Overhead Squats

[turbozed]

Originally Posted by javyn

Afraid of giving out and dropping the weight on my head, or smacking myself in the face with the bar lifting it up

Add them to your routine and start light.

You get a great feeling of primal satisfaction when you lift something heavy over your head. Especially if you're jerkin heavy weight overhead.

 

[robertorex]

Originally Posted by javyn

Afraid of giving out and dropping the weight on my head, or smacking myself in the face with the bar lifting it up

at least you can dump the bar in front or behind you, instead of being stuck under it like on a bench.

 

[Tck13]

I liked doing overhead squats. Anyone do them with a jump as well? Good stuff...

 

[scugger]

Originally Posted by Tck13

I liked doing overhead squats. Anyone do them with a jump as well? Good stuff...

overhead jump squatS!

 

[robertorex]

Originally Posted by Tck13

I liked doing overhead squats. Anyone do them with a jump as well? Good stuff...

seems like a bad idea, to me at least because I'm a noob...

 

[PolePosition]

Originally Posted by robertorex

at least you can dump the bar in front or behind you, instead of being stuck under it like on a bench.

I'm gonna start doing these at some point but at my gym you can't drop weights...heck if you start making too much noise with weights hitting the ground all the workers start giving you the staredown lol. So I guess I'll have to be extra careful cuz there's no going back once the weight is up in the air!

 

[Grayland]

Originally Posted by robertorex

seems like a bad idea, to me at least because I'm a noob...

It's a bad idea in general. OH squats are tough enough and don't lend themselves to jumping. No one does jumping OH squats (as least with any real weight). The stress on the wrists/shoulders would stop that nonsense pretty quick. Jumping squats...yes; jumping OH squats...no.

 

[Tck13]

Originally Posted by Grayland

It's a bad idea in general. OH squats are tough enough and don't lend themselves to jumping. No one does jumping OH squats (as least with any real weight). The stress on the wrists/shoulders would stop that nonsense pretty quick. Jumping squats...yes; jumping OH squats...no.

I guess I should have been more clear. I meant the bolded WITHOUT the OH part.

 

[bbaquiran]

Can these be done with dumbells, or is that a recipe for disaster?

 

[robertorex]

I imagine it would be very hard to learn the form with dumbbells. very doable though.

 

[John152]

Originally Posted by bbaquiran

Can these be done with dumbells, or is that a recipe for disaster?

Doable but much harder. As I said earlier in the thread one of the key points to the OHS is horizontal force on the bar which helps stabilize it overhead. With dumbbells you don't have this so it is much, much more difficult since the dumbbells move in every direction and often end up "rotating" for lack of a better word.

 

[Jekyll]

Would these be a decent substitute for a normal squat? I have a barbell, but I don't have a power rack.

 

[jaydc7]

I wouldn't call it a direct sub since the load will be much ligther than your back squat, but its a great exercise. Why not clean up the weight and then do front squats? Or clean it up and jerk it overhead and do back squats?

 

[robertorex]

yeah I backburnered these in favor of front squats because I like to overhead press a lot already and my shoulders fatigued too fast. Take some time to learn how to do power cleans and do front squats.

 

[javyn]

Originally Posted by Jekyll

Would these be a decent substitute for a normal squat? I have a barbell, but I don't have a power rack.
I don't think so man. Better than nothing, absolutely, but nothing can substitute back squatting in a rack. If my apt complex gym didn't have a power rack, I wouldn't bother with weight training at all. I've been weight training for years now (granted, not knowing what the hell I was doing), but I noticed 0 gains until I started squatting in the cage.