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Friday
Jan272012
Friday, January 27, 2012 Back squat
5-5-5-5-5
Please, at very least, take a look at the above article if you don't have time to read the whole thing. If you're at all serious about training with a barbell, you should know who Mark Rippetoe is and become familiar with his books and website. If you do read the article, please take a moment and add some thoughts to the comments section!
Reader Comments (4)
“Your appearance when fit is almost entirely a result of your genetics,
which are expressed at their best only when your training level is at its highest, and this level is only
obtainable from a program based on an improvement in your performance, in the gym or on the
field. And the best improvements in the gym occur when participating in a program that looks more
like performance athletics – the kind of training done by competitive athletes – than one that looks
like waving your arms and legs around on a machine or slowly rolling around on the floor” -M. Rippatoe
Interesting theory on how the position of the bar changes the hamstring while in the bottom of the squat. Never would of thought it would take 9 pages to explain the back squat. Very cool tho!!!
Funny, today is my heavy back squat day anyway! I can't stress enough how relevant the concept of "hip drive" is to sports; especially tennis. Every stroke in tennis is generated from a driving/bend and release motion of the entire posterior chain. In a tennis lesoon, if I were to demo for a student the proper body positioning for a routine forhand or backhand stroke, it would look EXACTLY like a near full depth squat!!! Killer! This would be especially useful in suggesting to a young player how improtant it would be to focus on squating as part of a training regimen that directly trasfers to more power, stability and endurance for those gruelling 2 hour matches!
"The back squat is literally the only exercise in the entire repertoire of weighted human
movement that allows the direct training of the complex movement pattern known as hip drive".
Great article! I now have a much better understanding of the squat. The guy is a character too...hilarious.
Interesting about shortening the hamstring with the high bar. He doesn't offer any suggestions on how to shorten your arms though, if your anthropometrry is too chimpanzee-like.