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Quote from: Ineedtodunk on July 21, 2011, 02:07:35 pm

Quote from: LBSS on July 21, 2011, 02:06:25 pm

Quote from: Ineedtodunk on July 21, 2011, 01:56:28 pm

So, when I do conventional style dead lifts, I try hard to keep my back straight, use my lower body/hips, and keep my shoulders pulled back/chest out.  How come recently, when I dead lift, like the middle of my back, like where my spine is, in between my shoulder blades, it gets uncomfortable and kinda hurts.  The pain is not that much, it just feels weird.  This is weird, because before I used to never feel anything on my upper back, only my lower back when I would perform with improper technique.  Anyone else experience this?

because god hates you

Is posting stuff like that fun for you?

yes. is posting questions to which you have basically no chance of receiving a meaningful answer fun for you?

yes.

Quote from: Ineedtodunk on July 21, 2011, 01:56:28 pm

So, when I do conventional style dead lifts, I try hard to keep my back straight, use my lower body/hips, and keep my shoulders pulled back/chest out.  How come recently, when I dead lift, like the middle of my back, like where my spine is, in between my shoulder blades, it gets uncomfortable and kinda hurts.  The pain is not that much, it just feels weird.  This is weird, because before I used to never feel anything on my upper back, only my lower back when I would perform with improper technique.  Anyone else experience this?

because god hates you

Is posting stuff like that fun for you?

Quote from: steven-miller on July 20, 2011, 02:36:25 pm

Quote from: Alex V on July 20, 2011, 01:23:54 pm

Also dont get obsessed about parallel.  Only go as low as you can properly.  Over time you should be able to get deeper and deeper.

Alex, I have never understood why you would recommend that to a guy, especially a beginner, over the internet. I can to a degree understand why in group coaching situations with team sport athletes you might not have the time to coach a full squat to everyone. But this person is trying to learn full squats, because they are a better exercise for a beginner, and needs to be introduced to correct form as long as the weights are light. I doubt that doing it wrong now will make it easier to do it correct later. In the process of doing squats high nothing is learned that helps doing squats low later, since in most cases technical problems are the reason for the inability of reaching good depth with reasonable form.

If he is spilling into his low back, quads , and hamstrings then he is not squatting correctly (if performance is your goal, squatting for OLY or PL is different).  He needs to be getting to his glutes. Depth has nothing to do with this, proper movement does.  So why not move properly.  The OP said he no longer gets his glutes going in squats and loads his erector spinae and hams during DL's, thus It seems safe to conclude he is losing position or form.

I recently saw a few McGill presentations in person and he echoed the same points.  Going to parallel for parallel's sake in the face of bad technique (not getting to the glutes) will lead to injury.  He also asked people "Why do you need to get to parallel?"   Everyone said the sme thing "P-chain..."  His response was that if that is the reasn you have never seen a properly conducted EMG study or have a very poor understanding of functional anatomy.  I sat there and wondered how many heads his presentation was fling over at that moment.

So in summary only do what you can do with perfect form and over time proper strength development may open up new ROM's

I really would like my squatting to get to my glutes.  I'm not doing parallel for doing parallel's sake.  I like the depth and am comfortable with it.  Like I mentioned, my glutes were the main muscles firing when I first started squatting (half squats).  Can you tell me what you MIGHT think is the issue with my technique that can potentially be the reason why my glutes are not firing?  Like what are the possibilities, so I can see which one might be the case.

Thanks.

Just something I was curious about...
If there were 2 athletes, somehow they are exactly the same.  Same height, weight, lower body/core/upper body strength is all equal, body structure, age, EVERYTHING.  But, athlete A had 8% BF, while athlete B had 14%BF.  Just assume athlete A has more muscle mass, while athlete B has less muscle mass and carries more fat, but they are still both equally strong and same weight. 

Would they jump the same height?  I'm assuming most would say the leaner athlete A will jump higher.  If so, WHY?  If jumping is a power to weight ratio and both athletes are built the same, why would athlete A jump higher if both athletes power and weight is equal?

Quote from: Ineedtodunk on July 20, 2011, 05:12:23 pm

Quote from: steven-miller on July 20, 2011, 03:59:26 pm

Quote from: Ineedtodunk on July 20, 2011, 03:50:47 pm

I didn't take offense to it, I really was curious, but I guess I am an intermediate then?  Because for a while now, I'm no longer at the point where I can add 5 lbs every session or so.  Takes me about 3 sessions or like a week and a half to add 5 lbs these days.

You are not an intermediate. You are doing too many sets, your training frequency is too low and you are not eating to recover optimally.

And how do you know what my diet is?

What kind of frequency and number of sets would you suggest?

BTW, incase you didn't know, I'm studying abroad in England right now for a total of 8 weeks, and during this time I only have time to go to the gym for 2 days a week, and I figured that was the best schedule I can utilize at this point (if you did look at my routine in my journal).  I know training 2 days a week is not much, but I'm in Europe for a once in a lifetime experience, training is not #1 for me right now.  However, I do still believe my 2 day a week schedule is more than good enough to train my weakest link right now, which is my strength

No need to justify what you are doing. I read your more recent entries and also realized your situation. Given what you do right now with your studies abroad, going for a bit slower progress is absolutely reasonable and it was not my intent to criticize that at all. But that does not make you an intermediate trainee.
I don't know your exact diet, but I can read from your entries in combination with your bodyweight increase from February to mid June that you eat very little for someone who wants to increase his relative strength and is very light to begin with (you gained 5 lbs in those 4 months).

I see, maybe I do need to eat more.  I wasn't saying I'm an intermediate trainee, I don't even know what makes one intermediate, advanced, beginner.  I just thought you said I'm a beginner because my current schedule is has too many sets, and too little frequency or something.  I misunderstood.

Anyways, if I were to go on a diet where I ate like crazy and get stronger a lot faster, it's gonna have to wait until Aug 27 when I go back home.  I can't afford to eat like that while I'm here.  Incase you didn't know, this country is so freakin expensive.  It costs me $5.75 just to take 1 bus to the supermarket and back, don't get me started on the food prices.

Quote from: Ineedtodunk on July 20, 2011, 03:05:36 pm

Quote from: steven-miller on July 20, 2011, 02:36:25 pm

Quote from: Alex V on July 20, 2011, 01:23:54 pm

Also dont get obsessed about parallel.  Only go as low as you can properly.  Over time you should be able to get deeper and deeper.

Alex, I have never understood why you would recommend that to a guy, especially a beginner, over the internet. I can to a degree understand why in group coaching situations with team sport athletes you might not have the time to coach a full squat to everyone. But this person is trying to learn full squats, because they are a better exercise for a beginner, and needs to be introduced to correct form as long as the weights are light. I doubt that doing it wrong now will make it easier to do it correct later. In the process of doing squats high nothing is learned that helps doing squats low later, since in most cases technical problems are the reason for the inability of reaching good depth with reasonable form.

Do I still qualify as a beginner if I've been squatting for 5 months now?  

The issue with my glutes not being activated during squats confuses me because when I first started squatting 5 months ago, I was half squatting.  And in doing so, my glutes were primarily getting worked, while I hardly felt anything in my quads.  Something I found weird since I assumed half squatting is mainly quads and the lower u go it's the glutes.  Right now, I am comfortably doing parallel squats sitting back, but I only feel it in my quads and hams, no glutes.

Yes, you are still a beginner, not because you have only squatted 5 months, but because you are far from the point where you couldn't progress your squat several times per week. You are considered an intermediate if that does not work anymore (provided you do other stuff right, like sleeping, eating, being consistent etc.). Also make no mistake, it is a privilege to still be a beginner and have the opportunity to make such fast progress. So it was not meant in a condescending way at all.

I don't understand your worries about your glutes at all. If you use correct form, all the muscles will fire properly. If you are not, you should change that. Post a video if you are uncertain.

I didn't take offense to it, I really was curious, but I guess I am an intermediate then?  Because for a while now, I'm no longer at the point where I can add 5 lbs every session or so.  Takes me about 3 sessions or like a week and a half to add 5 lbs these days.

Hi Lance, so I'm a single leg jumper, and right now I'm am ~30" SVJ and ~38" RVJ.  I am parallel squatting 220lbs for 5 reps at 153lb BW.  Strength is obviously my biggest weakness right now, and I have been primarily focusing on getting my squat to 2xBW lately. 

But when I think more about it.  Since a SLRVJ is more p-chain dominant, wouldn't a conventional dead lift be the best primary strength builder for a single leg jumper like me?  Right now I dead lift around 235lbs for 5 reps, (I have been squatting much more consistently and I have short arms, making dead lifts a lil harder).  I would say I am good enough at using my lower body for dead lifts considering that my hamstrings are the main muscles getting murdered, and I lift the weight by snapping my hips forward.  However, what's weird lately is my glutes don't burn at all during dead lifts (just like my squats as you have read from my other post), and for some reason, although my back is pretty straight, my UPPER back tends to get a weird uncomfortable feeling after heavy dead lifts?

Well lately, I have been keeping squats as my primary strength builder, with the trap bar dead lift as supplementary exercise.  I am abroad right now, and my gym is tiny, and I would like to stick with what I am doing, which is 2 big lower body lifts.  If you were currently in my situation, which 2 of the following 3 would you do, and which would you concentrate on as your primary lift?  Squat / Dead Lift/ Trap Bar Dead Lift.

Thanks.