I cannot do SQUAT

You're a porky wee man, aren't you?

Quoted message said:

A bit of background information.

I am a 54 year old male, 5'9", 210 pounds at about 18% body fat.

My personal best on the flat bench is 315 which I just did a couple
weeks ago.

My personal best of the standard dead lift is 435.

My personal best on the squat is 255. What gives?

My flexibility in my posterior chain is quite good. I am almost able
to touch my palms to the floor with straight legs. When I am in
complete down position in the squat my heels remain on the floor and
my knees only extend very slightly beyond my toes. My problem is
getting out of the hole. I was told by an Olympic lifter that I should
bounce out of the hole instead of what I am doing which is to come up
as quickly as possible as soon as my ass is to the grass. I don't want
to screw up my knees which at this point are fine.

I currently squat 3 times per week. On Monday I do very light squats
and very light dead lifts. The squats and dead lifts on Monday are
more to work on flexibility than they are to work on strength. So I
will squat 185 for 5 reps and 5 sets.

On Tuesday I bump up the weight a bit and do 225 for 3 reps and 5
sets.

And on Thursday I bump it up again and do 245 for 2 reps for 5 sets.

I barely made 255 when I tried this week.

I rest my legs Friday-Sunday except for some mild cardio.

Any suggestions on what I could do to improve my squat. I would like
to be able to do an ass to grass squat with a weight of at least 315
pounds.

Thanx,

Rich

lol!
I like the image of his "ass to the grass"
I bet he farts at this postion-and follows thru! Pics please ;-)

I don't necessarily think you need to bounce out of the position, but for
now you might want to cut your squats down to maybe twice a week. I know
you are doing light squats but maybe you need have a little more rest
between your leg days.

Also, subtle weaknesses in other areas could contribute to the weakness in
the squats. Are your abs and lower back strong enough to support the bar on
your back. Is the back strong enough to stay tight? These are just some
suggestions without having really seen you squat.

--
Adam K
Check out the Rejuvenation
http://fitnessplanning.com
Email: [email hidden]
for the Health Rejuvenation Yahoo! Group

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Quoted message said:

A bit of background information.

I am a 54 year old male, 5'9", 210 pounds at about 18% body fat.

My personal best on the flat bench is 315 which I just did a couple
weeks ago.

My personal best of the standard dead lift is 435.

My personal best on the squat is 255. What gives?

My flexibility in my posterior chain is quite good. I am almost able
to touch my palms to the floor with straight legs. When I am in
complete down position in the squat my heels remain on the floor and
my knees only extend very slightly beyond my toes. My problem is
getting out of the hole. I was told by an Olympic lifter that I should
bounce out of the hole instead of what I am doing which is to come up
as quickly as possible as soon as my ass is to the grass. I don't want
to screw up my knees which at this point are fine.

I currently squat 3 times per week. On Monday I do very light squats
and very light dead lifts. The squats and dead lifts on Monday are
more to work on flexibility than they are to work on strength. So I
will squat 185 for 5 reps and 5 sets.

On Tuesday I bump up the weight a bit and do 225 for 3 reps and 5
sets.

And on Thursday I bump it up again and do 245 for 2 reps for 5 sets.

I barely made 255 when I tried this week.

I rest my legs Friday-Sunday except for some mild cardio.

Any suggestions on what I could do to improve my squat. I would like
to be able to do an ass to grass squat with a weight of at least 315
pounds.

Thanx,

Rich

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:46:58 GMT, "Adam K" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I don't necessarily think you need to bounce out of the position, but for
now you might want to cut your squats down to maybe twice a week. I know
you are doing light squats but maybe you need have a little more rest
between your leg days.

The primary reason I do the squats on Monday is to warm myself up and
stretch in preparation for the work days. I don't even think that I
have worked my quads very hard on Monday. But I will consider limiting
the workouts to twice a week. Maybe I will just stretch my legs on
Monday.

Quoted message said:

Also, subtle weaknesses in other areas could contribute to the weakness in
the squats. Are your abs and lower back strong enough to support the bar on
your back. Is the back strong enough to stay tight? These are just some
suggestions without having really seen you squat.

My abs and lower back are extremely strong. I think this is due to my
heavy dead lifting.

I actually can do a perfectly straight-legged dead lift with over 315
pounds. When guys in the gym see me doing it with perfectly straight
legs they are amazed that my back does not snap since my flexibility
allow me to bend all the way down to the bar without bending my knees
and keeping my back perfectly straight. My abs are also very strong as
I can do the Bruce Lee flag exercise up and down in strict form for
six reps.

Thanx for you input.

Rich

Isn't doing the SLDL with perfectly straight legs very risky? At least
Stuart McRobert thinks so.

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Quoted message said:

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:46:58 GMT, "Adam K" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I don't necessarily think you need to bounce out of the position, but for
now you might want to cut your squats down to maybe twice a week. I know
you are doing light squats but maybe you need have a little more rest
between your leg days.

The primary reason I do the squats on Monday is to warm myself up and
stretch in preparation for the work days. I don't even think that I
have worked my quads very hard on Monday. But I will consider limiting
the workouts to twice a week. Maybe I will just stretch my legs on
Monday.

Quoted message said:

Also, subtle weaknesses in other areas could contribute to the weakness in
the squats. Are your abs and lower back strong enough to support the bar
on
your back. Is the back strong enough to stay tight? These are just some
suggestions without having really seen you squat.

My abs and lower back are extremely strong. I think this is due to my
heavy dead lifting.

I actually can do a perfectly straight-legged dead lift with over 315
pounds. When guys in the gym see me doing it with perfectly straight
legs they are amazed that my back does not snap since my flexibility
allow me to bend all the way down to the bar without bending my knees
and keeping my back perfectly straight. My abs are also very strong as
I can do the Bruce Lee flag exercise up and down in strict form for
six reps.

Thanx for you input.

Rich

[email hidden] wrote:
<snip>
if you can't do a squat 'cos you're too heavy.

maybe try crutches
Or
some ppl hold a table in front of them for support. You could push on
the table

if you're married, ask your wife to let you cheat i.e. maybe she can
lift up enough pounds to make it doable for you.

i'm sure you can figure out ways to experiment in taking weight off the
squat.

some other guy posted that he couldn't do a pull up. His solutino might
be to keep his feet on teh groudn.

Maybe a low chin up bar or low bar would help you , [pull up on that
and it'll atke weight off the squat.

Consider yourself lucky that bodyweight exercises are challenging for
you. For some - light - people they're not so effective. OTOH, there
is the 1 arm pushup and 1 leg squat and hand stand push up, all of
which you have to be a master of balance to do.

Mack said:

Isn't doing the SLDL with perfectly straight legs very risky? At least
Stuart McRobert thinks so.

I and perhaps most need to keep back totally straight and firm. - no
harm in that, it helps posture anyway.

the exrx picture has the guy curving his back. It'd do my back in. OP
said he's got the flexibility.
if arms can touch feet/barbell and his back is flexible and flexibly
strong, then fine, 'lucky him'.

if you do thsee things with a v. v. light weight, you'll feel it
lightly, not v. risky. maybe do your back in for a few days. Then
you'll know if it's Very Risky were you to use a heavy weight.

On Tue, 09 May 2006 00:30:38 GMT, "Mack" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Isn't doing the SLDL with perfectly straight legs very risky? At least
Stuart McRobert thinks so.

Only if you use too much weight and cannot keep your back straight and
tight. I worked my way up to 315 *very* slowly. My long term goal is
to do 365 with perfectly straight legs. I expect to do that within a
year or two. I also expect to have lost about 30 pounds in that time
so I will be doing 2X my bodyweight for that lift.

Rich

Quoted message said:

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Quoted message said:

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:46:58 GMT, "Adam K" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I don't necessarily think you need to bounce out of the position, but for
now you might want to cut your squats down to maybe twice a week. I know
you are doing light squats but maybe you need have a little more rest
between your leg days.

The primary reason I do the squats on Monday is to warm myself up and
stretch in preparation for the work days. I don't even think that I
have worked my quads very hard on Monday. But I will consider limiting
the workouts to twice a week. Maybe I will just stretch my legs on
Monday.

Quoted message said:

Also, subtle weaknesses in other areas could contribute to the weakness in
the squats. Are your abs and lower back strong enough to support the bar
on
your back. Is the back strong enough to stay tight? These are just some
suggestions without having really seen you squat.

My abs and lower back are extremely strong. I think this is due to my
heavy dead lifting.

I actually can do a perfectly straight-legged dead lift with over 315
pounds. When guys in the gym see me doing it with perfectly straight
legs they are amazed that my back does not snap since my flexibility
allow me to bend all the way down to the bar without bending my knees
and keeping my back perfectly straight. My abs are also very strong as
I can do the Bruce Lee flag exercise up and down in strict form for
six reps.

Thanx for you input.

Rich