Adarq.org

Training
FS 1x127.5
BS 2x127.5, 8x110, 10x107.5
BP 6x77.5, 5x77.5, 6x75
WPU 2x5x88 (PR)
WCU 6x88, 5x88

Squat notes:
That FS single felt ugly but progress! I don't have crazy aspirations for FS right now, just doing a repeatable 130kg warmup single will do. Not far from that, just have to make 127.5kg prettier and easier and then i'll take the bump up to 130kg (2x15kg plates).

BS - i failed a 135kg single, just felt too heavy out of the bottom. It's probably just a practice thing, have to get used to backsquatting heavy again i guess. I'll try it again next time, provided im fresher, i should have it in me. I haven't stated a BS goal but i think it's obvious i need to get 140kg out of the way first but eventually i'd like to be in that repeatable warmup single of 150-160kg range, especially if i'm going to do RSR again, there is no point attempting it without having a solid base to launch off..

Hey entropy, I just solved your problem of "the Olympic lifters collapse their knees inward on their heaviest attempts".

It's because if you look at what muscles contribute to the hip extension (aka "the posterior chain"), they're the glutes, hamstrings AND ADDUCTORS.

And since in an Olympic lift the back is vertical (same as in a front squat, and to a lesser extent, the high bar back squat), then the knees go forward a lot and the hamstrings are put into active insufficiency.

This leaves only the glutes AND ADDUCTORS to provide hip extension. And the knees caving in is the athlete's attempt (subconsciously or not) to use these adductors to help the glutes, which are on an island on their own, to do the hip extension.

This is also the reason why front squats are great for hamstring dominant people (think - me) to learn how to use the glutes in the squatting movement: by putting the hamstrings into active insufficiency (shortening them at both the hip and knee joints), you're basically "isolating" the glutes and adductors as the only muscles capable of hip extension. And since you put the glutes in a stretched position going very low (assuming you can do it), then the front squat is maybe the best athletic training squat, assuming you still do stuff for the hamstrings.

Just thought I'll put this out there for the people wondering about these knees coming in on heavy attempts for the Olympic lifters, and also something to think about.

Rippetoe??? BLASPHEMY!!!

But seriously, interesting read, either you agree with it or not. Good food for thought!

I dont know if I would generalise so much about these exercises. It depends a lot on the person what squat is appropriate for their needs. If you're trying to become more athletic, i think FS def has a place, but in my experience, you can't really make it your main squat. It beats up the knees and tendons pretty good. Guys like Pendlay have said the same thing, we've tried doing a FS heavy training cycle with BS minimally as assistance and it doesn't work as well as mainly BS with FS as assistance.

More conventionally, you can do a good amount of volume with BS and work up to a FS max regularly without any problems, as I've experienced. BS does a great job of driving up FS this way. I'm not sure if the opposite is true, it's not so easy to convert FS gains to BS, at least ive never observed that to happen. Also it's not easy to drive up FS either, progress isn't smooth like BS. With BS I could add 15kg to my squat and see an immediate 7.5kg increase in my FS. It's pretty hard to add that kind of weight to a stuck FS though as I had found being stuck for months on 3x129 and 1x136 before my BS pushed my FS PR up to 1x145 and i was probably good for more, but my main focus at the time was BS not FS so i didn't max out.

I dont know, i feel like if i only did BS i would get nothing athletically out of it. There are millions of people out there doing only backsquats who never see anything good happen outside the gym. I dont want to become one of them, so i keep FS in, just in case, it will help, at least i think it has helped me a little, how much, i dont know. I do know that as my BS climbs up, my FS goes up too, as long as I keep doing the odd FS here and there.

Btw the whole issue about hamstrings is pointless to me. I dont do any hamstring work and my thighs are mainly hamstring, they'll always get a lot of work when i squat, it's just how i'm built, i'm ok with it. Going to  FS doesn't magically made it a quad/glute exercise, if anything, BS is a better overall leg exercise for me. I really dont know what FS does for me that BS doesn't.

By the way - check out how bad this guy had it improving his back squat:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s</a>

I got my supplements order from bb, magnesium citrate, zinc and 2 bottles of allmax caffeine pills. I opened the caffeine just now and they've changed the formula or something, the tablets are physically different but the best part is they've made them more soluble, they dissolved so well in my coke, no bit chunks floating about. So im really happy with their new formula. If you're in the market for some cheap caffeine, allmax is my recommendation.

http://au.bodybuilding.com/store/all/caf.html?_requestid=3316405

By the way - check out how bad this guy had it improving his back squat:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s</a>

Wow. All strength it looks like. Hus run up/jumps don't look 'athletic' he just powers through it. Wonder how long it took him to get there?