low bar squats

I think the psychological challenge is what keeps people from doing them in most cases. It's kinda intimidating at first watching some muscle guy pump out some bench presses with no problems at all, only to go to the squat rack and in a few short sets, turn into a purple-faced whimpering child.

Originally Posted by javyn

Click to expand...

I think the psychological challenge is what keeps people from doing them in most cases. It's kinda intimidating at first watching some muscle guy pump out some bench presses with no problems at all, only to go to the squat rack and in a few short sets, turn into a purple-faced whimpering child.
I have never seen this. Have you?

Originally Posted by why

Click to expand...

I have never seen this. Have you?

Yep. It was rather inspiring actually. Found out not too much later after squatting myself, grunts and whimpers aren't exactly something one can help in that instance heh.

You watched a man become a child and his face turn purple?

Color me incredulous.

Originally Posted by why

Click to expand...

LOLWUT

How do you train? This doesn't make any sense. You're saying a 1RM isn't a 1RM because it's actually a 2RM which is really a 100RM...it's inherently silly and wrong.

Not going to argue with you because it doesn't matter to me, but in my experience when I can't do one more bicep curl it's because my bicep is shot. The squat engages several large muscle groups - they do not all "fail" at the same time. It's the difference between compound and isolation exercises. And even though the bench is compound, it is not in the same category as the squat. If things are different for you, that's fine. But I have never been "psychologically challenged" by any exercise other than squats and deads.

Originally Posted by why

Click to expand...

You watched a man become a child and his face turn purple?

Color me incredulous.

Come on, your reading comprehension can't be that bad.

Originally Posted by javyn

Click to expand...

Come on, your reading comprehension can't be that bad.
No, it's not. That's why I asked. I just can't imagine someone willfully exercising and suddenly start whimpering like a child.

Originally Posted by MetroStyle

Click to expand...

Not going to argue with you because it doesn't matter to me, but in my experience when I can't do one more bicep curl it's because my bicep is shot.
Well, perhaps that says more about you than the exercise. And in that regard, I think 'psychologically challenging' may be a term you would use to describe a fundamental exercise -- but again, that tends to say more about you than the exercise. I can see your point, but it just sounds a bit ridiculous and a bit of a bro-ism.

Originally Posted by why

Click to expand...

No, it's not. That's why I asked. I just can't imagine someone willfully exercising and suddenly start whimpering like a child.

Are you serious? Grunts and whimpers are pretty standard at every gym I thought. I've turned red/purple in the face and whimpered out my last set of squats often...no...not often, but every time. It's called struggling.

Originally Posted by javyn

Click to expand...

Are you serious? whimpers are pretty standard at every gym I thought.
Outside of the prison system, no. Who does this, or at least is audible enough that it's conspicuous to others? And 'whimpering like a child'? Puhlease.

I'm not speaking of showboats who scream and yell, but people who are struggling letting out grunts and whimpers.

Originally Posted by javyn

Click to expand...

I'm not speaking of showboats who scream and yell, but people who are struggling letting out grunts and whimpers.

Like children?

Ok, sure. Only children groan and whimper while working out. By the time you hit puberty I guess everyone becomes completely stoic and unaffected by hard work.

Originally Posted by Viktri

Click to expand...

For many people, squating with a bar (45 lbs) 2x25 is pretty tough as it is.

(and reps =/= power, your comment was pretty far off the mark - something like "internet tough guy" would be many times more appropriate)

For someone who's never attempted a 20 squat routine to say it isn't psychologically demanding is demeaning to people who struggle with it. I struggle with it. My max is 95 lbs for a 25x2 (25lbs on each side) which is a dinky amount of weight but it is what it is.

There isn't much to debate about this point; there isn't much analytics. I thought my comment was appropriate given the context. There is some knowledge best gained through experience and others through analytics.

I have no quarrel with the premise that there's a mental effort involved in pushing yourself to your limits. I used to be a fairly serious distance runner, so I have some experience with this (although I'm sure some here would insist that experience cannot compare to squats -- whatever). My only point was that talking about the requisite "psychological strength" in deeply serious tones suggests some people are taking themselves way too seriously. The suggestion that I could only come to that conclusion if I lacked some experiential base is pretty facile.

I get the reps =/= power point. I was just playing off the "internet tough guy" convention. The suggestion was not that some anonymous person on the internet who has never met me in RL could kick my butt -- rather, it was that some anonymous person on the internet who has never met me in RL and knows nothing of my experience can draw conclusions about what I have or haven't done in the gym (while implicitly making assertions about what they do or have done in the gym). Thus the reference to internet power lifters rather than internet tough guys. The use of "power" was in jest and was not intended to imply any distinctions between high reps and max weight.

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Click to expand...

The suggestion was not that some anonymous person on the internet who has never met me in RL could kick my butt -- rather, it was that some anonymous person on the internet who has never met me in RL and knows nothing of my experience can draw conclusions about what I have or haven't done in the gym (while implicitly making assertions about what they do or have done in the gym).

Nice revisionist history. What actually happened, if you scroll up, is you showed up outta no where and decided to make a snarky comment about a simple post not directed at you at all. Instead of letting it lie, you made a handful of ****** followup posts.

Originally Posted by db_ggmm

Click to expand...

Nice revisionist history. What actually happened, if you scroll up, is you showed up outta no where and decided to make a snarky comment about a simple post not directed at you at all. Instead of letting it lie, you made a handful of ****** followup posts.

Don't get worked up over it. Body Consciousness is only tangentially a fitness-related forum. It's primary purpose is as a battleground for ego inflation.