Barbell squats for tall people. How to choose the right exercises depending on the structure of the body: the male version. Bends with a barbell "Good morning"

03.12.2021Heading: Solution

In my youth, what I hated most was those unpleasant moments when, when they looked at me, people immediately said: "Oh, this guy is tall!" I really wanted them to avoid this definition in my description. For me, it was even more humiliating than the definition of "dumb."

When I was a teenager, I was 183 centimeters tall, so I trained hard in the gym to transform from a "tall guy" to a "big guy", however, nothing came of it. However, over the past few years I have gained valuable experience that has helped develop more effective training with some perspective for taller athletes. With that in mind, let's finish with the introduction and start getting down to specific things.

Almost all trainees other than beginners know that when it comes to achieving optimal results, certain points may differ depending on the individual athlete. Dietary protocols designed to burn body fat may work for one person, but not for another. Likewise, bodybuilding training protocols vary depending on the goals of the athlete, as well as the ability to adapt to specific exercises and training styles.

So why should things be different with regards to the growth of the trainee? Let's face it, tall guys aren't very popular when it comes to weight training, and there are too few articles written specifically for the likes of us. Thus, the time has come to change the current situation.

Which athlete is tall?

However, I noticed that all my clients, whose height fluctuates within this number, tend to have very long arms and legs when compared with their height. And this is a very interesting point. Anthropometry is what separates most tall athletes from guys of average height, and intense training with heavy weights with a short torso, wide arms and legs of a giraffe can be an athlete's worst nightmare.

Now my height is 193 centimeters, and my arm span is 203 centimeters. Finding the shirt that's right for me is as hard as finding masculine features in Justin Bieber. They are out there somewhere, however, you will not immediately notice. And my legs are no exception, they are very, very long compared to the length of the torso.

Needless to say, thanks to such arms, legs and girth of the shoulders, a tailor became my best friend and a real salvation.

So, given my own height, I will try to debunk some of the training myths, using practical evidence, scientific evidence, and logic to improve the effectiveness of training tall athletes.

A matter of strength

It must be remembered that resistance training is about developing an effort against resistance. The result of this action is work. In physics, work is defined as force times distance. Thus, the amount of effort applied at a certain distance determines the amount of work performed.

Let's take this example to the gym. Let's say an athlete is 175 centimeters tall and can do full-range squats with 100 kilograms. In this exercise, he goes through a 60-centimeter lowering (his eccentric repetition phase) and returns to the starting position - thus, his range of motion is 120 centimeters.

Now let's take a guy who is 190 centimeters tall - he can also do full-range squats with 100 kilograms. In order to enter a full squat, he needs to drop 75 centimeters - the full range of motion will be 150 centimeters. Compared to a guy of average height, this is 30 centimeters more per repetition. Now multiply that value by 10 reps and you get three meters of extra distance in one set. Thus, the taller athlete does more work in this set, using the same weight, performing what it might seem at first glance, exactly the same movement and observing all the same "requirements".

The reason why I raised this question and gave these examples is because, given these points, you can safely ask the question which of the athletes presented needs to be stronger in order to complete the task. Without going into details about the body weight of each of them, many will agree that, in general, for a tall guy, this task will be much more difficult and stressful.

By this I mean that being tall in the gym should not be categorically considered a disadvantage. Long, muscular abdomens and giant leverage points to the enormous potential for effort and strength development - in virtually every exercise.

Thus, I came to the following.

The amplitude of movement is above all! (True true!)

If you've already read my articles, you should know that I advocate the use of maximum range of motion when doing exercises. And for tall guys this moment is a must.

In this case, the standard set will be longer, which means that the time under load will increase. In addition, maximum range of motion means an increase in the level of effort generation for the maximum available distance, that is, more work.

In short, if you want to increase strength, keep the amplitude at its maximum.

Growing problems

We have already decided that we can get myofibrillar hypertrophy and increase strength using heavy weights and maximum range of motion. But what about our main goal of increasing muscle size? Things are a little more complicated here. We are dealing with very long muscle belly, which means that any built muscle mass is distributed over a larger area. This is depressing, since an increase of even 7 kilograms can go almost imperceptibly for a tall, lanky guy.

Without turning the topic of this article into a dietary one, I will say the following: consume as much food as possible. In pursuit of size, you can afford to increase the level of subcutaneous fat, because here you have an advantage precisely for the reason that you have difficulty building muscle mass... You won't turn into a fat bumpkin with some extra carbs, so even pizza is bold.

When it comes to training for the sake of increasing size, I believe that a tall athlete who is also a hard gainer can benefit by focusing on isolation training a little more than the average trainee. Provided there are large compound exercises in the program, a long-legged, long-armed athlete can benefit greatly from their large leverage in exercises such as biceps curls, tricep block presses, leg extensions, leg curls, and high pulldowns.

SAID principle

The SAID principle is specific adaptation to specific influences. If the body is repeatedly exposed to heavy weights and prolonged exertion, then it simply has no choice but to become larger and stronger in order to adapt to training influences.

I am a proponent of this principle and believe that tall guys should benefit from this by increasing their time under load through controlled eccentric reps, maximizing range of motion, and high reps.

One of the reasons building muscle becomes a real headache for tall athletes is the general guidelines that have permeated the training industry, which is why many beginners and intermediate athletes take them at face value, without thinking about anthropometric characteristics of each person. Here are some of them:

Don't let your knees stick out over your toes.

It's easy if you have the longest torso in the world, and your height is about 165 centimeters.

Otherwise, you will have to break this rule. Personally, I have found nothing wrong with knees protruding beyond the toes during squats, and this is supported by a lot of research.

If you have long legs, but you are still trying to follow this recommendation, give it up. For a visual example, below is a video of me doing kettlebell squats. Of course, frontal loading contributes to a more pronounced extension of the knees forward, however, rest assured that these angles are also necessary for me to achieve a good full squat in the overhead squat.

This is the cause of my problems with prep exercises like the wall squat, which are designed to develop "correct technique" in the squat. Standing so that your toes are against the wall, but at the same time avoiding touching it with other parts of the body during the full-length squat, is almost impossible for an athlete with long limbs or for just a tall guy. Squats are a very specific exercise and should be treated accordingly.

When doing high pulldowns or pull-ups, try to keep the handle or bar touching your chest.

This example may seem like an exception to my propaganda of maximum amplitude of motion, and it really is. The problem is that the short lifter will reach maximum reduction lats with full contact of the handle or crossbar with the sternum. This is because the short arms reach the body under conditions of dominant lats.

However, in the case of long arms, the elbows will still be farther from the body, even if the point of attachment of the lats is at the shoulder of the arms, simply because the humerus is longer.

As a result, full lats contraction can be achieved by positioning the handle or bar further from the chest. Deep pulling will not give any positive effect in this case, but simply involves the muscles of the arms and possibly the upper trapezium in the work, which in turn will weaken the grip strength and the specific isolation of the lats.

Thus, it is necessary to focus not on the traditional pattern of movement, but on the stimulation of the target muscles, so if you have long arms feel free to end the concentric phase of the exercise a few centimeters from your chest.

When performing dead, try to pull the working weight back.

This common recommendation can be very confusing for tall athletes. When we strain the entire body in preparation for the heavy deadlift, we try to do our best to move the bar in a straight line during the movement, however, this recommendation for the back deadlift may force you to use a lower pelvic position in relation to the shoulders.

Meanwhile, when performing deadlifts, long legs and a low pelvic position are not combined in any way. This is why Mark Rippetow reminds me of one of my favorite coaches. He simply goes against the system, and like me, he believes that the bar should be in the same plane with the shoulder blades, and all other parts of the body will take care of themselves.

Place your shoulder blades directly over the bar and then tighten your chest and back. For a leggy guy, these actions will provide a higher pelvic position, however, so the bar can move in a straight line from the correct starting point.

Below you will find another example demonstrating my pelvic position when doing a relatively heavy deadlift. In the video presented, you can see that lowering the pelvis lower without breaking the trajectory of the neck, I simply will not be able to:

Salvation for sore joints

Another area where taller athletes often run into problems is joint stress. Due to the long body, our attempts to use the maximum range of motion in exercises can be troublesome for our joints. However, this does not mean that we should avoid wide amplitudes. Instead, we must identify our weaknesses and make the necessary adjustments.

For example, deep squats require good movement in the hip joints. Hip joints with poor mobility can (and usually do) contribute to the creation of unnecessary stress in the knees and lower back. Very often people are too hasty to write off this as a supposedly "unsuitable exercise for me" instead of figuring out the problem and coming to a rational solution.

Make sure to do whatever is necessary to create and maintain structural balance around each joint. This is achieved by building the correct, strong foundation, while also not forgetting about the quality of tissues, mobility and functional strength. In addition, here are some guidelines for you:

When doing bench exercises, use a neutral grip whenever possible. Due to the deep insertion of the elbows behind the body in the lower range of the range of motion of most pressing exercises with long arms, it is useful to rotate the wrists so that the shoulder joint is in a more suitable position under load. When it comes to bench presses, feel free to use dumbbells, which will allow you to "play" with the position of the hand.

Bench presses in a power rack, squats from the bottom up and other established exercises with partial amplitude should be used in training in the event of injury or chronic discomfort in the loaded joints. Exercises like these will save you from the lower section of the amplitude, which in this case can do more harm than good.

Do the deadlifts more often. Very few chronic injuries can reduce pulling power. Plus, quite often, repetitive deadlift turns out to be the main remedy for chronic injury problems! Do 2: 1 Rows to Press to give your joints rest.

Conclusion

Tall guys have a hard time in the gym, however, we can train smart. The same can be observed even if you look at the genetic freaks from the bodybuilding world. Guys like Jay Cutler, who are 176 centimeters tall, have an advantage in both size and heavy training over athletes like Lou Ferrigno, who is 196 centimeters.

Instead of complaining about long limbs, it's time to take advantage of them for intense training. The points and recommendations I have presented should help you with this. Looking at photographs of such giants as Arnold, Lou Ferrigno and Tony Freeman, and such strong men as Brian Shaw (203 centimeters tall), as well as recalling the tall height of Superman himself - 190 centimeters, you can be sure that we have much to strive for. It all depends on our efforts.

Helping lanky athletes avoid hazards and inconveniences is not an easy task. The proposed measures will simplify the solution of this problem and help tall guys become strong and muscular!

The gym is a real torture chamber for tall guys. Lanky athletes often have to twist and position their levers at an uncomfortable angle to get the correct starting position and perform the exercise correctly, which increases the risk of injury and increases the distance of the working weight.

A daunting problem for tall gym dwellers who constantly have to adapt basic movements to their anatomical and biomechanical features.

If you are not sure whether you need to adjust your work in the gym, let's first decide who is considered “high” in relation to strength training.

In this situation, we're not talking about guys with a slightly above average height. We are talking about men who are over 192 cm and women taller than 178 cm. We are talking about real skyscrapers.

If you calmly look down on a professional basketball player, and in the gym it is difficult for you to cope with your long legs, then you need to somehow deal with it. I am ready to offer you simple solutions that will help you fix technical errors and eliminate long-legged and long-armed obstacles.

1. Basic isometric exercises

Long legs and arms make it extremely difficult for you to take the correct starting position, and this leads to poor performance of the entire exercise. Isometric exercises, in which you hold a static contraction, provide an opportunity to develop the correct position. They teach lanky athletes to start and finish correctly.

Over time, isometric exercises will help the athlete feel the correct range of motion. If you have difficulty with half squats, but can easily do quarter squats, then start with a quarter and gradually work your way down and deeper. This will help you systematically improve your deep squat technique and increase your overall range of motion without experiencing physical discomfort.

Isometric holding will make you stronger, even if your flexibility is limited by tall stature.

Do not miss the very essence of isometric movements: this is not a long and tedious waiting for the weather by the sea, it is active work, albeit in a static mode. Whatever position you take, you must hold it with the help of the efforts of the whole body.

Stay in a static position until you feel decent fatigue, but not long enough for your posture to begin to resemble a deformed garden chair. Start with 10-15 sets of 10-15 seconds, work your way forward, increasing the length of the set, decreasing the total number of sets, and gradually moving into the correct position.

2. Leave only the concentric phase

Guys who constantly bump their heads against the doorway have some difficulty with proprioceptive sensitivity and motor innervation. As if the signal from the muscles to the brain and back goes a little longer than usual. As a result, the eccentric, or negative, phase of movement, or rather, its outcome, becomes a matter of chance: either the fixation of the body is lost, or the arms are crooked. In a word, the whole exercise is down the drain.

By placing emphasis on the concentric phase (the contraction phase), for example, doing the bench press in the squat rack or squatting in the same manner, lanky athletes will get at least some relief, because the basis of these exercises will be isometric movements. They will improve your range of motion, stabilize your starting position, and perform the exercise fiercely and vigorously enough to develop strength and volume. And you don't have to worry about the forced reduction in working weight.

The success of a concentric exercise depends on acceleration. Even with a lot of weight, you need to focus on moving the projectile from start to finish as quickly as possible. Stick to 3-8 repetitions in concentric exercises. If you do fewer reps, you turn the exercise into a quasi-maximum, an unproductive movement.

3. Loose negatives

Once you've mastered concentric exercises, add loosening movements that involve using the shoulder straps to ease the eccentric phase of the bar movement — mainly when doing bench presses and squats.

For loose negatives, tie one piece of webbing to the top of the squat rack and wrap the other around the bar. As the projectile is lowered, the strap will stretch, which will reduce stress during the eccentric phase and help initiate the concentric phase of the movement.

The elastic straps fixed to the squat rack will help you maintain the correct position in the eccentric (downward) phase of the movement and give impetus for the concentric phase of the movement

This strategy is designed to help the athlete move from concentric exercise to full movement. Isometric exercises teach you to take and hold the correct position, concentric presses teach you to develop maximum effort from the starting position, and weakened negatives teach you how to cleanly overcome all phases of the movement.

4. Medium repetitions

Tall athletes have long levers that interfere with proprioception and movement control. Overly intense exercise with high weight and low reps is tantamount to a dangerous, agonizing and potentially traumatic approach. Get hung up on extreme weights and one-rep sets and your performance will drop much faster than normal arm length athletes. Quality reps and long athletic careers are built around medium reps.

Take this strategy and do sets of 5-8 reps. If you want to gain mass, increase the volume by increasing the number of sets per training session or training cycle. To increase strength, focus carefully on the starting position and do quality reps that develop fierce tension.

Training program

Being tall shouldn't hinder your strength training success. Success depends on many factors. Learn to hold the position with isometric movements, develop starting strength with concentric movements, and learn to deal with the eccentric phase with relaxed negatives.

Master these techniques with medium repetitions and you will solve all the problems the lanky athlete has.

0 7163 2 years ago

For those looking to build muscle in their legs, the squat exercise with a barbell on the shoulders will be a real godsend. During the training, not only will the buttocks, hamstrings and quadriceps be pumped, but also the strength of the back, abs and shoulders will develop.

What muscles are involved?

The exercise is based on the development of leg muscles, in particular:

gluteal muscles;
quads;
soleus muscles;
femoral adductors.

In addition to the main group, stabilizers also work:

spine extensors;
hamstrings (detailed exercises for this muscle group);
calf muscles;
abdominal muscles: both straight and oblique press;
other muscles in the body.

There is also a direct connection between the position of the body and the work of certain muscles. The dependence is shown in the table:

The barbell squat offers three variations:

weightlifting;
powerlifting;
bodybuilding.

The first assumes the deepest possible squat, the second - to parallel with the floor, and the third - above parallel. The load is distributed accordingly: from the legs and back through the buttocks to the thighs. Therefore, to maximize the effectiveness of the training, it is recommended to alternate all these variations.

The benefits of the element are invaluable. Today it is relevant not only for bodybuilding and powerlifting, but also for people who just go in for sports. Men can build muscle in their back and legs. Squats with a barbell on the shoulders for girls will allow you to achieve beautiful and elastic buttocks and an attractive shape of the hips.

It is in this exercise that the athlete can take as much weight as possible. The element, to one degree or another, works through absolutely the whole body.

The benefits of exercise include:

Build muscle mass
Promote fat burning
Improving the condition of the joints
Increased energy and mobility
Improving movement coordination
Increase flexibility and prevent injury.

Exercise technique

Despite the apparent lightness, the squat with a barbell on the shoulders is considered one of the most laborious elements. With the wrong execution technique, you can not only fail to achieve the set task, but, on the contrary, injure the legs, back or lumbar region. Therefore, it is recommended for beginners to work out the technique of performing an element without weights, and in the future, gradually add the load. We must not forget about the pre-warming warm-up for the whole body.

The technique for performing squats with a barbell on the shoulders is as follows.

Preparatory stage

Before you start squats, you need to prepare. This requires a barbell rack. The latter must be set according to its height. The bar should not be low or high: it should be comfortable and comfortable to work.

Motion

Step 1. We go under the bar and place it on our trapezoids.

Step 2. We bend in the lumbar region and remove the bar from the rack.

Step 3. We take a step back and put our feet shoulder-width apart. The back is tense, the shoulder blades are bent, the elbows are laid back.

Step 4. As we inhale, we begin a slow, controlled squat. Make sure that the knees do not go beyond the socks.

Step 5. As we exhale, we begin to climb up.

We do the required number of repetitions.

During the training, you need to pay attention to the following points:

The back should always be arched. Rounding it off can cause injury.
The gaze should always be directed straight ahead.
The pelvis in the squat must be taken back.
You need to sit down slowly, and rise faster, making a short stop at the lowest point.
You cannot fully straighten your legs at the lifting point, otherwise the load will go to the knee joints.
The main tension in the squat should be through the heels of the feet, not through the toes.
Squat knees should be turned outward, not brought together.

An Alternative to the Classic Barbell Shoulder Squat

The classic squat with a barbell on the shoulders is not exceptional in its kind. The following types of exercise are known:

Squats on a bench or chair. The element is useful for practicing the technique of performing classic squats. It is also useful for practicing a dynamic ascent from a low point. For training, you will need a chair that is so high that, in a sitting position, the hips are parallel with the floor. In this case, the foot should be completely on the floor.
Wide leg squats are sumo. In this version of the squat, the inner thigh is perfectly worked out. The element is useful for those who have knees brought together in classic squats. During the training, you need to spread your legs wider than your shoulders, and turn your socks 120 degrees. The element allows you to take more weight than with classic squats.
Barbell Chest Squats - Front squats. Here the load on the quadriceps increases. At the same time, the bar is placed on the chest and shoulders and grasped by the arms crosswise. Feet can be positioned slightly narrower than with classic squats. With front squats, you need to pay special attention to the forward tilt of the body - here it should be minimal, otherwise there is a risk of falling forward. The weight in this element should be less than with classic squats.
Overhead Squats. The element adds load to the upper body. The exercise is considered traumatic, so it is recommended to start mastering it with light weights. During training, the bar is taken with a wide grip and lifted over the head. During the squat, the arms should not leave the plane perpendicular to the floor.
Split squats. This option is indispensable for athletes with back problems. The element is a combination of squat and lunge. Those. before squatting, you need to put one leg forward, lunging. In this case, the toe of the front leg must be turned slightly inward, and the back - outward. In this position, the body will be more stable.
Narrow stance squats. These are the same classic squats, but the legs are not shoulder-width apart, but narrow, due to which the load goes to the quadriceps. The feature of the element is that with such a positioning of the legs, it will not work to work at full strength, i.e. it is impossible to sit down in full amplitude in this position.
Squat with a barbell on the shoulders in the Smith machine. The peculiarity of the element is that the bar moves only along a certain trajectory, due to which the practitioner will not make mistakes that he can make with ordinary squats. Also, the simulator allows you to stick your feet slightly forward and thereby relieve the load from the lower back.
Sissy squats. A rare technique that targets the lower thighs. The technique of the exercise is that to maintain balance with one hand, you need to grasp the support, and while performing a squat, you need to rise on the toes of the legs, take the pelvis forward, and the shoulders and head back. The legs are bent until the knees are almost touching the floor and the heels are almost touching the buttocks.
Plie squats with a dumbbell. In this element, we replace the barbell for a dumbbell, set our legs wide apart, and turn the socks to the sides. During the squat, the back should remain perfectly straight.
Hack squats. These squats are performed in a special machine that is aimed at developing the buttocks and hips. The trajectory of movement is set, you just need to go up and down. The element reduces stress on the spine.

Typical mistakes

In the course of training, if the technique is incorrect, various kinds of injuries can occur. Therefore, the following common mistakes should be avoided:

incorrect position of the neck;
wrong grip;
departure with a barbell far from the rack;
raised or lowered head;
incorrect position of the legs;
forward tilt of the body or rounded back;
fast lowering;
separation of the heels from the floor;
withdrawal of the knees by the socks.

Conclusion

The shoulder squat is a great exercise for working all the muscles in the body, especially the legs, glutes, and back. More weight allows you to increase the load and get the maximum effect from the training. But in order to avoid injury, the element requires adherence to all safety measures and correct execution technique.

In our women's team, in fitness training, almost everyone has their own problems: someone would need a bigger ass, but the figure is boyish, someone cannot get rid of annoying "pies" and "ears", and someone whines that all would be fine, but the belly is too big, although the hips are narrow. Men have about the same problems, only they do not trumpet about it left and right, but try to keep quiet and either puff in sports clubs, or try to pass off their disadvantage as an advantage.

It turns out that if you want to get rid of certain problems, you need not just work hard on the general program or spy on it from a neighbor, but build your own, and preferably with a coach at least at first. Since what suits your stocky neighbor is unlikely to suit you if you are 187 cm tall.Coach Adam Bornstein gives useful tips that will help you achieve the desired result without injury.

1. Bench press - for those with long arms

The bench press is a very popular exercise, but due to the fact that in its standard variation it is only suitable for those with an average figure. If you are not one of the lucky ones, you need to correct some points. For tall guys with long arms, the standard option does not work as their shoulder joints are more prone to rotator cuff problems.

handsurgeon.ru

It is proposed to replace the standard bench press with a bench press from the floor, not from a bench, work with dumbbells, simple push-ups and push-ups with weights.

Bench press from the floor

Incline dumbbell bench press

Dips with extra weight

2. Barbell Squats - For Tall Guys

The main problem tall guys face with this exercise is back pain. Sound familiar? You should not completely abandon this exercise. You just need to modify it a little and remove a lot of weight. It can be replaced by standard lunge squats, bulgarian lunge squats, front barbell squats, Romanian deadlifts, and good morning bends.

Lunge squats

Bulgarian Squat Lunge

Barbell Front Squat

Romanian deadlift

Bends with a barbell "Good morning"

3. Rows and pull-ups - for men with short arms and long legs

They say that the less arms you have, the less weight you can lift. Grip strength, the strength of your hand, can be one of the most underestimated of all arm lift exercises. In this case, the gym is clearly not your place. Instead, try a sumo deadlift, rack deadlift, or just take your average weight and walk with it for as long as you can hold it. Gradually increase the load when you feel you can handle it longer.

Sumo Deadlift

Rack pull

In principle, girls can also take note of these exercises, but usually they have slightly different problems, which we will talk about in another article. ;)

Bill Starr
IM No. 8, 2000

Since squats are the foundation of any strength program, you should know how to succeed in this exercise. Often, when progress slows down, athletes get lost and start looking for replacements in the form of lunges, leg presses, and a whole range of other leg exercises. Of course, there are benefits to changing training programs. But by overly engaging in these exercises to the detriment of squats, athletes are actually taking a step back in developing leg strength.

And this is completely unacceptable.

At the very beginning of any program, special attention should be paid to squatting technique. This also applies to those who start training after a break. Many of those who have squatted in great shape before resume training and show terrible technique - usually because they are in too much of a hurry to get back to their previous results. The same can be said for newbies. They are too preoccupied with squatting with a certain weight, forgetting about the form of the exercise.

If you do not develop the correct technique early in your bodybuilding career, your progress will not be as good as it could have been, and the end results will be far below your potential. In addition, the wrong technique of movement is a kind of "invitation to a traumatologist." All this is so elementary that it would seem that it does not need to be repeated. But in many gyms, people who are called upon to monitor correct exercise technique are so concerned about getting their mentees to reach certain numbers that they allow them to lift weights in the wrong way that they are clearly not ready for.

From time to time such a situation develops in my room. I am informed that a new athlete will come to my gym to train, who squats with a weight greater than the record for my gym - 285 kg. Usually the figure is called about 320 kg. This all sounds very convincing until I see the squats themselves, which in fact are usually half squats. When I force the "record holder" to fall below the parallel to the floor, the usual 320 kg squat suddenly becomes 175 kg. Sometimes the blow to an athlete's vanity is so strong that he can never recover from it. None of these great squats have ever done real full squats. And it is, rather, the fault of the coaches. High scores make them look good. This often happens in big-time sports. Ultimately, it is the athlete who loses the most.

The second important point in the science of squatting correctly is refining your technique as you build strength. Experienced athletes also make mistakes, but they are of a slightly different kind than beginners. More often than not, this happens to those who are the most successful in comparison to the rest in this room. It is understood that they know perfectly well what they are doing, and no one dares to reprimand them. How could it be otherwise, they are the best! But the fact is that every athlete at any level of development needs to monitor compliance with the form of performing the exercise and search for weak points.

Another important aspect of achieving success is the time it takes to build a power base and gradually improve it. It seems that I again said an absolutely obvious thing, but after all, many athletes, for the sake of their ego, forget about it in pursuit of numbers. A comparison with a pyramid is suitable here. The stability of the apex depends entirely on the width of the base. The same goes for squats or any other strength exercise... Your final results depend entirely on the basic work you've done. This process cannot be customized. Anyone who is in a hurry in this matter will certainly end up with injury or overtraining, or even both at once.

So, if you want to achieve anything in squats, constantly improve the technique of performing the exercise, gradually increase the total volume of work, look for and overcome weak points. The importance of a good coaching eye can hardly be overestimated here. An experienced mentor will notice if any of the muscle groups are lagging behind and will suggest an exercise or a whole program to work it out.

It is also important to understand that in an exercise such as squatting, each person has certain limitations. Even if a person has developed an excellent shape and spent half his life laying down a power base, the result largely depends on the own weight of each individual person and on his anatomical features. You may see a contradiction here with what I said earlier. Understand that you must strive to realize your real potential at the moment. An athlete weighing 75 kg will never be able to squat with 205 kg, but with 185 - quite. If he wants to cross this line, he needs to put on weight. Many, however, do not want this. They stop there and continue squatting to keep fit or to improve performance in another sport.

I once worked with an athlete (he did a bicycle sprint) who progressed beautifully in squats until he reached 194 kg. We tried to increase and decrease the weight, but the result remained unchanged. The only way to overcome this obstacle was to increase his own weight, but he did not want to. Squats from 194 kg are quite a decent result, and if he put on weight, it would negatively affect his results in cycling. Therefore, he continued to work with this weight to maintain shape.

It's no secret that Mother Nature created some people in such a way that they will never be able to squat with huge weights, no matter how big their own weight will be, and how much they train. But even such superheavy people can significantly increase their strength if they are diligent enough. Perhaps the weights they lift will not impress others, but for themselves they will know that they have achieved something and for them this is quite enough. Whatever your background, your goals and your genetics, you can reach your potential in squats.

When developing a squat technique, the main attention should be paid to the position of the bar and legs. This is very individual, but there are some general rules. For most people, it is comfortable to place their feet slightly wider than their shoulders. The socks should be slightly turned, but not too much, otherwise it is fraught with knee injuries. In my experience, a wider leg stance is more comfortable for tall people. The wider it is, the less the socks should be turned outward.

For taller people it is also more convenient to put the bar slightly lower than usual. And the usual position of the neck is the top trapezius muscle... If tall lifters put the bar in this way, they tend to push their torso too far forward during squats. If you are tall, place the bar lower. But do not overdo it, too low a position is fraught with shoulder injury. Plus, if you're not a powerlifter, you need deeper squats.

However, despite all of the above, you should experiment with the position of your feet and bar for a while and find the best fit for you. The only thing you should be afraid of when building your form is the bad habit of leaning forward while squatting. Yes, powerlifters do it on purpose - in order to lift more weight. But do not forget that they do a tremendous amount of work beforehand to strengthen the lumbar muscles. And before you significantly strengthen them, leaning forward is quite dangerous.

One of the very important requirements for the technique of performing the exercise is to remain very, very tense throughout the entire range of motion. You should tighten your muscles almost to the point of cramping. Many athletes relax their muscles slightly by dropping to a lower position. Their thoughts are preoccupied with how they will go up. It's not so bad if you are working with light weights, but not with extremely heavy weights! Relaxing while lowering is dangerous for many reasons, one of which is the knees. With such a relaxed descent, there is a tendency to "bounce" in the lower position, which is very dangerous for the knee joints - especially for beginners and those who resume training after a break.

It is quite difficult to tense all the muscles required to lift from the bottom position when the bar is already moving. The body must be ready for this in advance. If you move the bar up, already fully collected and prepared, then you can easily get it through the dead center.

It is best to prepare for this even before starting the movement, tighten all your muscles and focus on it. With the bar removed from the rack, begin the preparation process. "Grasp" the floor with your feet, let the wave of tension rise up the entire body - legs, pelvis, back, shoulders. I always advise my students, before they start lowering, to imagine that they are going to sit down from 300 kg. Tighten the traps, as if trying to raise the bar with them, take a breath and start moving. If all muscles are tense, then it will be much easier for you to rise.

It also helps to bring the bar into the correct position at the bottom. This point is overlooked by many, but if you descend into the wrong bottom position with a lot of weight, your chances of getting up are severely diminished. Keeping your torso tight allows you to guide the bar in the correct trajectory. Relaxed lowering will make the lift even worse, especially with heavy weights.

Do not miss this preparation even during the warm-up approach. After a while, it will become a habit, which is what you need. Once you learn how to do each repetition as if it were the only one, and with the maximum weight, your squat results will start to grow steadily.

How about head position? Some coaches teach their mentees to look up, some to look down. This is also very individual. I have seen many experienced athletes holding their heads in different ways. But in any case, you should not force her to be in any particular position, that is, look up or down. This is quite stressful for the upper spine, which already gets a lot of stress during heavy squats. The head should be in a comfortable position for you.

If I notice that the athlete is leaning too much forward when coming out of the bottom position, I advise him to slightly raise his head. Conversely, if it deviates, omit it. Like gymnasts, athletes should use their head as a balance bar when squatting.

I teach my mentees to hold the bar very tightly, preventing it from moving on the shoulders. Many people come to me with the confidence that the bar should lie freely on the trapezoids, and the habit of a very wide grip - almost under the discs themselves. But this does not allow for control of the bar when working with heavy weights. To many athletes who practice wide grip, it just lacks flexibility in the shoulder joints. A few weeks of stretch marks can easily solve this problem.

When starting your workout after a long break, stick to a five out of five routine, use a hard, medium, and light concept. Some advise beginners to do 10 or more reps, thereby trying to limit their working weights. But most often the guys get tired quickly and lose their technique by the end of the set, which is completely unacceptable. In five repetitions, you can always closely monitor the form, and if you want to give more load, increase the number of approaches.

I especially advise beginners to have an easy day, it will help to concentrate on the technique of performing the movements. After a while, you should be able to do heavy sets of 3 reps on a moderate day, and add a finishing set of 8-10 reps on hard to moderate days. These are the first steps in building your power base.

I have always followed the squat program three times a week. After many years of working with people, I came to the conclusion that such a scheme leads to best results... Squats twice a week do not provide such a load and do not allow much variation in your squat programs. But as your weights increase, you may feel the need for more muscle recovery time, and then it makes sense to switch to squats twice a week. If that works for you, great.

Many athletes only train for three or four months a year and then move on to training in other sports. In such cases, doing squats three times a week would be the best regimen for tough workouts. In such a short period of time, athletes need to increase leg strength, and this is what they do on a three-day program. I know many athletes who have added 100 kg or more to the bar in three months, and this, in my opinion, is a good result.

And now the program of my students. Monday is usually a heavy day. They do five sets of five reps, the last one at the limit. This is followed by a reduced weight finishing set, which helps add a little work without too much stress. This set also helps them adjust their technique if needed. With what weight should you perform it? It depends on the results of the main program. If it was successfully completed, I make it moderate in load, if not, heavier. The guys call it "penalty", and I agree with them.

My basic rule of thumb for the final set is 20kg less than the heaviest weight in this workout. For example, if you did 3-5 squats with 165 kg, then in the final set you should work with 145 kg for eight repetitions. However, this is not a dogma. If I notice that the exercise was performed with a violation of the technique, then I put the weight even lower so that the athlete can correct it. After all, with a lot of weight, he will not be able to do this. After doing five trips of five reps with a 230-pound barbell, he has already loaded enough quads to work with 200 kg. All he gets is overtraining. Therefore, I force him to do the 175 kg approach, which is also not a "gift" after hard work, but also not too tiring.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize once again the importance of the correct technique for performing the exercise. Having mastered the technique, the athlete begins to progress with weights, then I look for his weaknesses, include new exercises or techniques to eliminate these weaknesses. In the second part of this article, I will go into more detail about the squat technique. In particular, I will touch upon the issue of developing explosive effort when lifting from a lower position, strengthening the adductors and biceps of the legs, as well as passing the dead center, which will allow you to raise the results of your squats to transcendental heights.