September 18, 2006

8 responses to Week 37: A whiff of ammonia

  1. Stinn Says:
    September 19th, 2006 at 4:36 am

    Holy crap man, how did you get up from that? It looked like you hovered over the box for like 2 seconds before you started moving. That’s dedication to the lift.
    I’ve never used ammonia myself, I bought it but gave it away before even trying it.

  2. Kris Says:
    September 19th, 2006 at 5:06 am

    Stinn, think I got up because the weight was too light and because Yoda would be really sad to see a failed squat. ;-) Got into a really awkward position on the descent and had my weight shifted forward really bad. It felt like I was stuck, but with some minor hovering I got into somekind of groove and up. My gut feeling is that it would have gone up smoothly in the “deadlift shoes”. Tiredness and the ammonia are at least partially to blame for this, but I think the heel affects my box squats much more than my regular squats… or perhaps rather, the shift in joint angles is more visible on the box. I need to grab some video of me squatting in both shoes from the same angle so I can compare joint angles.

  3. Stinn Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 1:48 am

    Just give it some time and the new shoes will feel like second nature. Hell I can’t even pretend to squat without them anymore, I just fall backwards without them.

  4. Kris Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 4:51 am

    Free squatting in them feels natural, but for some reason the box doesn’t. If you box squat, do you always try to let the shins be at least perpendicular to the floor or do you allow the heels to come forward a bit with the elevated shoes? Westside doctrine says that the box squat should mimic your competition squat. Now, they sit back like crazy with a wide stance to load the suit and that’s why the go flat soled. Many people who squat raw let the knees come forward slightly and there is no point in sitting back excessively because you don’t have a suit to sit into. So my question is: if the box squat should mimic your competition squat, does this mean raw squatters should not try to sit back quite as much? Anyone?

  5. Måns Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

    Oh, um, I checked.
    The pharmacy at the local mall does not supply ammonia ampoules. However, they do have 1 litre bottles for sale… :D
    The clerk said it’s strong stuff and that you land on your backside every time you open the bottle. I’ll say, after having caught a whee wiff of Kris’ used ampoule… Woof, talk about singed nostrils…

  6. Kris Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 1:29 pm

    Did you happen to inquire about the price? Wonder why they sell it in such large bottles, not fun to clean up the mess after you hit the floor I say.

  7. Stinn Says:
    September 21st, 2006 at 4:02 am

    I don’t worry too much about it when box squatting. I just sit back and down, I have an old video of my box squats with the chucks i’d have to do a new one with the oly shoes to know for sure if i wasn’t sitting back as much.

  8. Kris Says:
    September 21st, 2006 at 4:56 am

    That would be interesting to see, let me know if you ever do this. I plan to video some squats in both the deadlift shoes and the red devils this weekend so that I can compare angles. I guess the angle at the knees and ankles will be more acute and the angle at the hips shallower in the devils, what I’m really interesting in is seeing how this looks in practice to get an idea of how much the heel impacts. Did some front squatting yesterday, went fine except for one set where I started pushing the weight diagonally forward instead of straight up.

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