest what are everyone’s numbers?