deep/parallel squats

[fng]

cheers tfb

I have never actually squated with feet parallel

The mcmass suggested videos by 'starrett' had the ex marine keep his feet parallel to show his flexibility. I tried it to see how mine was.

It certainly showed me where I have a few issues to work on 

baby steps ......

[Dinahlady]

Yeah get working on those ankles - once they are a bit better you'll have a better idea what might be going wrong up in the hip area too. 

Best exercises are these ones, and turning feet inwards/outwards a bit to work on "corners". I'm sure Starratts got a vid on it if you haven't already watched it. 

http://fixkneepain.martinkoban.netdna-cdn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/joint-mobility-dorsiflexion-drill.jpg

 

[Dinahlady]

Ok... Feet position - my first reaction was "why parallel?" - and everything I checked (including Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" , which is a go-to book for technique) says that a good starting position in finding where your individual set-up should be is: feet shoulder width apart, and toed-out, at an angle approx 45 degrees (but anywhere between 30-60 is equally fine).  Start from there, and fine tune - if, for instance a legacy injury like a sprained ankle means one should be turned out a little more, that's fine. 

Hard to tell whether your feet are the right distance apart, but that parallel is almost certainly part of the problem.  

Keep at it, and good luck. 

You dont HAVE to be parallel, but people wanting to turn the feet out is only a reaction to being too tight to open up the hip with external rotation. If you work on flexibility and can instead get feet pointed more forwards and more external rotation of the hip to get your knees out then it should biomechanically equate to a stronger squat. 

But you're right, its not necessary to be dead parallel and some pointing out is okay and obviously people have room to find what's right for them - but extremely pointyouty for this guy will probably just end up in ankles rolling inwards.... just another problem... 

 

[fng]

thanks dinah that stretch is certianly going to be easier in the interum, and will be able to be done more often anywhere, than the band stretch that starrats shows, which i'll try at the gym

 

[fng]

Small update, legs tomorrow.

Now training 5 days on and having the weekend off, I have worked on a split that allows secondary work to be like another day training a certain part.

monday - Back, finish with Deads PB currently 162, so legs get a little go as well as bies from the other back work

tuesday - Chest, so tries get a seconary hit

wednesday- shoulders traps

Thursday - legs

Friday - arms

Legs and squating progress, last week tried box squats to parallel, mainly to get the sit back motion. I liked it a lot and was very happy with the feel and being able to engage glutes/hams. I went up to a max weight for 6 reps the decended, finishing the last two as full squats, felt good ( hopefully right ). then leg press heavy, roman/stiffs and calfs.

The big issue was having to move and swap a lot of stuff around to get the platform height right for parallel, So I have made a box that is basically 400x400x350 and good and strong. I will test it tomorrow, then do some full squats and see if I can get a few photo's for you all to critique progress

 

 

[fng]

Well it won't happen over night but it is happening

warm up sets bar only and 38mm blocks felt good, deep, no idea how it looked from the side

tried with bar and 5kg, was good down and up untill about half way where i tended to over balance forward, blocks too high now maybe. I didn't think to try a lower block or plates.

so went into box squats as planed, sit back n down, pause, push out. these were at the 400mm height so true parallel for me, or top of thigh near on level to the floor. Pyamrid set up to 100kg at 2 reps then back down. when at 40kg total, I flipped the box over to 350mm high for the last set, was good. No blocks for any of this and feeling it through the heels. 

Did stiffs/romans next hamms were deffinately feeling it,

Leg press 120 kg up to 320kg for 4

lying leg curls

calfs

next week I'll try lower blocks in the warm up and see how it goes

trying to get the sit down and squeeze/push up happening, which the box squats seem to be doing well. and extra work on hamms and glutes

baby steps, sore today

If i can walk tomorrow I'll see if there are any flash shoes at the expo, if not it may be a trip up to whangaparaoa to industrial athletic

[fng]

Progress

well been doing heaps of the Dinahlady shown stretches for my ankle, it's amazing that once you notice something wrong how much the body compensates for it.

splashed out for a a pair of inov8 lifter shoes from industrial athlectic at the expo, fitted me better than the rebocks. colour oh well .....

this week played with heights under heels to parallel, shoes and 1.25kg plates were just too high, so ended up trying a stiff band giving 10mm. so about 22/25mm total. Progress from 38mm 

did lots of bar only squats ironing out a couple of tweaks then pryimid sets up to 7/8 at 60kg. felt good feeling it. went to box squats for the decend with a bit of tweaking and the finishing sets from 40kg on the lower side of the box. legs had a nice burn on. leg press after was definitely down, roamans curls and calfs.

knees could be back a bit more, or out ? A bit more hip work, but progress in the right direction

[fng]

Best leg workout in a long time tonight

No rubber band packing, just the inov8 lifter shoe height toinght

Row at home 16mins 3320mtrs

Gym - warm up box squats ( 350mm high ) bar only 15 reps, full depth squats bar only 12 reps.

Squats - pyramid sets from 40kg @ 10 reps up to 120kg @ 2 reps full depth to parallel or lower ( 20kg up each set  ) all felt really good and stable, belt for last set to keep core tight

Box squats - pyrimid down from 100kg to 40kg ( box 350 high ) failed at 80kg paused too long on last rep at bottom. had to lean forward and let the safetys have it. but carried on, great burn.

Stiffs - 40,50,60,70kg

Leg press 160, 200, 240, 280, 320kg

Lying leg curl - single leg, 30, 36, 42, 48

leg extension, super/s with calfs

walk dog 1.2k+-

guna be sore tomorrow 

 

 

[Dinahlady]

Good to hear you are doing well. But looking at that pic knees could be back/out a bit more. I recommend working on stretching inner thigh muscles and the muscles responsible for external rotaion in the hip. E.g.