Squat rack noobie

steveko89

anyWendy wrote: »

Another question:
Any reason not to start by squatting with these "long dumbells"?

I get that at higher weights, the rack is needed to safely get in and out of position, but if I'm starting at low weights to practice form, any reason not to use these? (I ask more because of availability. Racks are more often in use. )

I don’t think there would be an issue with that. I’ve not personally used those to squat but I don’t see why they couldn’t be used as a progression tool. Though, they’re not as wide as a normal bar, there’d be another adjustment with the balance difference once you do go up to the full size bar.

Re: squat depth
This is something I constantly have to keep myself in check on, which I attribute to poor ankle mobility. The more you squat correctly the more you understand what being “in the hole” at the correct depth feels like. Starting Strengh is the gold standard as far as form guides go, there are plenty of other guides and videos published about form out there too; nuances to lifts click for different people in different ways. Do some research, take some videos and don’t be afraid to ask others (here or IRL) for form checks. R/fitness has a pretty good cache of info and a knowledgeable user base as well. I relied upon the bodybuilding.com video database quite a bit to see standard videos of what different movements are and what options there are for variations with different equipment, similar movements, etc.

canadianlbs

Lean59man wrote: »

Squatting is pretty natural.

hellish buttwink though

canadianlbs

anyWendy wrote: »

if I'm starting at low weights to practice form, any reason not to use these?

only reasons i can think of are

a) you're basically doing a behind-the-neck press to get it into position and remove it again when you're done. not everyone's shoulder anatomy works well with that. if you think that could be a problem for you, then let your shoulder strength be the limiting factor just to be safe.

and b) ymmv but i personally find it's just hard to get quite as tight with a 'dynamic' setup. i.e. when i'm moving the bar, compared with when i'm not.

you could try using a broomstick for bodyweight warmup and practice, if either of those things feel to you like a concern.

robhunt25

It all comes down to form. If your form is bad then nothing else will matter. You may not be able to squat right period due to movement deficiencies. Having a functional movement screening done will help identify and show how to correct those deficiencies.

Next step. Figure out what your 1 rep max is. Then determine the sets and reps of a percentage of that one rep max based off of your goals and what you want to accomplish. Let me know if I can help.

evilpoptart63

Based on internet memes, I think squat rack is where you are supposed to do curls

ijsantos2005

evilpoptart63 wrote: »

Based on internet memes, I think squat rack is where you are supposed to do curls

Yeah, I hate it when I see people squat in the curl rack.

canadianlbs

ijsantos2005 wrote: »

Yeah, I hate it when I see people squat in the curl rack.

. . . . but what if you forgot your curling iron at home?

#girljoke

anyWendy

Update: I finished the squats chapter of Starting Strength, and have been practicing form with bodyweight squats this week (10 x 5 per day).

Today I progressed to using the 30lb "long dumbbell." Won't do that again. Could easily overhead press to get in position, but after my set, it was much harder to safely get out of position. Old shoulder injury and limited shoulder flexibility definitely made this worse. Found myself wishing I could just step forward to re-rack the weight.

Next time, I'll move up to the empty bar, in the rack. This makes me absurdly excited!

Thank you all for giving me the confidence to give this a try!