Teaching myself to squat fast with high weight

Steven Walczak · 12-01-2008, 09:02 PM

I just started getting into weightlifting about 3 months ago and love it more everyday. Right now I do 5x5 on squats with an olympic routine and my weight at the moment ramps from 150, 165, 185, 215, 250... the first 3 sets are pretty easy to drop down fast into a full ATG squat, but the last 2 are quite hard, to the point where im slow and do more of a below parallel type squat and not full ATG. Is there a decent way to practice getting more down on high weight or is it something I have to keep doing, possibly failing to get the grasp of it?

Greg Everett · 12-01-2008, 09:23 PM

Sounds like it's time to swallow your pride and drop the weight a bit on the last sets to something that allows you to perform the squats completely. It's an unappealing idea, I realize, but the only way to get stronger in that ROM is by squatting through it with progressively heavier weights.

Steven Walczak · 12-01-2008, 10:00 PM

Would it be wise to set one day for high weight low speed and another for low weight high speed? I plan on training on an olympic routine for awhile now so i'm willing to sacrifice weight for speed and form.

Dave Van Skike · 12-02-2008, 08:36 AM

The more you work in a less than full ROM, the longer it will take to find the bottom with a heavy weight. be brave, notch those weights down a bit to where every rep is perfect and the speed will come.

at this point working on squatting fast won't really add much. WRT to the squat (not Oly lifts or variants) i've yet to see a sub 400 pound back squatter get much of anything out of actual speed work or what powerlifters call dynamic effort, on squats...deads and presses seem different but the squat is a more technical lift...further many PL'er only do speed work from a box so the explosive part is more intuitive and easier to do correctly at the right depth.

Greg Everett · 12-02-2008, 09:16 AM

What Dave said. To add to it, though, if you're training for OL, ALL your squats should be fast - as fast as the weight will allow. This won't look like speed training in the WSBB sense - it's more the effort to accelerate as much as possible on your way out of the hole.

Steven Walczak · 12-02-2008, 10:36 AM

Thanks for the advice guys

Steven Walczak · 12-03-2008, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Van Skike

The more you work in a less than full ROM, the longer it will take to find the bottom with a heavy weight. be brave, notch those weights down a bit to where every rep is perfect and the speed will come.

at this point working on squatting fast won't really add much. WRT to the squat (not Oly lifts or variants) i've yet to see a sub 400 pound back squatter get much of anything out of actual speed work or what powerlifters call dynamic effort, on squats...deads and presses seem different but the squat is a more technical lift...further many PL'er only do speed work from a box so the explosive part is more intuitive and easier to do correctly at the right depth.

I'm confused by the second paragraph. Don't olympic lifters train to squat faster than normal squats to train for olympic lifts? Would it be wrong to squat slower in full ROM and explode up or should it be the same speed throughout?

Dave Van Skike · 12-03-2008, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Walczak

I'm confused by the second paragraph. Don't olympic lifters train to squat faster than normal squats to train for olympic lifts? Would it be wrong to squat slower in full ROM and explode up or should it be the same speed throughout?

I have no idea what Olympic lifters do for squats specifically but a lot ofstrength athletes employ different types of "speed work" or dynamic efforts... I'm just saying that until your until your work sets are at 1.5 to 2 times body weight in the squat, I wouldn't worry too much about focusing on a seperate day or whatever for "speed work". I just think that you should always try to explode up as quickly as you can with perfect form.

Most people lifting heavy will slow near ther sticking point appreciably at or near maximum efforts, these lifts often look like a grind. it's just way it goes.

that said, theres a guy in my gym with perfect leverages for lifting and every squat from 400 pounds to a 700 pounds off a box are fast as hell.

Brian DeGennaro · 12-03-2008, 04:28 PM

You want to control yourself in the eccentric portion because that is where you are most likely to injure yourself. Nothing like gravity and 300lbs of weight crushing your joints, tendons, and muscles! Typically when doing an Olympic squat, you control yourself up until the last few inches, drop and use that bounce and bar whip to rise out of the hole.

Greg Everett · 12-03-2008, 04:34 PM

Steven -

I think Dave is referring very specifically to what would be termed speed work or dynamic effort work in the PL world - this is not the same thing as trying to squat fast. It's using much lighter weights to genuinely move fast. With OL squatting, you're attempting to move as quickly as possible - but with a heavy squat, you won't be moving remarkably quickly no matter how much you're trying (unless you're like the guy Dave describes, who we all hate).