I was having a bit of a debate in another thread about whether or not knee and elbow sleeves help you lift more weight. You have a video on your Facebook page where a girl is using suit slippers to help put on you knee sleeves. Do you find that wearing extremely tight knee sleeves adds a few pounds to your squat or is there another reason for them?
I have SBD knee sleeves but they aren’t extremely tight, I don’t think I get anything out of them. I have heard some people claim to get 10-20lbs. from tight SBDs. I also have a pair of Rehband elbow sleeves that I don’t wear normally, but they seem to add a few pounds to my bench.
Yes I genuinely believe they give me 10-15 lbs extra if they’re super tight.
Elbow sleeves way less - maybe 5lbs.
They both also just give extra support and bounce.
Sorry for the slow reply, and just copy and pasting the previous thing that I sent.
Generally I have been following Wendlers 531 program, so 4 days a week, may add an additional HIT session in the middle somewhen. But generally 4 days on.
My squat form is getting better, i am adding the reps without form breaking down, yet at that 180 mark, seem to feel comfortable with the bar, I get to the bottom and then all just goes. Could be psychological. Which is why I am aiming to increase my front squat then come back to the back squats in a bit.
What sort of training do you recommend that powerlifters do in the offseason? Would you still do the competition lifts at 80% or more or keep everything light?
So individual man. I would definitely incorporate a lot more body building type work (hypertrophy) in the 6-12 rep range. But yes competition lifts would probably still be in relatively high percentages - more in the 3-5 rep range than 1-2.
That makes sense. Some people recommend doing sets of 6-10 on comp. lifts, the problem with that is it will take a while to get back to being able to handle heavier weights, basically sacrificing strength for muscle mass which doesn’t make sense for powerlifting. I did a hypertrophy phase a while back where I started very light but at the end I was doing sets of 6-8 with 80% of my previous max, although the hypertrophy phase was 10 weeks in total. I think that doing a few low rep sets with the comp. lifts is a good idea to maintain technique and strength, high reps seem to make me get a bit sloppy (compared to what I need to do to lift 90%+) and also I become less explosive.
Hi - thanks for the videos.
The biggest problem I see is in basic form & technique.
Front squats can help but I wouldn’t switch completely - just incorporate them into your program.
Yoke bar pause squats and high bar squats will also help teach you how to be more vertical in your movement and decrease your upper thoracic “rounding” in the hole.
You need to tighten up your whole body throughout the movement - you’re like a noodle. TIGHT everywhere beginning to end. Think about your whole body as one big tense muscle before you even begin to descend.
Chest up, crank harder on the bar, push your knees/hips out.
Aim your eyes a little higher - don’t look down ever. Wherever you look is where the bar will go.
The last part is a little hard to describe but you are sitting back with your ass first before everything and for your specifics, it’s not helping you. Try to aim straight down and up (think high bar squat) and break at your hips and knees at the same time rather than hips first. Ass should go straight down like you are trying to sit between your own two legs rather than back onto a chair.
Start there - I know it’s a lot. Keep at it!!
The program I run is based off the conjugate system which means I only squat twice a week and only one of those days contains a normal low bar squat. Before I switched to conjugate I squatted 5 times a week and my squat felt really good. Would it kill me to do some light squats around 55-65% on active rest days?
It really depends on your volume and intensity, lifestyle, diet, supps, etc.
My instinct is to say no it won’t kill you, but it’s hard to give you educated direction without knowing way more info!
I’m suffering from knee valgus and some lack of staying upright as much as I’d like. My back only gets sore on the heaviest of sets, and my abs are where I feel the most work done in my core area. My max squat is around 360lbs. I’m 16 y/o (I was 15 in the 325lbsx6 vid), 6’1", 180-190lbs.
I agree with the lack of need to push the hips forward - you just need to lock your knees and stand straight up naturally. In squat pushing the hips forward can throw you off balance and just isn’t required to complete the movement effectively. It is a different thing when the weight is on your back vs needing to be moved from the floor.
Hi, posted this in my log too but thought I’d see if anyone in here has anything to add; I’m about 6 weeks out from a meet, which will be my first in wraps. Just looking for any quick pointers to help me get the most from the wraps. This is a single at 252.5kg / 556.7lbs, self-wrapped (first time in this pair too), and I’m going for 600lbs+ at the meet: