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Old 01-14-2007, 09:07 PM
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Location: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
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II. The Exercises
**A. The Main Exercises
*****1. The Squat, Part 1
*****2. The Bench Press
*****3. The Deadlift
*****4. The Power Clean
*****5. The Press
*****6. The Row
**B. Accessory Exercises
**C. Other Questions
**D. Exercise Substitution Questions

The Squat, Part 1

Question - How do I properly perform a squat?

The basics:

1) Get under the bar with your chest high and your upper and lower back tight.

2) Ensure your position is balanced from left to right, grip the bar, ensuring your grip is balanced from left to right.

3) Grip the bar as close to your head as possible. This will test your shoulder, elbow and wrist joint flexibility. The closer your hands are (within reason, your hands shouldn't touch your ears), the tighter your upper back will be, and the better the bar will sit on your back. Use a thumbless grip. You aren’t supporting the bar with your hands. You’re holding the bar DOWN against your back. Your wrist should NOT bend in either direction. It should be a straight line from your forearm across the wrist onto your hand.

4) Place the bar on your back across the low portion of the traps and rear delts (low bar position). Elevate your elbows as high behind you as possible, while keeping your chest upright. If your pectorals are sore, you will feel this as a deep stretch in the pectorals and possibly delts.

5) Inhale as deeply as possible, ensure your back is tight, bend down a bit and squat the bar out of the rack. Do NOT LEAN FORWARD and perform a good morning to get the bar out of the rack. You will lose tightness this way and, as a novice, expose yourself to injury.

6) Stand fully upright with the bar across your lower traps and rear delts, and clear the bar from the rack in 3 steps:
** Take 1 step backward with one foot to clear the rack
** Take 1 step backward with the other (trail) foot so that your feet are even
** Take 1 step sideways with the trail foot so that you get your heels to proper stance width.

Do NOT perform a "backward walk" with the bar. No more than 3 steps are necessary, total. Fidgeting with a few hundred pounds on your shoulders gets tiring. Squats are difficult enough as it is, no need to tire yourself needlessly prior to exercise execution with needless steps.

7) Make necessary adjustments so that stance width is proper, i.e. heels at ~ shoulder width, feet pointed in a "neutral" manner, ~30° outward. ~30° is "neutral" because as you widen your stance, your toes need to point outward in order to maintain proper patellar alignment with the thigh bones. When your heels are at approximately shoulder width, your toes will need to be pointed ~30° outward.

8) Keep your chest high and the bar balanced above the midfoot, take a deep breath, hold it, and squat down all the way. Do not look up, do not look down, do not look side to side. Keep your eyes focused on a point that is ~ 6-10' ahead of you on the floor, or if you have a wall close enough, focus on a point a few feet above the floor along the wall.

9) 4 basics of execution:
** Sit back (stick your butt out!)
** Squat down (bending/flexing the knees)
** Balance the weight by keeping your chest and shoulders upright while your upper body leans forward slightly to keep the bar above the midfoot
** "Keep knees tight" - i.e. don't relax your quads and simply "drop" into the bottom position, keep your thigh muscles tight throughout the motion

10) Once you have squatted down all the way into "the hole", without pausing or bouncing (more on this later), stand back up.

11) As you raise out of "the hole", you will be doing 3 basic things almost simultaneously:
** You will be pushing your butt upward
** You will be pushing your shoulders upward
** You will be extending your knees
** You will be forcefully contracting your upper and lower back muscles isometrically to maintain tightness in your torso

Do not begin to exhale (blow out) until you are near to completion of the repetition. This will cause you to lose tightness.

Some videos for observation:

Squat:
click on proper box to the right

Excellent written description and video demonstration of the back squat with athletic (medium) stance

Tom Platz squats 500x23 reps - athletic stance

Francis Tournefier Olympic squats 641 and 661 (ignore the GMs at the end)

Question - What kind of squat should I do? ATG? Olympic? Front? What stance should I use?

The "back squat" is the general term for ANY exercise where the lifter performs a deep knee bend with a barbell across the back of the shoulders. Differentiation of the depth of the squat, the amount of bend in the knee, the positioning and width of foot placement and the use of various other implements provides for a host of squat variations, each with their own advantages, each to be used in certain specific situations.

The athletic squat is a back squat performed with the feet at a width that is generally just slightly wider than the shoulders. The feet are angled out in line with the knees. This foot positioning will be the one with the most carryover to the majority of athletic endeavors, and does the best job at ensuring full thigh development, both in the front of the thigh (the quadriceps) and the rear of the thigh (the hamstrings and glutes). It is the squat variation this is performed in the basic Starting Strength program.

The olympic squat is a back squat where the foot positioning is closer than shoulder width and the toes typically point nearly straight forward. These tend to be more quadriceps-dominant, and are very useful for Olympic lifters (hence the name). This is an excellent exercise as well, but it will not be used until the trainee advances further and chooses to specialize in Olympic lifting or physique competition.

The powerlifting squat refers to the extremely wide "sumo" stance that powerlifters favor while performing the squat. It generally allows them to use more weight, but this is due to mechanical advantage rather than even, overall muscular stimulation of the thighs. This variation is not used in the program.

The box squat is a phenominal exercise for an aspiring powerlifter. Details of this exercise and its execution are outside the scope of this program. Box squats are not to be used in this program. They are outstanding, but not appropriate for the purposes of this discussion.

The ATG squat (ATG = ass to grass/ground) makes reference to ANY of the above squat variations whereby the trainee lowers his body as low as he possibly can. This can be both advantageous or dangerous, depending upon the individual. Generally, hamstring flexibility will limit the absolute depth because, in the lowest portion (the "hole") of the squat, the hamstrings get stretched hard, and will pull the hips under the body, which can cause severe strain to the lumbar area. That being said, you should ALWAYS go as low as you can without causing that hip rounding to take place, because this will stimulate the best overall gains. "ATG" is a term that will be different for each person due to hamstring flexibility and structure, as well as overall musculature. Endeavor to stretch your hamstrings frequently to avoid lower back injury, and to allow for the most complete ROM (range of motion). Also note that some people say they do "ATG squats", when in reality, they barely hit parallel. The opposite end of the spectrum are those that go incredibly deep as an excuse for using very light weight.

The front squat is an outstanding variation of the squat, except that it is performed with the barbell resting across the FRONT of the shoulders, in front of the neck. It is a variation which will maximally stress the quadriceps, but can be very difficult to perform from a mechanical perspective. If possible, front squats are added in the Wednesday workout once more advanced periodization and exercise selection is necessary for the trainee.

The athletic squat is a basic, medium-stance squat that will be used in this program for a few reasons.

1) It tends to do the best job of developing the entire thigh (quad, hammie and the "little thigh muscles") evenly and in proportion. Front and Olympic squats tend to be a bit quad-dominant, powerlifting and especially box squats tend to be more ham/glute-dominant

2) The medium-stance "athletic" squat has the most natural carryover to athletics and sports. Rarely will you purposely use a stance that is extremely wide or close while playing any type of sport.

3) The medium-stance "athletic" squat will give you the most "bang for your buck" as far as overall strength development. You might be able to lift more with a powerlifting style stance, but that is due to physics, not additional muscle involvement (in fact, one could say it involves a reduction in muscular involvement)

So there you have it. The stance should be approximately shoulder width, give or take an inch or three.
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