Nov 12, 2014 - Squat Depth

Today was the 2nd workout since starting over.  As I started at 225 on Monday, I'm hopping back onto my program of adding 10 lbs per workout so I did 235.  Felt light, pretty smooth and easy, but as I mentioned in the last post, my focus for today was on speeding up the eccentric.  It felt relatively successful, particularly for the first set.  The first rep of each set was still slower than the rest, as it seems like it takes me the first rep or two to "find the groove", so I need to work on that.  I tried looking more downward to help with the speed but I don't think it made a difference.  Rather, after all the sets were done and I was examining the videos, it seemed like some of my squats may be just at parallel and may not be convincingly legit.  The last rep on my first set though, was the best rep I did form-wise, depth-wise and speed-wise so I examined that one quite a bit.  Seemed like I kept my upper body more tight and stayed slightly more upright for that rep and depth was definitely well below parallel.  I toyed w/ the form with just the bar after my working sets were done and I found that indeed if I made sure I made my upper body as tight as possible, or "set in stone" as Jay Nera would call it, which includes cocking the head back to pack the neck (what Alex Kang and Izzy both suggest), then it really helps to maintain that back tightness.  This does help me stay more upright, which should make my depth more convincing.  One addition is that I need to make sure I allow my toes to flare out a bit more.  I think between 30-45 degrees is most comfortable and stable for me, but I usually end up starting out more and 15-20 degree flare.

Take Home Message:
-Upper back tight, cock head back, pack neck
-Flare toes 30-45 degrees outward
-Ensure that weight is on HEELS
-After everything is tight, FLEX GLUTES and sit straight down --> think butt to the heels while knees are pushing out
--MASTER ECCENTRIC CUE-- BUTT TO HEELS
--> use "butt to heels" as the fast eccentric cue as opposed to thinking about "push knees out" as the main initiation cue

FitNotes Workout - Wednesday 12th November 2014

** Barbell Squat **
- 45.0 lbs x 10 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 135.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 185.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 235.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 235.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 235.0 lbs x 5 reps

** Flat Barbell Bench Press **
- 45.0 lbs x 10 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 135.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 175.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 175.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 175.0 lbs x 5 reps

** Deadlift **
- 135.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 185.0 lbs x 5 reps
- 235.0 lbs x 5 reps