No matter what I do I can’t get my squat to go up. I have success with my deadlift but nothing wityh the squat. I have a problem of my torso bending when coming out of the hole. Should goodmornings help this? I don’t know what to do.
I am a big believer in heavy good mornings, glute-ham raises, and reverse hypers. I also do a ton of low box squats. If you haven’t guessed, I use the same princples as Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell.
Oh yeah, For sure.
Heavy good mornings worked wonders when I tried to take my squat max up. As well as stiff legged deadlifts.
Alternate between both movements, using each five weeks at a shot. And apply Poliquins 5 percent solution to your squat routine. That should take it up.
Dont try reverse hypers before you’ve tried the good mornings. And if you havent tried good mornings before, get some supervision, they can be dangerous.
What type of squat are you doing anyhows? That would tell someone what the weak link is and you can then get a better reply.
AMIR
hmmm…try strengthening your abdominal muscles. Makes a difference in my squa poundages.
If you are not doing it already, make sure you train your abs. Weighted crunches on the swiss ball, standing abs, leg lifts of all kinds, etc. If you are rounding, your core is weak.
If you are bending over on the way up and not on the way down, I’d say depending on your squat stance you have either weak hip flexors or weak vastus medialis (teardrop muscle)…if you squat bodybuilding style it’s most likely your vastus medialis…if you squat powerlifting style it’s most lkely your hip flexors…do front squats for the former…low box squats for the latter (torso upright)…also you may want to get into the habit of pushing out coming out of the hole instead of up…meaning…push out to the sides…this will help you keep your torso more erect…hope this helps
i too suffered from a pathetic squat, the only way i found to remedy this was to get rid of my weight belt. i really believe that squating without my weightbelt made my lower back and abs stronger. it takes awhile but i think its well worth it
If you’ve been doing a bodybuilding style squat workout, try switching to some heavy powerlifting style lifting(check out some Louie Simmions stuff). I would also do some heavy ab work and plenty of good mornings. You also might want to do some jump squats and teach your body how to be EXPLOSIVE utilizing the Type IIB’s. Kick Ass, and best of luck.
First of all what are your goals? Are you a bodybuilder or powerlifter? Have you just dropped squats for awhile? I find when I stagnate on a lift and can’t go up in weight I stop doing it for a couple of weeks. Then when I go back and do it again I am not only psyched to be doing it again but my strength goes up. I would also strengthen your abs, hip flexors and hamstrings.
Brent,
I tend to round my back and use excessive brute lower back strength to ‘muscle up’ a tough final squat rep. One solution to this (if you are interested in training for size, rather than squat strength) is to use front squats. These force you to remain more upright, or the bar slips off your shoulders.
Another technique I found useful during my powerlifting days was to ‘break the hips’ before beginning the descent - essentially this is sticking your arse out to the rear, holding your midsection tight, taking a half-breath and slowly beginning the descent.
Until you sort the problem keep the weights low either way, as a back injury will be a serious embuggerence.
I always had success with my squat, but I really improved when I alternated between high intensity and moderate intensity. For a month, I trained my legs twice a week. I did 1 set of squats - 1 set of leg extension - 1 set of leg curl in superset, then active recuperation on a bike for 10 minutes. I do it again one more time and call it a day. I used maximum poundage, sets of 10 reps and speed of 2-0-1.
The month after, I train my legs once a week using a high intensity protocol. After a good warm-up and stretching, I do one set of squat (I target 60 seconds of time under tension, speed is 4-1-4), rest 2 minutes, 1 set of leg ex and leg curl using the same TUT, rest and speed. The poundage is obviously greatly reduced. Then it’s stretching time and out of the gym. This workout is very short, but your legs will painfully tell you you had enough!
It worked for me, hope it works for you
Actually, the vasus medialis was referred to. Whta Kelly meant was the vastus medialis oblique. Just for your info.