Hi all, this is my second attempt at incorporating DE days into my training cycle. I plan to compete in Powerlifting either in August or October this year.
The first time I tried DE I just didn’t think it was doing anything beneficial aside from a bit of recovery, but the evidence of others is staring me in the face so I have decided to start another cycle incorporating DE with bands and chains.
It took me a few sessions but now I can really “throw” the weight up hard in the bench using 50% 1RM + small bands. Now that I have got my head around really exploding I can feel the strain in my delts and tris.
Not so with my box squats. I just don’t feel the same exertion and I can’t seem to speed it up enough.
Any tips? I’m a fairly new trainee, so perhaps I need more weight to get a training effect? Less weight? Or do I just need to keep at it until I get faster?
Or is the “strain” just not as prominent in the squat for some trainees? I think I lift reasonably fast, but I am slow off the box.
It could just be my motor patterns, I’ve only been squatting for about 2.5 years, weight training for 3. I’m not in a comfortable groove yet, I’m really only just figuring out how to use my glutes and abs correctly.
I’m using 50% 1RM (160kg x 50% = 80kg) plus small bands in my work sets. I have recently procured some chains.
As I type this I wonder if playing a game of Touch Rugby the night before training might be setting me back? I could re-schedule but I suspect scheduling ME work the morning after my game would slow my progress too much.
I train 4 days/week; Mon DE bench, Tues DE squat, Thurs ME bench, Fri ME squat. Touch Rugby is Mon night this season.
Aidan
You could try using a lighter weight or taking the bands off to work on being explosive.
Maybe some box jumps could help. Throw a couple of sets in before the DE squats
I think this may answer your question.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=69392&tid=
You may not even need to do them if you’re not preparing for athletic competition.
when my leg are still kind of sore from a past workout i feel the snap that your talking about in the box squats.
[quote]charlie_bear wrote:
I think this may answer your question.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=69392&tid=
You may not even need to do them if you’re not preparing for athletic competition.[/quote]
Nahhh, now I’m even more confused!
While I suspect that they will help my speed in Touch, I’m really only doing them for PL. If it were only helping my sprinting speed I would go run sprints (I’m not approaching 12m/sec any time soon!)
[quote]SmittyTheOx wrote:
Maybe some box jumps could help. Throw a couple of sets in before the DE squats[/quote]
I will definitely give that a go. I was actually thinking if another 4 weeks of DE box squats didn’t push my numbers up a bit I might swap them for light Olympic lifts and power cleans for a while. They will help me make weight if nothing else.
Do you suggest doing the box jumps with weight?
[quote]flightposite wrote:
when my leg are still kind of sore from a past workout i feel the snap that your talking about in the box squats.[/quote]
I was pretty sore from running my ass off the night before with no subs Glad you know what I mean though. Do you not get it if you’re not sore from a previous workout?
I’d be will to bet that you are not staying tight on the box. If you get a little lose on the box it will feel like it is really hard 1-2inches off the box until your body tightens up again. I struggled with this at first because you have to be more conscious of how tight you are with lighter weight. Heavy weight pretty much forces you to stay tight or you get crushed.
My thoughts are similiar to the others… add some box jumps (just bodyweight) prior to DE squat day. Staying tight on the box is also important.
What I like to add is DO NOT do ME lifts back to back. I would do the following:
Monday: DE lower - concentrate on 45-55% ME with SPEED!
Tuseday: ME upper
Wednesday: recovery
Thursday DE upper
Friday: ME lower on Friday
Althought this may change depending upon your running and/or game schedule.
Why not just have a sub-maximal effort lower day, instead of a de lower day? I don’t really see the need to have a de squat day.
[quote]Pemdas wrote:
I’d be will to bet that you are not staying tight on the box. If you get a little lose on the box it will feel like it is really hard 1-2inches off the box until your body tightens up again.[/quote]
Thanks Pemdas, I’m looking forward to testing this one out. Of course I have to stay tight in the bench, only my core is staying tight in the squat.
[quote]mjderecola wrote:
What I like to add is DO NOT do ME lifts back to back. [/quote]
Thanks! I can do ME bench on Monday morning and not be too wiped out to run or throw. We don’t throw far in Touch.
[quote]KingPezz wrote:
Why not just have a sub-maximal effort lower day, instead of a de lower day? I don’t really see the need to have a de squat day.[/quote]
Simple answer, I’d stalled doing that and needed a change. I don’t know if it will help or not, we’ll see at the end of this cycle.