Squats made me stronger! WTF?

I'm a big fat believer in NROL4W (new rules of lifting for women), that being said I've recently completed the program and decided to give Strong Lifts a go.

You might stop getting your TOM if you do too many squats.

and this is a bad thing?? Maybe I should squat and not get depo :laugh: :laugh:

135# squats totally ruined my pear shaped booty:

Damn it Alla. You better start doing some endless cardio to flatten that sucker out.

but I'm PEAR SHAPED!! There's no flattening out that bad boy, because I'm pear shaped! Psst: Jillian Michael's says that step aerobics (well really most aerobics) makes your *kitten* big . . . so you better watch out with that silly cardio talk!

Real question for you guys.

My knees are prone to pain and I've been afraid of squats with weights. To prevent knee injury I've been trained to avoid letting my knees extend past my toes and using the squat as mostly a glute workout and sitting back with my butt. I do this w/o weights and it seems to work pretty well.

Would you guys agree with that advice??

Thanks for the tips. I want to add leg strength to improve my running speed and overall fitness.

Squats should work your butt, thighs, hips, quads, back, core, everything. If you do them wrong all they get is your quads and put stress on your knees. So yes, sit back, go down to the point where your upper legs are just past parallel to the floor (or lower), keep your knees pointed out and the pressure on your heels and outer edge of your foot.

This is long but great:
http://train.elitefts.com/instructional/so-you-think-you-can-squat-parts-1-5/

Thanks! You seem to be the master of squatting disaster!

I'll give it a shot with some dumbells in hand to start.

bump for later. can't see anything at work

Real question for you guys.

My knees are prone to pain and I've been afraid of squats with weights. To prevent knee injury I've been trained to avoid letting my knees extend past my toes and using the squat as mostly a glute workout and sitting back with my butt. I do this w/o weights and it seems to work pretty well.

Would you guys agree with that advice??

Thanks for the tips. I want to add leg strength to improve my running speed and overall fitness.

Try to lift your toes up slightly when you squat to ensure you are sitting back. Increasing thigh strength will actually lend stability to your knees and is recommended by PT's for rehabbing weak knees.

This is great advise!
Bump!

135# squats totally ruined my pear shaped booty:

My two year old says she looks exactly like that. She has excellent taste in role models.

Real question for you guys.

My knees are prone to pain and I've been afraid of squats with weights. To prevent knee injury I've been trained to avoid letting my knees extend past my toes and using the squat as mostly a glute workout and sitting back with my butt. I do this w/o weights and it seems to work pretty well.

Would you guys agree with that advice??

Thanks for the tips. I want to add leg strength to improve my running speed and overall fitness.

Try to lift your toes up slightly when you squat to ensure you are sitting back. Increasing thigh strength will actually lend stability to your knees and is recommended by PT's for rehabbing weak knees.

I've been rehabbing a bad knee for eons and both my physiotherapist and PT had me squatting on a bosu ball (ball facing up) to help develop the muscles around my patella (it's misaligned, I'm a genetic freak) for weeks before we started squats on a flat surface. We did that with body weight for 2 weeks, moved up to low weights (10-20 lbs) for a few more weeks before moving on alternating to normal squats with a 45 lb bar and bench squats with 35 lb dumb bells (70 lbs total). Progress has been slow but my knee pain is significantly decreased and my patella tracking problem has greatly improved. I may never run again, but riding a bike seems like it could be in my future once again

Lunges started the same way, but I'm only managing 27.5 lb dumbbells for lunges at the moment.

Both of the above exercises have done wonders for my knee. I only wish I'd started therapy sooner. Instead I'd been convinced for years that the pain was something normal and that I'd have to learn to live with it/manage with meds...

YMMV, but it's worth talking to a PT or physiotherapist about squats and lunges and how they can help improve knee strength.

In the last month, since I started SL 5x5, I put on an inch too...on my butt. Half an inch on my thighs too. Didn't lose any weight. But I am looking muuuuuch better, ladies and gentlemen. The jiggle is nearly gone, much of the cellulite is gone, love handles are smoothing out, as are the saddlebags. it's a wonderful thing

And increasing those lifts every workout!

Looking good there, Rae!