Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I want some warm weather and early morning sun, dammit.

Before the day got away from me without getting either of my workouts in, I decided to switch my Wed routine w/Thurs. My wife has a swim sched for Thurs morning, and it's easier for both of us to get to the pool at 5 freakin' a.m. in this miserable weather when we have each other to bitch to. So, today was back squats x 7. Warmed up on the ERG for 5 min, and found my way to the squat rack. Worked my way up from a warm up set of 5x135#, to a second of 5x185#, and then started my reps. Did the first rep @ 235#, second and third at 255#, and then 4-7 at 265#. I feel like I could have gone higher, but since I had no spot and a questionable foot I played it safe.

Question for Max- traditionally I am a "ass to calf squatter". Meaning I'll go all the way down on the negative until my butt touches my calves (paying attention to knee position). In order to do this without falling over backwards I'll put a 35# plate flat behind each leg and rest my heels on it. I lift less weight this way, but feel as if I get a better workout through the full range of motion. Since starting w/crossfit I stopped doing this, and now stop the negative just before my knee's reach 90 deg (or as close as I can get without feeling like I'm going to go over backward). I tend to like the ass to calf method better, but am wondering what your guidance would be?

3 comments:

  1. Hi Mike, I think if you are followng the CF principles for these workouts look at their website for a video of how to back squat - they go all the way down but don't use heel raises - they prefer flat shoes as you get more stability I believe - I think less weight but correct range of motion if preferred?

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  2. Thanks Jane. That is the source of my confusion. I do wear flat shoes to squat (either Adidas Samba's or classic Chuck-T's). If I go all the way down without having my heels up, guaranteed I'd go over backwards. Max answered me off-line: "below 90 degrees, but not necessarily “ass to grass”…if you feel comfortable, great, but from a range of motion perspective, I can’t say that going that deep is going to add incremental benefit"

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  3. Max wrote what I was going to say. The only other thing is...Vibrams :)

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