jon's life of lifting

the oly lifter fails the power squat because he isn't used to that exercise. Stopping at a full squat position and stopping at parallel (or just below) are very different.

I seriously doubt most power lifters are as good as oly squatters in doing full squats.
 
The oly lifter isn't used to it because he isn't used to using his glutes/hams like that...because they aren't strong enough.

I don't doubt it at all. Especially considering that the example in question has an oly lifter that squats near 400 max and the PL'er is probably some huge beast who does work sets near the oly lifter's max.
 
LeiYunFat said:
There is an old story that goes like this:

A power lifter and oly lifter were having a squat competition. The oly lifter puts 400 on the bar and squats it, atg. The powerlifter squats it atg as well. The powerlifter then puts on 600 lbs and power squats that. The oly lifter attempts but fails. This is because he lacked the ham and glute strength to squat that weight.

Moral of the story: Get stronger in the power squat, use oly squat as a supplementary exercise.
Click to expand...

ok, i gotcha. so you'r saying that power squats are the better squat because they work the "squatting muscles" and that if i power squat, it will improve my olympic squat as well anyway.
if that story is accurate, theres not really any arguing against the power squat anyway. plus, i hear the low bar power squat works the back more eh?

the only thing is, i have not read too much on the "power squat" because i have olympic squatted for so long. i am reading blackbeard's link now, which is beneficial. however, can someone provide any more quality articles for me to read about the power squat?


thanks for the input everyone :D :D :D
 
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blackbeard said:
Do Olympic Squats help you in your wrestling or why do you do them? It would be difficult to change (but not impossible) after you started out doing something and have done it all your lifting life. I saw you mention box squats and they are supposed to be done for speed work. I don't think Oly lifters do box squats.

Louie Simmons goes into details of why Oly Squats do not fit the bill for powerlifters in his article . Strength coaches simply recommend Olympic Squatting because that's what they were brought up on.
Click to expand...

i dont wrestle anymore(for now at least) so thats out of the picture.

i think you are right, im not olympic box squatting anymore..lmao.

i'l use the box squat with a wide stance as i have before.

thanks for the info BB!

and...oh dang. that article really owned olympic squats hahaha.
i really think im going on a wide squat routine from now on : ]
 
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These were the two best articles I found on the matter. However, I made a huge mistake by going too wide when I decided to train the power squat.

I feel that the ultra wide squat is a bad idea unless you:
1.) Are using a squat suit
2.) Have a big belly

Personally I modeled my squat after Alex Kang:


I like his deliberate set up, he stays tight, hits good depth, is rarely sloppy.
 
thanks for the article bro!!!

that guy on youtube looks like hes doing olympic style squats---thats not a power squat is it? that looks like the kind of squat i do NOW.

about how wide do you think the "power squat" is?
 
Well, AK seems to do low bar squats with a wider stance than OLY.

I think your stance is up to you. When I OLY squat, my feet are barely 1 foot apart. When I "power" squat, they are about 20" apart. Whereas before I was power squatting like 30" apart.
 
LeiYunFat said:
The oly lifter isn't used to it because he isn't used to using his glutes/hams like that...because they aren't strong enough.

I don't doubt it at all. Especially considering that the example in question has an oly lifter that squats near 400 max and the PL'er is probably some huge beast who does work sets near the oly lifter's max.
Click to expand...

the PLer isn't used to using his quads in the way the oly lifter is. The oly lifter has very strong glutes, but isn't used to using them in the position of the PL squat. Show me 100 guys who only trains parallel squats that can beat a similar bunch of 100 guys who only trains oly squats at oly squats.
 
Oh wait...maybe the story went,

"PL'er power squats the first weight, then adds a few hundred and power squats that. The OLY lifter hits the first weight OLY style but cannot squat the second weight OLY style"

Yeah, I'm sure that's how it goes.

The moral is to get stronger at the PL squat because it can allow more weight in the long run due to ham and glute involvement.

It's good to do both, but if you want to get strong as possible, the power squat is the way to go, with the oly as a supp.
 
yeah; it makes sense to do them both, i want to experiment with the power squat anyway, i can put more weight on and set a new PR that way and get some killer hams and glutes going on.
thanks
 
LeiYunFat said:
Oh wait...maybe the story went,

"PL'er power squats the first weight, then adds a few hundred and power squats that. The OLY lifter hits the first weight OLY style but cannot squat the second weight OLY style"

Yeah, I'm sure that's how it goes.

The moral is to get stronger at the PL squat because it can allow more weight in the long run due to ham and glute involvement.

It's good to do both, but if you want to get strong as possible, the power squat is the way to go, with the oly as a supp.
Click to expand...

if you want to be as strong as possible in the PL squat.. then yes. You can't say the dude who squats the most weight is the strongest, regardless of squat style. It's comparing apples and oranges.. strength is very specific. The PLer probably won't be able to match the oly lifters max in the oly squat.. so he is weaker in the oly squat, while the oly lifter won't be able to match the PLer's pl squat.

The most obvious difference is that the oly lifter is moving the weight through a larger distance, as well as the different muscle lengths and leverages in the different squats.

You don't tell a person to ditch the deadlift and do rack pulls instead just because he can move more weight that way. Weight lifted =/= strength.
 
I agree, although I didn't say anything about ditching it. It's good to do both, but the oly should come second to the power. Rack pulls are supplementary to the dead :)
 
alright, so im going to be dong both of these beastly exercises. so how often are we talking about switching/alternating/supplimenting the two?
power squat once a week, olympic squat once a week?
power squat for a month, then oly squat for a month?

can you guys give me some ideas on what is a proficient way to suppliment the pwer squat with the olympic squat?
 
I think that may be a bit subjective. I had a tough time getting stronger at the oly squat, and I think this is the same story for a lot of people. The power squat gets you lifting heavier, and sooner. I suppose it depends on what your emphasis is.

However, I believe the translation of strength from power to oly is greater than the translation from oly to power. If you don't do oly for a while and instead only do power, I think that your oly will increase. I have not experienced this with the inverse.

As for how to go about doing it, I don't know. Experiement, see what works. If your work capacity is up to it, you could always oly squat on your regular squat days, just don't do ME's on it.
 
Proteinboy said:
thanks for the info BB!

and...oh dang. that article really owned olympic squats hahaha.
i really think im going on a wide squat routine from now on : ]
Click to expand...

Yeah that article by Louie Simmons is the mother of all articles on the squat. LOL! :p Watch some of the Rippetoe vids and also read his material. It seems like a lot of stuff to take in but it all sinks in after a couple of tries.
 
yeah definetly BB

9/18/09

POWER SQUAT
2x10 @ bar
5 @ 225
6x5 @ 230
RPE:8
im getting the hang of these, donig a lot of sets to practice form. my stance is more than 30 inches wide, it is around 33-35 inches wide. i measured it lol. but these feel great when the form is great. these power squats are really working my lower back, i felt it a lot! and i feel it working more than just the quads as i sit back into the squat.

BENT OVER ROWS
2x3 @ 135
8 @ 160 new PR<== this is my top set of 8 so far in my life o. O note that i wasnt good at rows before though so lol
8 @ 155
2x8 @ 135

MILITARY PRESS
10 @ 45
10 @ 90(+2 reps)
10 @ 90(+2 reps)
9 @ 90 (+1 rep)
RPE:9
almost got the 3x10! keeping weight until 3x12.

HANG CLEANS
4x5 @ 135
RPE:7
easy, felt realy good in the traps and P chain.
adding weight gradually to these (once a week +5 lbs)

SKULLCRUSH+FLOOR PRESS
12 @ 65
12 @ 65
10 @ 65
RPE:8

BENCH DB ROW
2x5 @ 65
RPE:7
just threw these in there to see what a good weight would be for next rowing session.

PWO: USUAL

notes: i am gonig to be substituting db rows for bent over rows every other week. i am gonig to start donig bent rows for 3x12 and db rows for sets of 5.
pendlays will stay at 4x6 and 3x3.
pushing is going pretty well.
weight: 171 still. focusing on gaining strength. however, i do see noticable gains in muscle over the months.

thanks for all the info on the power squat guys. im thinking about doing olympic squats/front squats once a week, and power squat once a week. lunges once a week.

RDL's once a week, hang cleans once a week, and deadlift once a week.
of course i keep intensity in check, seeing as i have a lot of squatting and P chain work going on. however, thats the way i like it.
 
9/21/09

woke up at 7:30 to eat/workout this morning. busy day.

BARBELL LUNGES
45x5
135x5
205x5
205x5
205x5
205x6(ALL+5lbs)
RPE:9
these were great. im really getting the hang of them. learned that i am more stable when i take a deep breath and treat every rep seriously instead of trying to pump them out quickly.

PULLOVERS
12 @ 25
done for fun

INCLINE BENCH
45X8
125X8(+5lbs)
130x8(+5lbs)
130x8(+5lbs)
RPE: 8
these felt really good too. pumped them out smoothly. i really like this exercise.

PULLUPS
11
11
11(+1 rep)
RPE:9
these were insane. the first set, i pumped out 11 so easy. i felt like i could go to 15+. the second set, i pumped out another 11, but they slowed down towards the end. i took 2.5 minute rest because of a huge pump in my back and bis lol, then managed to get 11 for the third set too. they were grinding at the end. forearms were pumped to the max.

RDL
160x12
160x12
RPE:8
after pullups, my forearms had to work to hold this up too. wow, the forearms were pumping like crazy!!! grip is being worked a lot...my forearms are getting bigger ; ]

PWO: 1 scoop whey, 2 cups OJ

thoughts: this workout was awesome. increases on everything. i was short on time, so i skipped calves, but il probably do 3 sets of 100 calf raises tonight or something high rep for them to mix it up.
on a seperate note, i took my driver's test today and passed, so i got my licence. feel great about that. i have my first day of college today, class is at 3:30 until 9:30 WOW. all of it is
ANATOMY/PHYSIOLOGY ...so il be learning SO much about the human body and how it moves and whatnot(karky im sure you'v taken this class too).
so yeah, busy and exciting day.
hows everyone else?
 
i like that, man! and yeah..got my licence and celebrating with an emponada lol!
so full...
now time to make dinner and look at your trianing log lol
seeya around man
 
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