How do you know if your doing a squat right?
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For a squat to be considered a squat your thighs are parallel to the floor. Going A2G is not necessary and can in fact cause some strain / tension on the quadricep tendon and that can really f-up your world if that is damaged. My advise to you would be to get on the net and search for Mark Rippatoe. The man is one of the best coaches around for teaching lifts. From there you will need to have someone video you squatting. There are plenty of guys and girls here on MFP that if you upload the video someone can take a look and give you some feedback.0
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I do StrongLifts 5x5 when I do get to the gym -- there are quite a few videos on the web showing the proper form for exercises0
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yopeeps025 wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »I usually use them as a "grease the groove" type warmup, and do a few sets of 100 reps at a time. It gets grindy, but it's an excellent warmup.
you do 100's of body weight squats to warm up? how long does that take you? jeepers- I do 3-5 min of jump rope and jump straight under 95 pounds for warm up sets and then stretching.
I'm extremely quad dominate- I never feel it in my *kitten* and hams. I think I feel butt more for front squats- but today I am in quad DOMS world because of my high rep sets of pause squats.Hams and booty. What about actually feeling it in your quads?
I guess I remember looking at my stats that my hams are way stronger than my quads.
what do you mean?
I can deadlift a lot more than squat and I have been squatting for way longer than I have been deadlifting.
I would never be able to squat as much as I DL because my knees would spontaniously combust. LOL! I think what you were trying to say is that DL's are for working your hams and squats are for working your quads? This is not accurate as with a squat both muscles are engaged but depending on the kind of squat and your form determines what muscles are being worked more. I have come to realize that due to my scoliosis as well as some hideous knee problems I will never be able to pull huge #'s while squatting, but I also believe that most people will always be able to DL more than they squat just due to the engineering and movements involved for each exercise.
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DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
Please, don't give advice on something you know nothing about, Jon Snow.0 -
DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
Please, don't give advice on something you know nothing about, Jon Snow.
Newbie mistake
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yopeeps025 wrote: »DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
Please, don't give advice on something you know nothing about, Jon Snow.
Newbie mistake
Or someone who thinks it is funny to try to cause someone to harm themselves.
Their advice can end up with someone getting an MRI and some physical therapy.0 -
yopeeps025 wrote: »DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
Please, don't give advice on something you know nothing about, Jon Snow.
Newbie mistake
Or someone who thinks it is funny to try to cause someone to harm themselves.
Their advice can end up with someone getting an MRI and some physical therapy.
Nah I think they just are a newbie at squatting. Don't you remember I used to think the knee not pass toe crap until in put up a photo of my ATG and clearly showed knees passing the toes.
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DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
please. just. don't.
well he said his hams were doing more of the work for the squat and that statistically his hams were stronger than his quads and I was asking WTF he meant and he said- well I can DL more than I can squat.I think what you were trying to say is that DL's are for working your hams and squats are for working your quads? This is not accurate as with a squat both muscles are engaged but depending on the kind of squat and your form determines what muscles are being worked more.
But that really doesn't mean anything- I'm a quad driven squatter but I still DL more than I can squat =- like I said- that's completely normal- usually someone's a genetic freak or on something else or have an issue physically that they can out squat their own DL.0 -
DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
please. just. don't.
well he said his hams were doing more of the work for the squat and that statistically his hams were stronger than his quads and I was asking WTF he meant and he said- well I can DL more than I can squat.I think what you were trying to say is that DL's are for working your hams and squats are for working your quads? This is not accurate as with a squat both muscles are engaged but depending on the kind of squat and your form determines what muscles are being worked more.
But that really doesn't mean anything- I'm a quad driven squatter but I still DL more than I can squat =- like I said- that's completely normal- usually someone's a genetic freak or on something else or have an issue physically that they can out squat their own DL.
Actually I said hams and booty. What about actually feeling it in the quads. I was hinting that I feel squats in my quads.
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Just to reinforce what's been said...
- Don't need *kitten* to the floor, that's *kitten* stupid, just get your legs to parallel for optimal activation of the prime movers
- Results are individualized, if you're just starting squats you will likely feel it everywhere, but you should definitely feel your hamstrings and glutes. You should feel your quads as well.
- Pausing... a good squat can have about a 1-sec pause at the bottom but that's not a paused squat. For a true paused squat, look at 3 to 5 seconds, but honestly since you're a beginner I would say just shoot for the 1-sec paused then come out of the hole, you don't need paused squats yet if at all. Paused squats are good for developing strength out of the hole or for helping with athletic movements, but right now you just need to squat.
- Programming... find something pre-built for you such as StrongLifts5x5, Starting Strenght, New Rules, or 5/3/1 - 5's Progression (Beyond 5/3/1 book).0 -
Post a video of your squats. There's no way to instruct someone on what they're doing wrong without first seeing what it is that they do wrong!0
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Yup.0
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You were trolling. Only explanation. lol.yopeeps025 wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
Please, don't give advice on something you know nothing about, Jon Snow.
Newbie mistake
Or someone who thinks it is funny to try to cause someone to harm themselves.
Their advice can end up with someone getting an MRI and some physical therapy.
Nah I think they just are a newbie at squatting. Don't you remember I used to think the knee not pass toe crap until in put up a photo of my ATG and clearly showed knees passing the toes.
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DiamondRubyMom wrote: »To the original poster, unless you are looking to seriously bulk up, that is not the way you do squats. You knees should never go past you toes. That puts a lot of stress on you knees and leads to arthritis. The easiest way to think about a squat is to pretend there is a chair behind you. Stick your but way out and lower yourself to the "chair." Your knee does not bend more than 90 degrees. Keep you back in a straight line. It doesn't need to be vertical but not curving forward either. Holding or not holding at the bottom is more about endurance verses strength training. I would do multiple sets until your form starts to deteriorate. That's when you stop.
I find using a skateboard leads to optimal gains.
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you know it's funny- I an feel it sometimes in my butt at the bottom- but it's more of a stretch than I feel like it's working- it feels nothing like when I'm driving up from a hip thruster- I feel my butt mostly at the top for a squeeze- rather than pushing me up at out of the hole- which is perhaps why I struggle so much- My quads are pulling me up rather than my *kitten* pushing me up.
Yeah, that stretch is energy preservation, a lot of the energy from the eccentric portion of the lift is stored in the musculature and ligaments. If you don't pause, you can use that to rebound up.
You want the quads to activate, obviously, but the hams and quads need to fire and push up. Those are the primary motivators and are going to be pushing more power than your quads can. Also, if you look at the size of the chain being used... on one side you have the quads, essentially pulling up, the other side you have the glutes pulling, the hams and calves pushing. There's just a lot more meat on the backside than the front side.
Even all that said, a lot of times during the lift, I won't feel a big difference in my legs, but I'll know if I was pushing my squats right based on the doms the next couple days.
Oddly enough, no doms yet from sunday. >_< I'm fairly sure my front squats were mostly in my hams, because my glutes and hams felt tense the whole time.0 -
I've been squatting so much lately- I don't get any DOMS at all- but- I can tell you what- I was totally off last week on purpose- re-started this week with sprints/plyos (walking jump lunges and walking sumo squats) ... with high rep pause squats yesterday- and my quads are on fire- no ham- no butt. all quad. My butt is tired- I can tell- but it's not sore- not anything like my quads.
Front squats are very ham activated oriented for me- far less quad- so yeah- that doesn't surprise me at all.0 -
Yeah, they're super mild unless I go full derp like a full squat session then 5 sets of 60 rep leg extensions and ham curls. Then I'm crippled. lol.
Front squats are weird. How do you open up the shoulders and chest for that?0 -
You want the quads to activate, obviously, but the hams and quads need to fire and push up. Those are the primary motivators and are going to be pushing more power than your quads can. Also, if you look at the size of the chain being used... on one side you have the quads, essentially pulling up, the other side you have the glutes pulling, the hams and calves pushing.
Woah, I think we're forgetting some basic kiniesiology. The hamstrings are not a pushing muscles, they flex the knee and decelerate knee extension. The hamstrings are most activated in the eccentric portion of the lift and the depth of the squat most effects the hamstrings in that phase, not the concentric. The quads extend the knee and decelerate knee flexion. The gluteus maximus is involved in hip extension. Here's a quick summary from a peer-reviewed study about what happens in the squat.
"...the hip extensors providing the greatest contributions during ascent, followed by the ankle plantar flexors, and then the knee extensors. The important role of the knee flexors as the initiators of the squatting motion by unlocking the knee and permitting the start of descent was also identified." - Lower Extremity Muscle Functions During Full Squats (Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 2008, 24, 333-339)
So yes, all of the muscles are getting involved and the hamstrings are obviously incredibly important but not for the reasons mentioned in this thread.0 -
My hams are never sore after squatting. Gluteus Maximus and quads only, even when driving through my heels.0
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DjinnMarie wrote: »My hams are never sore after squatting. Gluteus Maximus and quads only, even when driving through my heels.
You may need to do some other hamstring work to help exercise those muscles. It's not uncommon for women to over activate their quads and not initiate the hamstrings or gluteals. In your case you're not getting the hamstring activation. Since the hamstrings are largely activated in the eccentric, perhaps take a slower descent to see if that helps at all.
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