low bar squats

[turbozed]

Originally Posted by marc237

I have been both a distance runner and a lifter. I find both psychology challenging in different ways. The endurance challenge is about fighting boredom as well as fatigue, while in lifting, it is more about fighting past assumed failure. That said, as psychological challenges go, these are not particularly note worthy.
This is all semantics. Is it as psychologically challenging as torture and waterboarding? No. Does it require more mental exertion than bicep curls? Yes. Anyone with a sense of proportion will automatically assume that, when we're talking about squats being 'psychologically challenging,' we are doing it in reference to other common exercises and not warfare, concentration camps, or being stuck under a giant boulder and having to cut your leg off with a swiss army knife. So if you disagree, say one of two things 1: they are not psychologically challenging in reference to other common exercises (no one has said this yet. if you do say what exercise requires more) 2. they are not psychologically challenging at all (what why is saying and which seems to fly in the face of most people that squat heavy) Don't say "well they're just not IMO" and leave it vague because that's how stupid e-arguments like this start.

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by turbozed

This is all semantics.

Is it as psychologically challenging as torture and waterboarding? No.

Does it require more mental exertion than bicep curls? Yes.

Anyone with a sense of proportion will automatically assume that, when we're talking about squats being 'psychologically challenging,' we are doing it in reference to other common exercises and not warfare, concentration camps, or being stuck under a giant boulder and having to cut your leg off with a swiss army knife.

So if you disagree, say one of two things
1: they are not psychologically challenging in reference to other common exercises (no one has said this yet)
2. they are not psychologically challenging at all (what why is saying and which seems to fly in the face of most people that squat heavy)

Don't say "well they're just not IMO" and leave it vague because that's how stupid e-arguments like this start.

I <3 u.

 

[why]

It's not semantics at all. We know what 'psychologically challenging' means (if you don't, PM me), but since we're all different people it might be challenging for some and not for others. Really though, I think most are arguing from a basic, average point of view and not from an Khmer Rouge concentration camp escapee or shut-in housewife with agoraphobia. And, with that, I assumed that an average person would not consider a basic bodily movement 'psychologically challenging'. I don't even see how it involve the psyche much at all beyond basic fears of injury...

 

[Kris]

Anyone who doesn't not think that squats aren't not psychologically challenging knows not what they don't know they know, and can't possibly not be not right.

If it isn't a psychological challenge to push through that "give up" point in a heavy squat, can someone please enlighten me as to what sort of challenge it is?

And I have faced psychological challenges such as prison, mortal violence, evading surveillance, etc, so I understand there is a distinction, but the perseverance through profound challenge seems to me to be the same mechanism. Will power? I dunno.

 

[jarude]

all I know is that I hated squats for the longest time then I did 5x5 where I squatted every other day and now I don't hate them so much. Those 5 sets still can't pass fast enough though

edit: low bar &gt; high bar

 

[why]

Originally Posted by Kris

If it isn't a psychological challenge to push through that "give up" point in a heavy squat, can someone please enlighten me as to what sort of challenge it is?

Neuromuscular...

 

[db_ggmm]

Originally Posted by why

I assumed that an average person would not consider a basic bodily movement 'psychologically challenging'. I don't even see how it involve the psyche much at all beyond basic fears of injury...

You down play excessively!

The squat, performed correctly, with weight on the shoulders on a bar, cannot be a basic bodily movement! If it was, there would not be hundreds of pages written on how to perform it correctly. We'd just grab the bar and do it, without injury and without instruction.

Beating fear is a pretty big deal for people, too.

 

[Santana]

yay

 

[turbozed]

Originally Posted by why

It's not semantics at all. We know what 'psychologically challenging' means (if you don't, PM me), but since we're all different people it might be challenging for some and not for others. Really though, I think most are arguing from a basic, average point of view and not from an Khmer Rouge concentration camp escapee or shut-in housewife with agoraphobia. And, with that, I assumed that an average person would not consider a basic bodily movement 'psychologically challenging'. I don't even see how it involve the psyche much at all beyond basic fears of injury...

That's exactly what I was getting at. And on my heavy squat days I get more of a psychological challenge than almost any other activity I can think of.

Here's how a day will go:

Wake up: pretty challenging if i'm tired.
***********: pleasurable
eat: not much psychology involved
work: involves fighting back boredom and some mental exertion depending on the work. at no point am i grunting or breathing heavy
driving in traffic: annoying
going to the gym then squatting: physically and (consequently) psychologically challenging
watch tv: relaxing

if you can give me your average daily activity that is more psychologically taxing than putting a couple hundred pounds on your back and using most of your muscles to lift it to the point of near exhaustion, then I'd like to know. then again, i'm not married and don't have kids. maybe when that happens i will change my mindset.

 

[dcg]

This argument is ******* stupid even by Health &amp; Body standards. Turbozed's post at the top of this page should have been the end of it, and I can't believe we even got to the point where it was necessary. Some people here just like to argue for the sake of arguing.

 

[javyn]

Originally Posted by why

Neuromuscular...

Ahhhh, I think that clears it up. Some of us are using psychological and neuromuscular interchangeably. At least I was.

 

[william]

Originally Posted by why

You're here whining about an issue as if the basic tenets of your existence have been insulted and all that's happened is a discussion about whether or not an exercise is 'psychologically challenging'.

I don't know everything there is to know. But I do like to share the knowledge I have or think I have. If you don't want to listen then don't. I'm not forcing anyone to listen, and I post on SF because there's a fount of information that I'm not readily exposed to or haven't understood completely. At those times, I inquire or don't post at all. That's the basic nature of discourse. In absence of someone's physical presence during a discussion, people might make the assumption that the person is dismissive of the opinions of others. It's a fault of the medium that isn't always correctable.

So please, if you'd like to not listen to what I have to say, put me on ignore. I don't feel as if I'm disruptive and it seems neither do you. You just seem hurt because some anonymous, haughty jerk on the Internet doesn't think you're a special flower. It's nothing personal -- I just don't see squats as a psychological challenge.

lol

I'm oh so hurt. I've been exposed. How can I ever show my avatar again?

 

[why]

Originally Posted by william

lol

I'm oh so hurt. I've been exposed. How can I ever show my avatar again?

It's not an exposÃ

, it's just showing why you shouldn't get all wound up over some perceived slight that isn't even directed at you.

 

[db_ggmm]

On topic, if possible.

Had a stitch in my back so quit for a week, although I did do 2x deloaded 20 rep squats on two different days. It felt amazing. I mean, I haven't felt so physically refreshed in months.

Four days of rest later, I went back to play with grip and see if I could get the bar to settle into the sweet spot again. My last 'heavy' trip, I stated I only managed to hit the sweet spot in one of five sets. That's ridiculous, of course, and very very ******, so there had to be a reason.

Here is what I think happened which has allowed me to low bar squat correctly:

Simply putting my hands where they 'should' be on day one did not work. I was too tight, too inflexible. Over the past two months, in an attempt to find the sweet spot, have been crunching my shoulders together harder, pulling my grip in tighter, and pushing my elbows up more and more.

Doing all this really stretched me out. I feel looser after a set now, where I'd be fatigued before. And now, using a more reasonable grip, the bar drops right into the groove. So I'm pretty excited about this.


I may have to ask this elsewhere, but it is a squat question, so I'll try here first.

I feel I don't fully understand how wide to stand. This may be due in part to the fact that my center of gravity has changed a lot as the bar position and weight has changed. I was also experiencing knee pain for a little while and found that if I made my stance a little more narrow, I could thrust my knees out further and solve the problem. It also seems more difficult to go deep with a wider stance.

Does it really matter how wide I stand? Should I strive to widen my stance? Is it possible that I am constructed for a more narrow stance?

My knees are absolutely not together. I strive to press them outwards. But I do feel as if the muscles on the outside portion of my legs are being used in the squat, not the muscle on the back of the leg. Where should I feel the strain in my legs?

I seem to have a naturally small frame and narrow shoulders and when something says to use 'bit wider than shoulders' I am probably placing about 20 inches apart. For example, I am also having trouble with my overhead press grip because of this.

Any advice on how to find a good strength trainer in a 'big' city?

 

[MetroStyles]

Just started doing low bar squats today due to this threak and Starting Strength - for years I had done high bar. The adjustment wasn't too bad - although the back and shoulders do feel tight after doing it for the first time. I was freaked out that the bar would slip but it didn't - it nestled nicely into my back and delts. Maybe it's my imagination, but I &quot;felt&quot; a bit more stable as well, corewise, like everything was already nice and tight there due to the the scapular contraction.