December 8, 2004

4 responses to Poke her with the soft cushions!

  1. Eric Says:
    December 19th, 2004 at 10:14 am

    I apologize for giving unsolicited advice, but there ‘re a few points on your box squat that may help you to avoid another injury and also to squat more.

    You might try getting your stance out wider. This may not be possible if that rack is your only safety set-up–looks a little narrow. You could stance to widen your stance by as much as a foot. It seems like a lot, but if you start on a higher box with the wider stance and then work down to, for instance, whatever you usually use for speed work, you should see a faster reversal and a much shorter rep time. The other thing is that it looks like your relying on your quads too much for that type of squat form. You sit back on the box pretty well, but when you stand up, you shift forward and handle the weight with your back and quads. Again, squatting wider should eliminate this problem. If you have trouble standing up with the wider stance, train the sushi out of your hams and glutes.

    My first 4 years of powerlifting was Westside training. My biggest mistake was not squatting wide enough. When I didn’t squat wide, I was robbing myself of the potential gains from all the posterior chain work.

    Your back arch, shoulder and head position are awesome.

    As a consolation, I tore my adductor magnus almost completely in half during GM training. So I have an idea of what you’re dealing with. Get better fast!

    Eric

  2. Kris Says:
    December 19th, 2004 at 12:57 pm

    Eric,

    That’s the precisely the kind of advice that’s worth more than it’s weight in gold! Your advice is also almost to the letter in line with the conclusions I drew in my latest post http://tsampa.org/training/blog/archives/2004/12/#post_331. This gives me more resolve to do just what you suggest: get those feet out. My quads have always been my weakest bodypart and it was a great moment the first time I squatted 2x100 kg/221 lbs in bodybuilding style (ass to the floor)… I’ve always been able to at least rival, if not surpass, Måns on ham strength, but always been light years behind in the quad arena. Should probably keep up doing some close stance squatting as well to put a little more beef there.

    Thanks again for the feedback, and please, don’t hold your horses if you find anything wrong with my training. Constructive criticism is the best teacher.

    -Kris

    PS. How long did it take to rehabilitate that adductor magnus tear?

  3. Eric Says:
    December 20th, 2004 at 12:42 am

    About 18 months. There were some issues with reinjury and a misdiagnoses as a hamstring tear (from an osteopath!).

  4. Kris Says:
    December 20th, 2004 at 7:57 am

    Ouch. I’m up to 12 months now and hoping things are finally clearing up. I’ve had my share of complications as well and, interestingly enough, last time I had a lumbago relapse I had some major cramps in the adductor magnus that in the acute phase made standing painful and kept me from bending backwards for a month.
    http://tsampa.org/training/blog/archives/2004/08/#post_259

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