Useful assistance for squats?

[mgil]

@janoycresva thats some inseam…

Pants must be a pain to find.

[CaptainAwesome]

@CaptainAwesome, a few things:

Your anthropometry isn’t all that odd.

Where the bar sits doesn’t necessarily dictate angle at the ankle. The shift of the center of mass along with the change of hip and knee angles can effectively mitigate the need to do more dorsiflexion.

Lunges and split squats will allow for you to put your foot farther forward and thereby limit the flexion of the ankle.

If everything stays the same and my foot is more forward, I fall over backwards. Long femurs necessitate steeper back angles in every kind of squat than shorter femurs. This is pretty well agreed-upon stuff.

[CaptainAwesome]

Your anthropometry isn’t all that odd.

how’s mine



38 inch inseam at 6’3”, my squats look like highbar deadlifts

I actually wear 36's on my jeans, at just under 6'2". I like my pants to go all the way to the heel though. Where are your knees there? It's hard to tell. You might be the first guy I've seen with proportionally longer femurs than mine. Welcome to the awkward as fuck squat club.

[janoycresva]

@janoycresva thats some inseam…

Pants must be a pain to find.

I’ve never seen 34x38 in the wild, ever

I actually wear 36's on my jeans, at just under 6'2". I like my pants to go all the way to the heel though. Where are your knees there? It's hard to tell. You might be the first guy I've seen with proportionally longer femurs than mine. Welcome to the awkward as fuck squat club.

my knees are by where the cable is on the right, so I have the double effect of long femurs and relatively shorter tibias, the result is that in a completely hamstrings to calves, end range of hip ROM highbar squat in oly shoes, I am still like 1-2 inches above legal depth

and yeah I’ve had a hell of a time squatting, I’ve hurt myself a few times on other lifts since 2011 but I’ve lost count of squat related tendonitis and knee/hip/back tweaks, not sure if I should still be bothering with squats at all tbh since as soon as I approach the 400s it’s a matter of time, something will give and I have to start over again

but at least I’m maximizing voluntary hardship

[mgil]

CaptainAwesome, a few things:

Your anthropometry isn’t all that odd.

Where the bar sits doesn’t necessarily dictate angle at the ankle. The shift of the center of mass along with the change of hip and knee angles can effectively mitigate the need to do more dorsiflexion.

Lunges and split squats will allow for you to put your foot farther forward and thereby limit the flexion of the ankle.

If everything stays the same and my foot is more forward, I fall over backwards. Long femurs necessitate steeper back angles in every kind of squat than shorter femurs. This is pretty well agreed-upon stuff.

Are you combining these statements?

Low bar versus high bar doesn’t change angles nearly as much as the approach to the lift. If you’re doing Assguard cues, wherein you’re shoving your butt back asap, then maybe. Also, if you lighten up the load, as you should for front and high bar work, you can get away with deviating from the “mid foot” requirements. Again, the impetus of this thread is to get ancillary volume for quad hypertrophy, no?

Notice when I said anything about the foot being forward, where the ankle flexion isn’t needed, it’s stuff like lunges and split squats. These keep the center of mass well behind the knee. That way you can get quad work without worrying about dorsiflexion, at all.

[KOTJ]

Fuck cues. They can fuck right off.

Get them out of your head.

If you're having a hard time, do 5-1-5 tempo squats for 5x5.
Stay tight the whole time. No relaxing.

The next session, do 5-0-5 for 5x5.

Next session 5-0-3, then 5-0-0, then 3-0-0.

Whenever shit feels wonky, do a slower eccentric and stay tight.

If you're thinking during the lift, you're operating with lag.

If you're a silly fellow and don't know where your feet go, start with shoulder width for your heels.

Your stance/technique will change over time, as you dial shit in

Incremental progress. Not instant perfection.

[CaptainAwesome]

@janoycresva thats some inseam…

Pants must be a pain to find.

I’ve never seen 34x38 in the wild, ever

I actually wear 36's on my jeans, at just under 6'2". I like my pants to go all the way to the heel though. Where are your knees there? It's hard to tell. You might be the first guy I've seen with proportionally longer femurs than mine. Welcome to the awkward as fuck squat club.

my knees are by where the cable is on the right, so I have the double effect of long femurs and relatively shorter tibias, the result is that in a completely hamstrings to calves, end range of hip ROM highbar squat in oly shoes, I am still like 1-2 inches above legal depth

and yeah I’ve had a hell of a time squatting, I’ve hurt myself a few times on other lifts since 2011 but I’ve lost count of squat related tendonitis and knee/hip/back tweaks, not sure if I should still be bothering with squats at all tbh since as soon as I approach the 400s it’s a matter of time, something will give and I have to start over again

but at least I’m maximizing voluntary hardship

You truly are the femur king. May you lead us into a bright future with your long strides. I understand your struggles, though I'm not prevented from hitting depth, at least not with a low bar.

[cole]

high bar squats seem to generate quad hypertrophy for me when using slightly less load and higher rep range

then that carries over to low bar comp squat since more muscle in the quad helps with force production

[GlasgowJock]

I tried low bar squatting for a few months when I was into SS for my LP though switched back to HB as I find the movement more natural (being a short limbed mutant with Scotch hips) plus I've no inclination to compete. I can't FS for shizz because it's hard to rack though I just tell myself it's due to my anthropometry.

I have a leg extension/ curl addon for my bench that's surprisingly decent and find the former quite beneficial for quad hypertrophy. I just do them with constant tension throughout the set so the RoM is slightly reduced. I'll sometimes do narrow stance heels elevated high rep squats as well.

Seb Oreb seems a fan of just doing various squat variations to address weak points.