So you think you can squat?

[Oz-]

New youtube series by EliteFTS and Matt Wenning on small technique adjustments for the squat.

Part 1




Part 2



More to come from the series...

[joseph]

Good pointers

[lint]

not the style I prefer, but some good pointers in there for those interested in PL

[Oz-]

I don't powerlift anymore and those little things all apply now. It has a ton of carryover into my power cleans as well.

[lint]

I'm not making the connection, can you elaborate?

[Oz-]

Head back to lead with chest and not letting the shoulders roll forward.

Bar in middle of back.

Sit back with pelvic tilt.

Don't let the pelvis roll in.

Knees back to bring movement off the quads.

Weight off the toes and bring to the middle / back of the foot.

Unracking the bar with a split stance is a no-no.

All those things, are small but when put together help with the power / speed of the bar. When translating to the clean, it helps in the various phases of the movement - I find that especially useful in initial movement off the floor, knees to high bar position and then hips back to catch the bar.

[lint]

We clean very differently.

[Oz-]

Not sure how your power clean is broken down. But the way I am being coached is what the bobsled and rugby teams are currently doing here in Canada. The lift is broken down into 6 phases and we train specific phases of that lift with dead hanging cleans, hanging high pulls, and a bunch of stuff off the floor.

Prior to doing this, I was barely able to power clean 135lbs. Bad technique and just retard strength. We tested and I am now at 100kg (~220), with the goal of getting to 160kg by the end of the year.

This philosophy of the training is for it to carry over into sports. It has already made me faster for the 15meter starts - yes we timed it with lasers. But eventual goal is to try my hand at rugby for the first time this spring.

[lint]

There is no question that EFTS guys are fucking strong, but the techniques that they teach and use are for a very specific goal, moving the most weight in a squat competition.

I was fat and out of shape. And even though I’d recently squatted 1000 pounds, I really wasn’t strong. I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t use this strength for anything other than waddling up to a monolift and squatting.

- Jim Wendler, 5/3/1

[Oz-]

This is Matt Wenning talking about the squat technique that he teaches. The small technique details that he discussed are used in training by high performance athletes that are training in Calgary. At the end of the day there may be slight variances on hand placement, foot width. But my feeling is that this is very good information for everyone.

[liquidboi69]

There's fat and out of shape in all sports in general. I don't really think you can quote Wendler and apply being fat, out of shape and immobile to anything the video said.

Especially since not all powerlifting is out of a monolift. The video was talking about walking the squat out and lifting raw, Wendler is talking about using a monolift and not walking it out. Wenning wasn't talking about multiply squatting specifically, they were talking about techniques that were just for lowbar squatting in general.

And yes I agree EFTS are strong and fat, but they are fat on purpose, because of how the weightclasses are structured. You could see the same in SHW's for OLY lifting as well. The MW's are ripped, and the SHW's like Rezazadeh I would consider fat. There's fat and out of shape in football and rugly and whatever as well.

[liquidboi69]

In addition to this, I would like to say that Wenning is not an EliteFTS guy. He is a WestSide barbell moved to LexenXtreme guy. He's just helping Dave Tate out.

[lint]

I was fat and out of shape. And even though I’d recently squatted 1000 pounds, I really wasn’t strong. I couldn't move, and I couldn’t use this strength for anything other than waddling up to a monolift and squatting.

I didn't call Wendler fat, the italics are his, not mine. I should have quoted it like this, the bolding is mine.

Again to be clear, I didn't say that there was nothing of value in that video. It's just not universal to ALL styles of squatting.

This image is from a series of articles by Tommy Kono on Olympic lifting http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12...our-tommy.html


How can you get into the CORRECT (figure A) position, if you don't squat DOWN?

The squat is not an up and down exercise, it's a pushing out exercise

- Wenning @1:33 of Part 2

Can we just agree to disagree that there's a reason why O lifters squat the way they do, and why PLs squat the way they do?

[Shlade]

No no no...

this is all wrong

Put it all in your groin and lower back, Take your legs totally out of the equasion and lift with your lower back in a jerking twisty motion.


Seriously I hope you guys take good note of this.

[liquidboi69]

I completely agree that if your goal is to olympic lift you must stay upright, as it has more transfer to snatching. snatching is all they care about when they back squat, not about back squatting. Its assistance to them. However its my opinion that for general strength training that's not specialized, medium bar medium stance is best/well rounded. In which case some pointers from the video can be used. There is nothing wrong with high bar, or super low bar, they are just more specialized. I gues I'm just assuming beyond isn't super specialized, they are more general str training. Personally b from the people I know, I'd say almost no one olympics on here, so the video would be useful for them

I never had a problem with high bar fyi, I always just tried to give advice for all styles, and agree that not as much can be applied to hb from that video. Its just not really fair to disregard everything immediately though when you see a diff style. Especially considering the majority of people on here don't olympic. I squat with a medium from both styles and take something from both. If I was coaching oly I would advocate completely to ignore the video, but understand the concept. If I was coaching sports, id do medium.

[lint]

ok, I give up because apparently my engrish is real bad.

I did NOT "disregard everything immediately"
I did NOT make a comment about anyone being fat and out of shape
I did say I did not see the connection between that video and a clean and I did say that I clean differently than Oz-. I don't go to my dentist when I'm sick and I don't go to my doctor when I have a tooth ache.
I'm a huge fan of Wendler. But why would I learn to clean like this?

When I can learn to snatch and clean like this?


You may recall from previous squat discussions, I'm not pro any style or anti any style. I've said it many, many times that the differences between styles are minor and to pick the one that suits you the best. BUT not all cues work for all styles.

[liquidboi69]

That's a fair clarification I can agree with that.I guess I misinterpret your postings, but sometimes it just seems that you are like that. It's hard to tell tone with text, but if that's the case I agree. I THINK there is some miscommunication between you and oz as well