I'm having a mid-life depth crisis

kevpants

So decided to video my last day of smolov which culminated in 202.5kg 10x3. It was a bit of a bastardized cycle with a Xmas break in the middle (in Soviet Russia cracker pulls you!) but that's all beside the point. I was a bit shocked at how high my squat looked after my first video.

Some background, after my recurrent lower back injuries I decide that all lower body stuff has to be glute-centric. So for the first few weeks I did a sumo deadlift cycle then I switched to squatting with a wider than normal stance. This culminated in a smolov base cycle with all the reps being fairly wide.

I felt pretty weak for the first few weeks but now I'd have to say I'm much much stronger with the wide stance. But it now looks as though I'm having issues with depth.

For some more context the wider stance isn't the only thing that changed, as I mentioned in BossArky's recent thread I altered how I positioned my lower back throughout the lift. Less arching basically. I also got a long standing SI joint issue fixed which pretty much ended my problem with lordosis and bad posture as well as general day to day lower back fatigue, but undoubtedly changed the way I squat as well. This could be key actually, after the SI issue was resolved my excessive pelvic tilt was gone and my psoas muscles which were obviously incredibly tight were now getting stretched as a result of being connected to a pelvis that didn't tilt in their favour any more. I got what was essentially growing pains in them for the first few weeks. What I'm left with though are very tight hips, which could be stopping me getting down. I really feel like I'm at rock bottom in these squats but the video will speak for itself.

The effects of squatting on my body have now completely changed as well.

Old kevpants:
- Lower back fatigue
- Abs cramping
- Elbow pain
- Buried squats

New kevpants:
- Glute and hamstring fatigue
- Shoulder pain
- Trouble with depth

What I'm looking for is some kind of opinion on how high I actually am cutting these and what do people think is the reason for the struggle to get deep.

I think (hope) that if I can improve my hep mobility and flexibility that depth will happen. I know my upper body goes very parrallel to the ground in the bottom of the squat but I do feel balanced here, I'm sitting down in between my knees and I'm not good morninging it out of the hole. It's not uncommon from my investigating squatting raw with a wide stance for this to be the case (see Ed coan, Vis Vires etc). The weight feels fine in all these so I'm hoping I'm not kidding myself with these reps.

So what do you think? Should I just bite the bullet and lift in the SPF?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTq1RsQK-j0

kevpants

In other news. I monetized my Youtube channel for Ads last night after I loaded the video. Just watched the video back for the first time now. See attached. Fail.

dartstothesea

The ones you think were high were a bit high looking. The ones you thought looked okay looked okay to me. Trust your own opinion on it, you're squatting enough at this stage to know yourself and people on the internet are just going to come at you with bull**** or the "ask a proper coach" cop-out.

As far as the high ones go, I think your back might have been coming more forward. If the back stayed more upright you'd probably get the depth just as easy for the same amount of energy.*


*may be internet bull****

the drifter

Its very hard to tell without a decent video from the side. You did look to be coming forward on some of them...but that said its the last day of smolov...its not crossfit were talking about here...

The change between old kev pants and new kev pants is interesting....have you changed your stance by any chance?

Are you going to complete the rest of the cycle...ie test and then run the 4 weeks?

is it 4 weeks or 3 weeks next i cant remember? anyways there is two weeks of jumping about and stuff in the middle that can be a laugh.

kevpants

dartstothesea wrote: »

As far as the high ones go, I think your back might have been coming more forward. If the back stayed more upright you'd probably get the depth just as easy for the same amount of energy.*

I think I came forward because my hips won't let me descend any more. As I warm up the forward thing seems to stop.

the drifter wrote: »

Its very hard to tell without a decent video from the side. You did look to be coming forward on some of them...but that said its the last day of smolov...its not crossfit were talking about here...

The change between old kev pants and new kev pants is interesting....have you changed your stance by any chance?

Are you going to complete the rest of the cycle...ie test and then run the 4 weeks?

is it 4 weeks or 3 weeks next i cant remember? anyways there is two weeks of jumping about and stuff in the middle that can be a laugh.

Think I will run the whole thing yeah. Don't feel to drained after the base cycle and the lifts felt ok. What's the jumping around about? Don't see that in the JoeSkopec calculator. Link?

Stance has been significantly widened to answer your question.

Hanley

Food for thought, a midnight snack if you will. Ill give ya a longer dinner version tomorrow if you want but you probs know most of this already...

-you cant squat wide (calling your medium stance wide, cos it is) raw and not lean forward without outrageously mobile hips or you fall arse over tit
-you don't really want to be dead upright wide stance cos its an incredibly poor position leverage wise
-forward lean's fine once it's established on the eccentric. A change in torso angle as the concentric starts isn't (which is what's happening)
-squatting between your legs ala Coan is bueno
-knees popping in generally says glute/ham weakness, and that your stance is too wide for current capabilities
-your narrower (which I'm calling medium, cos it is) stance sets looked good, very good actually in parts
-I like balsamic vinegar
-wide stance may pass in GPC
-med stance should pass anywhere
-you're threading the eye of the needle on those squats, but id like to see you go inverted
-Internet powerlifting has ruined the sport for me, stance widths being one big point... Wide multi ply =/= wide raw. Just like wide lady bits =/= truck size wide load. Perspective and all that

I hope at least one point helped

Barry.Oglesby

I clicked into this thread looking for gay muscle porn. Where's it at?

kevpants

Hanley wrote: »

-knees popping in generally says glute/ham weakness, and that your stance is too wide for current capabilities
-your narrower (which I'm calling medium, cos it is) stance sets looked good, very good actually in parts

These jumped out at me. The wider stance really started off as a glute recruiting thing that quickly became my prefered method. I could be a case of them being too wide to reasonably achieve depth. Maybe if I move my stance in a bit for testing or competition squats? Sorta like training bench close grip but going wider in competition?

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I clicked into this thread looking for gay muscle porn. Where's it at?

I only promote gay porn I don't actually distribute it. You'll need to talk directly to my sponsors.

Hanley

kevpants wrote: »

These jumped out at me. The wider stance really started off as a glute recruiting thing that quickly became my prefered method. I could be a case of them being too wide to reasonably achieve depth. Maybe if I move my stance in a bit for testing or competition squats? Sorta like training bench close grip but going wider in competition?

I'd say yes, provided you're getting the glute activation you desire.

This could be off the mark but you're body's always going to go for the most mechanically advantageous position it can get, if that means shutting down the glutes to bring the knees in to recruit more quad, it'll do that.

And if it's doing, IF!, then the whole point of doing the wider stance work for glute recruitment is lost. I don't know if that's happening in your case tho.

I'd do some lighter sets where you really concentrate on pushing your knees out and observe how that feels versus what happens when you push up the weight.

BossArky

Most sets look high. Camera angles made comparisons hard. The set at 4:50 looked deepest.

If it's a new stance then give it a while before dumping it. As you get more used to it you'll perhaps make depth as you loosen up.

Most guys I train with are big into wide stance box squatting, West Side, etc. One dude tells me he cannot get depth with his normal wide stance raw unless he has a certain number of kgs on his back to push him down. Given that you have 200kg on your back I'd say that is not your problem.

Weight looked easy.

kevpants

Hanley wrote: »

This could be off the mark but you're body's always going to go for the most mechanically advantageous position it can get, if that means shutting down the glutes to bring the knees in to recruit more quad, it'll do that.

And if it's doing, IF!, then the whole point of doing the wider stance work for glute recruitment is lost. I don't know if that's happening in your case tho.

I'd do some lighter sets where you really concentrate on pushing your knees out and observe how that feels versus what happens when you push up the weight.

This is it, it's tough to say whether my glutes would go back to sleep if I moved my stance in. For some reason I'm determined to keep my stance out and work on getting those outrageosuly flexible hips you mentioned.

BossArky wrote: »

Most sets look high.

That's only because you're viewing them from the opposite hemisphere

BossArky wrote: »

If it's a new stance then give it a while before dumping it. As you get more used to it you'll perhaps make depth as you loosen up.

Most guys I train with are big into wide stance box squatting, West Side, etc. One dude tells me he cannot get depth with his normal wide stance raw unless he has a certain number of kgs on his back to push him down. Given that you have 200kg on your back I'd say that is not your problem.

Weight looked easy.

Thing is I feel like I'm at rock bottom in those squats, I'm not cutting my descent short. The only way I could go lower it seems would be to let all my air out and just fold and I'm not going to do that. Bit of a headscratcher as to what to do next.

I think I'm so attached to this way of squatting because I remember that awful feeling of good morning-ing the weight up when it got heavy in narrower stance. I hate that feeling, there's even an accompanying taste in my mouth that I only get after it, like a metallic bloody taste with a hint of puke.

the drifter

Your never going to get as deep wide stance anyway i think....well without caving as you suggest...

Unless of course your russian.

how long has it been since you changed to wide stance? Did any of the lighter days feel better?

Hanley

Have you considered just doing some glute activation work as part of your warm up? Or even during sets?

Something mild during sets, just to ensure theyre firing and "turned on"?

agentgreen

Hanley wrote: »

Have you considered just doing some glute activation work as part of your warm up? Or even during sets?

Something mild during sets, just to ensure theyre firing and "turned on"?

What would you recommend as the most effective one?

Hanley

agentgreen wrote: »

What would you recommend as the most effective one?

Whatever one works the best for you...

I like lying clams but they aren't great if you've tight IT bands.

X-band walks are great, as are side lunges with bands just above your knees.

kevpants

Hanley wrote: »

Have you considered just doing some glute activation work as part of your warm up? Or even during sets?

Something mild during sets, just to ensure theyre firing and "turned on"?

Always have done. I find though if I don't force different muscle groups into action they don't doy anything. Like your earlier post said if I make it possible for my quads to take over they will. So I need to exaggerate the width of my stance to make sure they can't do it all themselves. I reckon I'd need to squat wide for a fair few more months before my quad dominance would start to be eaten into.

Hanley

kevpants wrote: »

Always have done. I find though if I don't force different muscle groups into action they don't doy anything. Like your earlier post said if I make it possible for my quads to take over they will. So I need to exaggerate the width of my stance to make sure they can't do it all themselves. I reckon I'd need to squat wide for a fair few more months before my quad dominance would start to be eaten into.

Then you need to work with lighter weights which allow you to lock in Rick solid form with the right recruitment patterns

...even if that means dropping the weight back, it at least doing additional lighter sets before/after the main event.

Parsley

try oly shoes?

Hanley

Parsley wrote: »

try oly shoes?

Pretty sure he's got a pair of dowin stilettos on already...

the drifter

Parsley wrote: »

try oly shoes?

They arent the solution to everything either :P

kevpants

[Q
uote=Hanley;76485219]

Parsley wrote: »

try oly shoes?

Pretty sure he's got a pair of do
win stilettos on already...[/Quote]

This.