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Fitness |OT4| Squat Booty, Summer Cuts, and Super Swoletrophy

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Shit, I miss whole weeks from lifting and eat like garbage, yet still look l was chiseled out of marble and can pull a Boeing 747 with my SWC.
Please stop posting things from my LiveJournal.

:)

Nah, had a fun but shitty weekend. Partied hardcore, but ate like crap. Time to get what gymtime I can in this week before I head out to NYC for NYE. I need to look good.
 

Ravidrath

Member
Yeah, at home with the 'rents, and it's a complete food wasteland. The fridge is completely full with holiday junk gifted to them by friends, so I can't just go shopping to address it, either.

Just gonna do the best I can and come back strong next week.
 

MrToughPants

Brian Burke punched my mom
Please stop posting things from my LiveJournal.

:)

Nah, had a fun but shitty weekend. Partied hardcore, but ate like crap. Time to get what gymtime I can in this week before I head out to NYC for NYE. I need to look good.

LOL

On topic:

Power Rack is great. I don't see my life flashing before my eyes ever time I bench heavier like with the peg rack (I had to roll the bar to the edge of the pegs to unrack the weight). And the guard rails are the entire length of the rack so I can't drop the bar on my neck.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
LOL

On topic:

Power Rack is great. I don't see my life flashing before my eyes ever time I bench heavier like with the peg rack (I had to roll the bar to the edge of the pegs to unrack the weight). And the guard rails are the entire length of the rack so I can't drop the bar on my neck.

Yeah, I can't wait until I can find a new house with a garage and get my GHR and Rack for exactly this reason. It's going to be glorious.
 

cryptic

Member
I took some videos of me squatting, immediately I notice the butt wink which I thought I wouldn't experience if I kept my ass hard pressed out.

What do I need to work on. Also my feet stance was not wide but normal, felt better.

side view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dXRHfEMBw

front far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjpaJO58zmo&feature=youtu.be

front close: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMX6uxg0zn0&feature=youtu.be

I hit the fucking slanted power rack on the way out of like the second set in front far. I sometimes lean in my right.
 

Noema

Member
I took some videos of me squatting, immediately I notice the butt wink which I thought I wouldn't experience if I kept my ass hard pressed out.

What do I need to work on. Also my feet stance was not wide but normal, felt better.

side view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dXRHfEMBw

front far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjpaJO58zmo&feature=youtu.be

front close: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMX6uxg0zn0&feature=youtu.be

I hit the fucking slanted power rack on the way out of like the second set in front far. I sometimes lean in my right.

Videos are private; we can't watch them.
 
Yay for Xmas Eve lifting. Had a good chest day. Hit 235x7 on incline bench. I'm gonna start doing flat again when I get back to my old gym.

Didn't get my cardio done though as they closed early, guess I'll go for a jog or something, break in these new Nikes.
 

balddemon

Banned
Yay for Xmas Eve lifting. Had a good chest day. Hit 235x7 on incline bench. I'm gonna start doing flat again when I get back to my old gym.

Didn't get my cardio done though as they closed early, guess I'll go for a jog or something, break in these new Nikes.

Should incline bench be a stronger lift than flat bench?
 

Noema

Member
I took some videos of me squatting, immediately I notice the butt wink which I thought I wouldn't experience if I kept my ass hard pressed out.

What do I need to work on. Also my feet stance was not wide but normal, felt better.

side view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dXRHfEMBw

front far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjpaJO58zmo&feature=youtu.be

front close: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMX6uxg0zn0&feature=youtu.be

I hit the fucking slanted power rack on the way out of like the second set in front far. I sometimes lean in my right.

You are losing tightness at the bottom and your lumbar extension suffers as a result, which produces the dreaded buttwink:

eDXxx.png


How wide is your stance? It's hard to tell from the video, but you could also try pointing your toes out a bit and shoving your knees out to see if that helps you keep tightness at the bottom.

Other than that your squats look ok.
 

Srsly

Banned
Fucking fuck, didn't realize 24 hr fitness closed at 2pm today. I was so excited to finish my first week of 5/3/1 BBB. Now I'm going to have to delay finishing the first week by 2 days and go into the second week on only a day of rest. I hate the holidays
 

balddemon

Banned
Fucking fuck, didn't realize 24 hr fitness closed at 2pm today. I was so excited to finish my first week of 5/3/1 BBB. Now I'm going to have to delay finishing the first week by 2 days and go into the second week on only a day of rest. I hate the holidays
Yep, and we're closed until 6am the 26th. FYI, we will close at 6pm on New Years Eve and open at 6am New Years Day. NFI why we're opening that early, I hope to all that is holy they give me that day off that I requested weeks ago.
You're young. That shit changes.

I still got a couple years I think. I figure once I hit 25 or get a steady girlfriend I'll start slowing down.
 

cryptic

Member
You are losing tightness at the bottom and your lumbar extension suffers as a result, which produces the dreaded buttwink:

How wide is your stance? It's hard to tell from the video, but you could also try pointing your toes out a bit and shoving your knees out to see if that helps you keep tightness at the bottom.

Other than that your squats look ok.

My stance is slightly wider than shoulder width, any further hurts my knees. I feel like I'm pushing up using my whole foot, is that normal? I tried a wider stance, pushing up with the outside of my heels and it felt worse/more painful.

I'll try pushing out my knees, other than that I found this article on t-nation. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most.../break_up_those_hips_and_fix_that_squat
Should I just start on some stretches? Any accessory exercises I could try; I hate to stretch.
Thanks.
 

GabDX

Banned
Has anyone tried Convict Conditioning? Is it possible to get in very good shape with these exercises only and nothing else?

The goal is to do these 6 exercises:
- One-arm pushup
- One legged squat
- One-arm pullup
- Hanging straight leg raise
- Stand-to-stand bridge
- One-arm handstand pushup
 
Sitting around the Christmas table my sister told us some rare advice her friend gave her.

squatting in the shower is better because the hot water loosens your muscles.

Just thought I'd drop that gem for y'all.
Merry Christmas gaf
 

snoopen

Member
Sitting around the Christmas table my sister told us some rare advice her friend gave her.

squatting in the shower is better because the hot water loosens your muscles.

Just thought I'd drop that gem for y'all.
Merry Christmas gaf
Increased risk of slipping over makes it seem like it wouldn't be worth it.
 

Banglish

Member
Hi muscle-gaf. My dad and I want to get a total home gym. What should we look for, in terms of exercises that will get maximum results? All we have are some dumbbells right now.
 
Hi muscle-gaf. My dad and I want to get a total home gym. What should we look for, in terms of exercises that will get maximum results? All we have are some dumbbells right now.

A barbell.
A copy of Starting Strength (any edition, really).
Food.
Rest.

Profit.

But if you can't... using dumbbells:

DB Bench Press
Arnold Shoulder Press
Some sort of rows
Goblet Squats
Dumbbell Deadlifts
Curls /Tri kickbacks
 

Banglish

Member
A barbell.
A copy of Starting Strength (any edition, really).
Food.
Rest.

Profit.

But if you can't... using dumbbells:

DB Bench Press
Arnold Shoulder Press
Some sort of rows
Goblet Squats
Dumbbell Deadlifts
Curls /Tri kickbacks

Sounds good, thanks. I know free-weight and body-weight exercises are important for setting a foundation. I was also wondering about home gym machines too.
Suggestions as to brands or specific exercises that are important core movements that I should look for?
 

kylej

Banned
are you trying to get referral fees from amazon or something?

anyway my step family is all italian, so christmas dinner isn't turkey or ham, it's mountains of meatballs and ravioli and lasagna and bread... I"m going in fitgaf. I'll see you folks on the other side
 

Noema

Member
Sounds good, thanks. I know free-weight and body-weight exercises are important for setting a foundation. I was also wondering about home gym machines too.
Suggestions as to brands or specific exercises that are important core movements that I should look for?

You don't need machines. Just get a power rack, a barbell, a flat bench and about 300lb in plates and you are set.
 
are you trying to get referral fees from amazon or something?

anyway my step family is all italian, so christmas dinner isn't turkey or ham, it's mountains of meatballs and ravioli and lasagna and bread... I"m going in fitgaf. I'll see you folks on the other side

You'd better have eaten your fish like a good boy last night, paisano.
 

sphinx

the piano man
The goal is to do these 6 exercises:
- One-arm pushup
- One legged squat
- One-arm pullup
- Hanging straight leg raise
- Stand-to-stand bridge
- One-arm handstand pushup

That's insane.

You mean you buy this program and those who made it assume anyone can jump in and do 4x10 of each of those just because they explain how it's done?? I really doubt it.

I do 3.5 (two-arm handstand pushup) of those and it took me around 3 months to reach a bare minimum quality on each.

I mean, one-arm handstand pushup? come on, that's material for advanced gymnasts or martial-arts guys after a couple of years of training. Not something a program tells you how to do on a video.

Dunno, maybe I am missing something here or I am just slow to learn stuff like that.

EDIT: should have read the link first

Amazon said:
Convict Conditioning is a book of bodyweight only training. It utilizes six training exercises, each having ten different variations. The six exercises are called "the Big Six", and they are one-arm pushup, one legged squat (pistol squat), one-arm pullup, hanging straight leg raise, stand-to-stand bridge, and one-arm handstand pushup. You don't start with these exercises, but rather easier versions, and they represent the ultimate goal of the workout.

EDIT 2: Still, I want to see one of those 53 people that rated the program with 5 stars do an unassisted one-arm handstand push-up just 1 set with 5 reps.

tumblr_lrjhiofp841r3opg1o1_250.gif
 

Petrie

Banned
Sounds good, thanks. I know free-weight and body-weight exercises are important for setting a foundation. I was also wondering about home gym machines too.
Suggestions as to brands or specific exercises that are important core movements that I should look for?

Those machines are absolute rubbish. Get a barbell and a bench, and a rack if you have space.
 

MrToughPants

Brian Burke punched my mom
Has anyone tried Convict Conditioning? Is it possible to get in very good shape with these exercises only and nothing else?

The goal is to do these 6 exercises:
- One-arm pushup
- One legged squat
- One-arm pullup
- Hanging straight leg raise
- Stand-to-stand bridge
- One-arm handstand pushup

Unpossible. I'd love to see a video of that with a full rom.
 
Sounds good, thanks. I know free-weight and body-weight exercises are important for setting a foundation. I was also wondering about home gym machines too.
Suggestions as to brands or specific exercises that are important core movements that I should look for?

A barbell and a pullup bar are all you need as a beginner. Specific machines can be convenient for specific purposes but if your goal is just "get bigger and stronger" you don't need to worry about that yet. A squat rack and a bench will let you work out every muscle well.



On the topic of machines: back home for christmas. The good powerlifting gym is too far to walk to here so I'm using machines in the apartment building til school starts back up. Machine bench press is the worst thing ever invented oh dear lord.
 

thomaser

Member
I don't know what has happened, but I've had a pain in my right bicep for most of the month. I feel it the most when doing exercises like overhead presses, lateral raises and dips. Curls are ok, though, so it hurts when extending the muscle. It's almost as if the muscle just gives up when doing overhead presses over a certain weight, only about half of what I usually lift. Have I torn the muscle in some way, perhaps?
 

grumble

Member
Sounds good, thanks. I know free-weight and body-weight exercises are important for setting a foundation. I was also wondering about home gym machines too.
Suggestions as to brands or specific exercises that are important core movements that I should look for?

Get a power rack that you can do chin-ups on, a preferably adjustable bench, some plates, a decent Barbell and a copy of starting strength. Then chain yourself to that rack with a food IV in your arm and come back in a few months.
 

Dash27

Member
I took some videos of me squatting, immediately I notice the butt wink which I thought I wouldn't experience if I kept my ass hard pressed out.

What do I need to work on. Also my feet stance was not wide but normal, felt better.

side view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dXRHfEMBw

front far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjpaJO58zmo&feature=youtu.be

front close: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMX6uxg0zn0&feature=youtu.be

I hit the fucking slanted power rack on the way out of like the second set in front far. I sometimes lean in my right.

Couple of things I notice. One would be invest in lifting shoes. You seem wobbly when you go down. I'm not sure if that's a function of the weight, how it feels on your back or if your sneakers are so spongy it effects you. In any case weightlifting shoes are absolutely worth it. I have Risto shoes but if I had to get another pair I'd go with the Pendlays because mine look like disco shoes from the 70's:

http://www.muscledriverusa.com/2011-WL-Series-Classics_c_455.html

Second is you go down deep which is fine I suppose but the butt wink is not fine. Deep is ok but Rippetoe and Wendler say it's unnecessary to go much below parallel and those are the guys I listen to most. If I recall they even suggest you dont go too deep. So an inch or two bellow parallel is where you'd like to be.

Third and lastly would be work on your routine, by which I mean the approach, unrack, walk back. Get under the bar, get your lumbar curve set. Deep breath, squat the weight up the few inches to unrack. Take 2 or 3 short steps back, squat. Hold the breath the entire time and keep tight. Release the breath at the top and take another. Everything should be tight tight tight at any time under load.

Hope that helps.
 

JB1981

Member
I took some videos of me squatting, immediately I notice the butt wink which I thought I wouldn't experience if I kept my ass hard pressed out.

What do I need to work on. Also my feet stance was not wide but normal, felt better.

side view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dXRHfEMBw

I hit the fucking slanted power rack on the way out of like the second set in front far. I sometimes lean in my right.

Can't see your stance width from this angle but here is what I see based on this view
Your form problems stem from two things:
1.) you are attempting to keep your back too vertical. Don't be afraid to lean over more.
2.) do you see your knees caving as you get deep? This is a function of staying too upright and not shoving your knees out. The knees come forward and out and the hips go back simultaneously. You need to get out of your knees and engage your posterior chain. This could be a mobility/flexibility issue and its one you need to work on.
3.) I see you have a mirror in front of you. Do your best to not look at the mirror. Fix your eyes on a point on the ground and keep them there the entire set.
4.) get rid of the pause at the bottom. You should be bouncing out of the whole. Use the stretch reflex. This should be smooth. Your pause is hurting you.
5. Cut off the depth a bit. You don't need to go quite so deep. My knees are hurting me just watching this video.
6. Get some lifting shoes, those squishy basketball shoes r very unstable
7. Lack of hip drive. You are lifting with your chest and not using your hips

Check out some form videos coached by coach Rippettoe. They are invaluable. Keep at it, you will get there eventually.
 

Noema

Member
Can't see your stance width from this angle but here is what I see based on this view
Your form problems stem from two things:
1.) you are attempting to keep your back too vertical. Don't be afraid to lean over more.
2.) do you see your knees caving as you get deep? This is a function of staying too upright and not shoving your knees out. The knees come forward and out and the hips go back simultaneously. You need to get out of your knees and engage your posterior chain. This could be a mobility/flexibility issue and its one you need to work on.
3.) I see you have a mirror in front of you. Do your best to not look at the mirror. Fix your eyes on a point on the ground and keep them there the entire set.
4.) get rid of the pause at the bottom. You should be bouncing out of the whole. Use the stretch reflex. This should be smooth. Your pause is hurting you.
5. Cut off the depth a bit. You don't need to go quite so deep. My knees are hurting me just watching this video.
6. Get some lifting shoes, those squishy basketball shoes r very unstable
7. Lack of hip drive. You are lifting with your chest and not using your hips

Check out some form videos coached by coach Rippettoe. They are invaluable. Keep at it, you will get there eventually.

He's doing high bar squats. The cues I bolded in your post apply to low bar (which is what Rip coaches), but not so much to high bar squats.

In low bar, you have to lean over forward because that's the only way to keep the bar path perpendicular over the middle of the foot, and also because you have to keep your shins as vertical as possible while sticking your butt out at the bottom to keep maximum hamstring tension. This is also the reason you shouldn't really go more than a couple inches below parallel in a low bar squat; going deeper results in a loss of hamstring tension.

But in high bar, the knees travel forward over the middle of the foot quite a bit, and thus the back must remain fairly vertical to keep the bar path perpendicular. And as a result, there's much less hip drive, because the angle is mechanically less favorable for it, hence the cue for chest drive instead. This is due to the acuteness of the knee angle in front and high bar squats, resulting in a slackening of the hamstrings. Because of this shortened state, the hamstrings cannot contract further at the bottom to help drive the hips up. High bar squats are much more quadracips dominant.

There's basically a continuum regarding the back angle in squats, going from Front squat (where the back is at a 90° angle) to the high bar squat, to the low bar squat:

squats.jpg


This continuum also correlates to the distance the knees travel forward over the foot, as well as hamstrings recruitment (significant in the low bar squat; almost non-existent in the front squat), and correlates inversely to quadriceps recruitment.
 

JB1981

Member
His knees are caving too much even for high bar squats. Regardless of where the bar is being placed on his back, his squat needs a lot of work, and several of the points I made still stand. It's a bad squat

Why is he doing high bar as a beginner anyway
 

cryptic

Member
Can't see your stance width from this angle but here is what I see based on this view
Your form problems stem from two things:
1.) you are attempting to keep your back too vertical. Don't be afraid to lean over more.
2.) do you see your knees caving as you get deep? This is a function of staying too upright and not shoving your knees out. The knees come forward and out and the hips go back simultaneously. You need to get out of your knees and engage your posterior chain. This could be a mobility/flexibility issue and its one you need to work on.
3.) I see you have a mirror in front of you. Do your best to not look at the mirror. Fix your eyes on a point on the ground and keep them there the entire set.
4.) get rid of the pause at the bottom. You should be bouncing out of the whole. Use the stretch reflex. This should be smooth. Your pause is hurting you.
5. Cut off the depth a bit. You don't need to go quite so deep. My knees are hurting me just watching this video.
6. Get some lifting shoes, those squishy basketball shoes r very unstable
7. Lack of hip drive. You are lifting with your chest and not using your hips

Check out some form videos coached by coach Rippettoe. They are invaluable. Keep at it, you will get there eventually.

His knees are caving too much even for high bar squats. Regardless of where the bar is being placed on his back, his squat needs a lot of work, and several of the points I made still stand. It's a bad squat

Why is he doing high bar as a beginner anyway

I appreciate all the advice, I'm parsing through it. I've attempted to do low bar squats, but the bar always feels as if it's going to slip. Before I knew there was a difference I gravitated to high bar squats.

I know I have some issue with my feet, once the weight is on my back, I have trouble getting them to a comfortable spot. I used to keep my feet almost just shoulder width but then I tried wider squats; it's been hard to settle back into the right medium.

I squat in an old pair of addiddas shelltoes but will get chucks if necessary; it feel's like I'm pushing against the floor as it with these shoes though.

Also, from watching the efts video, the guy being tutored is told to keep his head up to better recruit the muscles to trap the bar in place so i tend to hold my head up slightly.

I'll get rid of the pause.

Also, I thought squatting deep recruited more muscles so it's a better squat.

Thanks. I see I need to read that rippetoe book.
 
Why is he doing high bar as a beginner anyway

Since when couldn't beginners do high bar squats?

I appreciate all the advice, I'm parsing through it. I've attempted to do low bar squats, but the bar always feels as if it's going to slip. Before I knew there was a difference I gravitated to high bar squats.

I know I have some issue with my feet, once the weight is on my back, I have trouble getting them to a comfortable spot. I used to keep my feet almost just shoulder width but then I tried wider squats; it's been hard to settle back into the right medium.

I squat in an old pair of addiddas shelltoes but will get chucks if necessary; it feel's like I'm pushing against the floor as it with these shoes though.

Also, from watching the efts video, the guy being tutored is told to keep his head up to better recruit the muscles to trap the bar in place so i tend to hold my head up slightly.

I'll get rid of the pause.

Also, I thought squatting deep recruited more muscles so it's a better squat.

Thanks. I see I need to read that rippetoe book.

If you want to do high bar squats, weightlifting shoes with a raised heel are the most preferable, flat soles the next.

No need to read Rippetoe for high bar squats - just search for good form for this kind of squat. Your stance should be about shoulder width for these kind of squats.

Even for low bar squats, Rippetoe's recommendation of looking at the floor is highly contentious - only he seems to recommend this. For high bar squatting, this is an absolute no, and keeping your head up slightly is absolutely fine.
 
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