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I may have to invest in some better shoes then. I went up almost 50lbs on the deadlift shortly after switching to barefoot and I never looked back. I just feel much more stable without them but on the other hand I've never used a weight lifting shoe either. But on the other hand the squat is a different excercise. I'll try the foam roller and a wider stance first and see how that feels for me. Knees out to the side do you mean? I'm wary of having my heels raised though as it was my understanding that moving the weight on your toes increases the stress on the knees. =/ We'll see how it goes next leg day.
My advice to you would be1. Knee/leg specific warm ups. For me this is high rep leg extentions before squatting. 2. More warm up sets of squats with smaller weight jumps. At the weight you are handling adding 45lb plates at each jump is too much IMO. I would go bar, 135, 185, 225 etc. I squat barefoot (well with socks on of course) and prefer it to shoes, even powerlifting approved chucks etc. I agree with acarnovale that you have to make sure your knee's are tracking directly over your feet and are not caving in at any point of the lift. If glutes are a weakness the hip abduction machine can help greatly as a warmup pre squat and as a strength builder after squating.
I got what you mean acarnovale and will make it a point that my knees do not go in at all during the liftI really have no idea if my glutes are a weakness what excercies would one use to test that. Stiff leg dead lifts and glute raises?I will definitely start off easier next week's leg day and focus in warming up better and keeping everything in alignment. Maybe even start alternating deads and squats each week rather doing them both the same workout.
I may have to invest in some better shoes then. I went up almost 50lbs on the deadlift shortly after switching to barefoot and I never looked back. I just feel much more stable without them but on the other hand I've never used a weight lifting shoe either. But on the other hand the squat is a different excercise. I'll try the foam roller and a wider stance first and see how that feels for me. Knees out to the side do you mean? I'm wary of having my heels raised though as it was my understanding that moving the weight on your toes increases the stress on the knees. =/ We'll see how it goes next leg day.
The raised heel of a shoe does not automatically move your weight to your toes. In some cases it can prevent a squatter from moving their weight to their toes, as some will lift their heels off the ground in an attempt to reach proper depth. The raised heel lets you hit that depth while keeping your heels dug in
Another good solution for weekness in the medial glutes and/or knees that cave inward on squats is putting a light resistance band around your knees when you're squatting. Looks fracking weird, but it will teach you where your knees are going in space and your medial glutes will be forced to fire to keep your knees apart. Works really well. Overall bar weight must be reduced to do these effectively.Another great lift that is squat specific for recruiting more gluteal activation: box squats. Get a box that gets you down to parallel, load the bar with a light load and actual sit onto the box. You can see videos of this on YouTube. The best are actually from Louie Simmons, who show you how to actually sit on the box, flare backwards slightly and then shoot of the bench. If you can't get your glutes firing after that, well, I'd say you need to see a specialist. People worry about the overall load on the box squat, but if you progress appropriately your body will learn to handle the loads fine, and it's not really designed for super heavy weights anyway, although some of the bigger powerlifters are box squatting with over 405.Then you can get into glute bridge techniques. I've never really liked these, because they take too long to position and look awkward. Okay, not only do they look awkward, but they feel awkward too. You have to have a bench for your upper back, one for your foot and a way to load up the hip joint. The best method I found was a wide bench for your upper back with a towel so you don't slip, a DB placed on the loaded hip, free leg bent in the air, and a small box for your working leg. This will enable you to get a full range of motion without too much positioning problems.Reverse hypers, glute ham raise machine, monster band walks (side steps with a band) are some other techniques to try. Sometimes just warming up the area and then hitting a couple sets of these prior to squatting will completely change your squatting performance for the day. That is all. For now.
I think gremlin hit many great points. I tend to rotate safety bar squats, box squats and trap bar deads. Glute thrusts from the floor, db slide board and Bulgarian squats for assistance work. Pre-work do lots of foam roll, including abductors. Do TKE and BW squats as well
I would personally put the bar directly on the top of my head and try to bend it World's Strongest Man style while I squatted. This will help activate the traps. You could use a box like Gremlin suggested, or you could be a really gamer use a stability ball instead to make sure your core stays tight. When you can do 315 lbs. in this manner (bar directly on top of head, squat onto low stability ball), you're ready for the Crossfit games. If you can do pistols this way, you're ready to open your own gym.-Adam
I would personally put the bar directly on the top of my head and try to bend it World's Strongest Man style while I squatted. This will help activate the traps. You could use a box like Gremlin suggested, or you could be a really gamer use a stability ball instead to make sure your core stays tight. When you can do 315 lbs. in this manner (bar directly on top of head, squat onto low stability ball), you're ready for the Crossfit games. If you can do pistols this way, you're ready to open your own gym.-Adam
I take it when you did squats you used a cardboard box to sit on..didn't you?Thanks for all the imput everyone I think I'm gonna seperate the squat and deadlift to different days so they don't get in each other's way and so I can better incorporate some of this stuff.... minus the bosu ball lol
I would personally put the bar directly on the top of my head and try to bend it World's Strongest Man style while I squatted. This will help activate the traps. You could use a box like Gremlin suggested, or you could be a really gamer use a stability ball instead to make sure your core stays tight. When you can do 315 lbs. in this manner (bar directly on top of head, squat onto low stability ball), you're ready for the Crossfit games. If you can do pistols this way, you're ready to open your own gym.-Adam
Someone should hit you...with a chair, in the face. LMAO...I wasn't sure this was a joke or for real. Got me...physioball squats, yeah, right.
Before you do that you need to do a set of 500 kips. Your last will be fine, but you'll burn off enough energy to get right into rhabdomyolysis.
Focusing on keeping my knees where they should be seems to be what I needed. Went up to 255 today and no discomfort at all. Thanks for all the input everyone!
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