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Squats, Squatters And More Squatting (Part 3) |
By:
Mick Hart |
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Squats, Squatters and More Squatting (Part 3)
Mick Hart
DOC SQUAT... Old Doc Squat aimed always for power, used every aid available, knee wraps, lifting suits, thick belt, more sophisticated style, using feet spread beyond shoulder width, the bar carried as far down the back as your P.L. rules will allow, (below the delts) a considerable amount of forward leaning to let the glutes and spinal erectors (low back) share the load with the thighs and in powerlifting the lift is considered complete as soon as top of the thighs hit parallel.
The P.L. technique will let you lift up to an extra 20% more poundage than the traditional more upright and deeper squat techniques in bodybuilding. If you have ever listened to Fred Hatfield's advice, then you will be aware that you should wear padded towel so that your neck suffers less pain from the bar across the vertebral column and that you should not relax while in the low position, as this will probably damage your knees. It goes without saying that guys with shorter legs do heavy squatting with more ease.
Arnold Schwarzenegger really did not have a genetic advantage with his long legs, but after making the common mistake of training his upper body harder than his legs, made real progress once he did train legs hard, recalling at times he trained for 3 hours or more on squats alone, getting in about 5O sets and always making best progress with the standard squat. Arnold like all who have learnt the hard way, warns never to bounce when in the low squat position and to use controlled movements throughout.
I would be brave enough to say that in my opinion the strongest leg developer in bodybuilding would have to be Tom Platz. He started bodybuildy at the early age of 14 and he remembers that he managed a first set of squats of 10 reps and with a load of 9Olbs/4Okg, so he decided to turn to powerlifting when he was 19. His first training routines were so tough with squats as his main exercise. It's still gets me to know that he could lift 25Olbs/II3.3k and could squat for IO minutes and working up to I5O reps, by resting and then repeating.
During Mr Olympia in 1982, he managed to achieve 2O reps with 5I5lbs/233.5k and 8 reps with 635lbs/288k at just 22Olbs/99.7k bodyweight, and all that without knee wraps. I have always admired Platz's strict controlled form and not a lot has changed since. It's goes without saying that all champs use squats and that Ronnie Coleman has got the most incredible legs.
When Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier and Kevin Levrone do a front ab and thighs, every fibre shows just how hard they have worked for their development. Squats and squat varieties are a must in any champs program. All we ask is for you to take care, use common sense, don't overtrain, don't use bad form, or too heavy weights.
The whole idea of this exercise is to make your muscles work hard and the amount of weight you use is irrelevant, so don't worry what anyone else might be lifting and concentrate on what works good for you. You should try lighter, high reps squats as this will favour someone looking for development rather than just wanting to power lift. So even if you hate squats, do them and feel good about it afterwards.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article78860.html |
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