Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Holy crap! first time doing squats today. I cant believe i have been leaving them out of my routine! My legs are burning and I love it. I thought doing my incline leg presses at 300 pounds so far would be enough but obviously not

Right on! I recently started incorporating squats into my leg workouts as well and am enjoying them!

I had tried heavy barbell squats when I was younger, but then I heard a lot of horror stories and became worried about back problems and hernias, so I stopped doing them.

Now I do a lot of body-weight squats (air squats), squats with kettle-bell swings, dumbbell front squats, thrusters (front squat to shoulder press), squats on the Bosu (balance board) and single-leg pistol squats!

I have been having phenomenal results with the single-leg pistol squats! I even did a few on the Bosu today!!! They are so intense for the stabilizer muscles and for the core!

They don't call the squat "the king of all lifts" for nothing

Between squats, deadlifts, rows, overhead pressing and benching, there's nothing you can't do to build awesome strength and a great physique. Squats will always be my favorite, even though I have to do them light for a few more months until my old injuries are hopefully well enough recovered!

Squats are tough, leg presses... not so much so. That's the reason why you see very few people doing full ATG squats the way they should be performed.

One of the best exercises there is IMHO.

Squats are great. Just remember that if you want to activate the hip extensors, the glutes primarily then you need to at least squat until your knees and your ass are parallel. I see almost nobody do squats properly at the gym. They'll just bend their knees a little bit and that's it, then they'll act like they're such badasses because they can squat 315 but only go down like 6 inches.

It's kind of hard to do squats correctly..that's why we cheat..haha )

... with squats though, there really is no point in cheating yourself.

Not to try to take over the subject, but when should one start to wear knee braces? I was trained to never break the 90 degree angle, so I don't. But more and more I am seeing that I may need to employ knee braces to do that.

1 Is beaking the 90 degree plane necessary?
2 Are knee braces helpful or not?

Thanks to all...

markanthony

By 'knee braces', are you referring to wraps? Knee wraps are quite different to something like neoprene sleeves.

I would disgaree with stopping short of parallel. I would actually argue that doing that is harder on the knees than if you were to go ATG, where you have the extra recruitment of hams, quads and glutes as well as being able to generate more power coming up out of the hole.

Actually, you can still work hams, quads, and glutes from 90 degrees and it's a lot easier on many people's backs and knees, especially those of us with previous injuries, any current inflammation, or just a "less than ideal biomechanical knee joint structure," as stated in the article below. That would be me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patellofem ... n_syndrome I learned to squeeze my glutes and hams at the 90 degree point and thrust up almost entirely from those muscles, allowing me to squat much more weight than just pushing from my quads, thus removing tension and torque from my kneecaps. And it keeps me out of fascist doctor's examination rooms.

http://weighttraining.about.com/b/2008/ ... rallel.htm

Baby Herc

The worrying thing about 90 degree or parallel squats is that right around that angle is the point of maximum shear between the tibia and the femur, as well as maximum stress on the patella and PCL. A little bit above or below and those forces are drastically reduced. Note, though, that this angle is where your femur and tibia are perpendicular, not necessarily where your femur is parallel to the floor. That angle is actually slightly lower and safer.

Wow really good info on squats here. I abandoned the lift after lifting in High school because of knee complications and back problems. I have "clicking" knees now... does anyone know what might of caused this? I was always taught the drop it low law (would usually do ass to heels). I had back problems before squatting but always had a great deal of pain in my lower back probably from incorrect form.
I watched a couple videos and read up on squats though for "correct" form, and will probably incorporate a belt into my lifting to help stabilize my lower back. I think it's funny to reminisce on old high school weight room days, non of us probably had correct form, what a shame haha.
To the poster above me, are you saying that right above and below 90degrees is less knee burden?

Yes, biomechanically. This abstract explains some of it:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8827313
(and this rehab document: http://www.orthopedicmanualphysicalther ... rehab.html)

Basically, compressive force is maxed at 90 degrees, as is posterior tibiofemoral shear, which puts stress on your PCL. As you move down past that point, the compressive force decreases. It's safer to move through that danger point than it is to stop.

Hi Guys....

Thanks for the info...

Mini forklift...I was talking about neoprene sleeves...

Baby Herc...I have a previous injury. Was doing squats in one of those angled Squat Machines...and blew my hip out. I had no insurance....not a good thing. That was two years ago, and I am just now getting back into the gym. The one thing I will never do is a Squat in a machine..

Currently, I am not using any sleeves or wraps, and I am letting my a** be my guide. When I start to feel the glutes and hams kick in, that's my thrusting point. My knees also klick a bit (I'm 52 years old), and my right hip is still a bit loose.

My goal is to get past 90 degrees, but I have to watch my hip...so far so good.

Some people may think I'm crazy for going back...but you know what...screw em'.

Thanks to all for the info...I know once I get back to squatting the type of weight I used to, some things are going to have to change.

any more info is definitely appreciated

markanthony