here are some squats? Are they any good form wise? any comments are welcomed..
https://download.yousendit.com/2DE3B4D85DBFDB23
it's recorded via mob.phone… it opens with quicktime.
form critique!!
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Member
1) ditch the machine (see thread about "tough transition to regular squats")
2) ditch the pad on your neck (you need to feel the bar in order to control it)
3) be more positive about your stance (don't shift around)
4) toes might be pointed too far out, making the knees come out sideways farther than your feet (bit of a "frog leg" look)
5) last but not least DEPTH. Squat sideways to a mirror with no weight. Make sure that the top of your hip is going lower than the top of your knee. Cutting them high will only limit your progress.Other than that not too bad!
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Participant
boy i tell u, no comment
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Member
richard: i know man… this is the only "rack" my gym has :(… but it doesn't restrict u like a smith machine though… it just restricts the side by side motion. just that. I sit back exactly light free squatting… it's really not very different at all…
As far as the pad, yes man… i know this is gay.. i must get rid of it.. 🙁
And yes i could have my toes pointer a bit straighter 🙁
i think the depth is quite ok, may be not ATG, but below parallel ( that's how i felt when i was doing them ..that i was touching my calves and then trying to explode up)
Thanks for your time man. I REALLY appreciate it.. i ll try to get better and correct my form( and all the little things you pointed out!…
*i only do squats, weighted chins, bench, shoulder press and olympic cleans)i am training really hard consistently and trying to stay motivated. My focus is to increase my relative strength, getting as strong as possible minimizing bodyweight gains (although i have increased my bw by 11kg 🙁 since the day i started training.. i strarted as a scrawny 65kg weak little girl :), and i commited to get as strong as possible whatever it takes.. now i am 76.1kg)
ufootball: 🙂 😀 , thank you VERY MUCH. was that a positive comment?
English is not my native languate.. i am from greece -
Participant
You may be going to parallel (hard to tell), but definitely not below
i don't understand why people use smith machines and cushion pads.
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Member
All the reps look high to me.
I counted 9 reps. Reps 4-9 are particularly high (especially #8).
With the pants on and the way your knees are, you might feel pressure behind the knee, but from the video I would say the depth is not close.Once you take care of all the points I made, it should fall into place.
BTW: the rack is probably more restrictive than you think.
It eliminates tipping (side-to-side), twisting (front-to-back), and swaying (side-to-side) etc. -
Participant
Pads have always made me feel very uncomfortable with the movement–luckily i have never used the smith machine for squats and never will. Problems with depth are mostly when you are starting out because of flexibility and a bit of ego, but he could take care of those now probably. I remember when I was doing quarter squats @ like 145lbs (think high school frosh) with 315-330 and I thought I was sweet….
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KeymasterThe technique looks ok…could go a hair lower IMO. That machine is really strange. It's like a smith machine without the advantage of being a smith machine (spotting safety).
ELITETRACK Founder
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Member
Yes mike, it is strange indeed. I have no idea, why the owner didn't just buy a regular rack…
Anyway, yes i agree i could have gone a bit lower, maybe it's the angle that is not showing the proper depth ( i assure u though that in almost all the reps i touched my hams, i am also sure i could have gone 1-2 cm lower).
the take home message as you all indicated is that i could have gone a little lower..richard, i know the machine is shitty… the only reason i do squats in it, is because i have no other option . there is no other place to do squats. Just a smith machine, and this "rack" 🙁 i sometimes clean and front squat (free weights). I also sometimes clean, jerk, and lower the weight and perform back squats (but with lower weights of course, the weights i can jerk and lower safely), and i find not many differences in the technique at all. (it's not like i squat in a smith)
And yes it only restricts side-side motion, but not front to back, (cause i know i have lost my balances some times and kinda feel back or tipped forward in the past) -
Member
anthony,
You have to use what you can. It's surprising that there isn't even one rack.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be too critical. I give you credit for posting a vid.
If you think the camera angle cheated you then take one from the side (side judges gauge depth). -
Participant
anthony,
You have to use what you can. It's surprising that there isn't even one rack.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be too critical. I give you credit for posting a vid.
If you think the camera angle cheated you then take one from the side (side judges gauge depth).there are a 1000 other things i would do before a smith machine, all variations of dl, single leg movements, front squats etc.
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Keymaster
UT-
While I hate smith machines myself, I don't think that thing could actually be consiered a smith machine. Watch how the slide bar can move forward and backwards (sagital plane). That is the main direction where the smith machine limits / disrupts normal squat motion. As a result, while I'd certainly prefer free weight squats I actually don't think that thing is all that bad. Having said that, I do think it's a worthless piece of equipment. I can think of reasons (not good ones though) why you'd want to use a smith machine. I can't think of any reason why you'd want to make or use that machine (if you had free weights).ELITETRACK Founder
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Member
MIKE, man… you couldn't have said it better!!
Look if i had to use a smith machine (linear motion etc) i wouldn't bother squatting at all in the first place. This equipement "pseudorack" my gym has is just stupid as you said. It looks like a smith/rack combo, but actually the motion is like free squatting! Thats why when i squat the weights i jerk (free weights) it feels EXACTLY the same, and if it gave me "fake strength" or no carryover to other lowerbody lifts i wouldn't be able to conventional deadlift 210kg 1-rm beltless-strapless (this is not bragging).But really this "machine" serves no purpose at all, as you pointed out!. I just can't understand how "supposedly" it is safer than a power rack, since it offers no more safety than a power rack, and looks like a smith but has none of the "proposed" safety measures a smith has. ITS SO STUPID. 🙂
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Participant
460lb deadlift is ok, whats ur bodyweight, its hard to compare the back squat to the deadlift?
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Member
i weigh 76kg.
the deadlift pr (210) was made at 75-76kg with a pb at 190kg at squats, with basically no deadlifting AT ALL.( all carryover from squatting)
the problem with the deads is that the damned bar slips on my hands, and i find it hard to progress on the deads because of the grip 🙁 )
here is a vid of 200kg ~4months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaoeU_o0eK8
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Member
anthony,
re deadlift: try lifting in shorts vs pants. That will reduce drag, and might even help with the grip.re grip:
1) use chalk
2) don't wear straps for any lifts (eg chins, shrugs etc)
3) try "fat-bar grips". load up one end of a bar, then grip around the fat end of the bar. hold it up for 30 secs. Do a few one arm shrugs during those 30 secs. work up to 4 plates + Grip straight down onto the bar, don't curl your wrist.
4) try towel chins. hang a towel over a chin bar. do a couple sets of chins pulling alternate shoulders up to the bar.
5) choose hanging abs as an ab exercise. Your grip should catch up quick. It's nice to never worry about grip, make it extra strong. -
Participant
anthony,
re deadlift: try lifting in shorts vs pants. That will reduce drag, and might even help with the grip.re grip:
1) use chalk
2) don't wear straps for any lifts (eg chins, shrugs etc)
3) try "fat-bar grips". load up one end of a bar, then grip around the fat end of the bar. hold it up for 30 secs. Do a few one arm shrugs during those 30 secs. work up to 4 plates + Grip straight down onto the bar, don't curl your wrist.
4) try towel chins. hang a towel over a chin bar. do a couple sets of chins pulling alternate shoulders up to the bar.
5) choose hanging abs as an ab exercise. Your grip should catch up quick. It's nice to never worry about grip, make it extra strong.dont use straps, why?? lol
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Participant
anthony,
re deadlift: try lifting in shorts vs pants. That will reduce drag, and might even help with the grip.re grip:
1) use chalk
2) don't wear straps for any lifts (eg chins, shrugs etc)
3) try "fat-bar grips". load up one end of a bar, then grip around the fat end of the bar. hold it up for 30 secs. Do a few one arm shrugs during those 30 secs. work up to 4 plates + Grip straight down onto the bar, don't curl your wrist.
4) try towel chins. hang a towel over a chin bar. do a couple sets of chins pulling alternate shoulders up to the bar.
5) choose hanging abs as an ab exercise. Your grip should catch up quick. It's nice to never worry about grip, make it extra strong.remember hes not trying to become a pl but just get stronger so if straps will help him lift more weight then why not..
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Participant
richard suggests to close the gap between the weight the grip can handle and the weight the rest of the body can before progressing with the latter….
what??
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Participant
yep…
(or didn't my post make sense? lol, my english…)
didnt understand
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Participant
my fault..
richard suggests to make the gripp strong enough to not need straps anymore.
shizzle why didnt i say it that way before?and im saying we are in track and field who cares about grip strength, if you can dl 500lb with straps but only 400lb without straps whats better for strength — let me see — i think straps.
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Keymaster
I used to be kinda hard core about grip strength and having it be strong enough to handle any loads necessary. I rethought this about 3 years ago and now I really only care that my throwers have strong grip strength. I do however prefer my athletes to use a hook grip over straps because it interferes less with racking the weight on OLs. For straight pulls or hanging activities though straps are just fine if necessary.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Participant
I used to be kinda hard core about grip strength and having it be strong enough to handle any loads necessary. I rethought this about 3 years ago and now I really only care that my throwers have strong grip strength. I do however prefer my athletes to use a hook grip over straps because it interferes less with racking the weight on OLs. For straight pulls or hanging activities though straps are just fine if necessary.
i dont use straps for the power cleans but i can drop and reset after each rep but for hang position and pulls i agree straps are a must
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Member
With just a little work on grip strength it can easily become a strong point.
There is nothing worse than trying a heavy deadlift without confidence in your grip.
It makes the entire lift tentative, since you don't want to lose the grip (not the way to get a heavy lift).
Strong hands and grip help with everything you do. Powerful looking forearms are how I predict if a guy has a strong bench.
The entire issue of lifting x-pounds without straps and x+100 pounds with straps goes away with just a little work on grip.
I also find it kind of fun to train since you can probably double your grip strength with little effort. Also it doesn't add much bulk to your frame.
I see guys use straps to cheat with say shrugs. They load it up, then just sort of bounce the bar a bit, with no shrug motion, they couldn't do that without straps. -
Participant
With just a little work on grip strength it can easily become a strong point.
There is nothing worse than trying a heavy deadlift without confidence in your grip.
It makes the entire lift tentative, since you don't want to lose the grip (not the way to get a heavy lift).
Strong hands and grip help with everything you do. Powerful looking forearms are how I predict if a guy has a strong bench.
The entire issue of lifting x-pounds without straps and x+100 pounds with straps goes away with just a little work on grip.
I also find it kind of fun to train since you can probably double your grip strength with little effort. Also it doesn't add much bulk to your frame.
I see guys use straps to cheat with say shrugs. They load it up, then just sort of bounce the bar a bit, with no shrug motion, they couldn't do that without straps.lol, u r still in your powerlifting days, track field esp sprinters dont have time to train something like grip strength, u only can place so much stress on the cns. who cares if a athlete dont have confidence in there grip strength to dl, its not important to the sport. in college we did power shrugs with straps with weights in the 500-600lbs and that was key in developing my big traps – so straps can work. like mike stated earlier i may use some grip work with throwers.
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Member
Thats fair, I just like having a strong grip. To start any lift I focus on a precise and strong grip.
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Participant
Grip for deadlift depends a lot on how big your hands are. If you have pudgy hands you are not going to have great grip for the deadlift. If you aren't a pler and you aren't built naturally, why wouldn't you use straps? I can dl ~60lbs more with a reverse grip alone.
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Member
I just meant for the original poster that training without straps is a good way to train your grip.
I agree that with small pudgy hands you can be screwed, although I've seen some of them improve a lot also. -
Participant
Trust me it is never quite the same. Put a guy with pudgy hands on a female oly bar that is thinner (obviously you have to adjust for the 5kg weight difference too, but everyone knows that) and you will see an improvement. I know because I've seen it first hand in multiple people.
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Member
Straps sounds like a good idea for further overloading the posterior chain with the deads…
anyway thats a better angle to check my depth (me maxing out)
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Member
Best angle to judge depth is straight from the side. The angle is the same but I will say that the depth looks much better.
Have fun with the straps…
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