Hail to the Dinosaurs!
A reader asked about bottom position
squats.
Instead of setting the bar on pins
in the power rack, so he can wedge
himself under the bar in the bottom
position of the movement and stand
up with it, he prefers to set the
pins at the same position -- but
start at the top of the movement --
lower himself down until the bar
is right above the pins -- pause
for a second -- think "One thousand
and one!" -- and then drive back up
to the starting position.
He said that works better for him,
and wanted to know if it was okay.
Answer -- absolutely!
Remember, we're all different. Squats
are good for all of us (unless an
injury makes it impossible to do them),
but the exact manner of doing your
squats will vary from one Dino to
another.
Now, technically, our reader is doing
a pause squat -- but if that works
better for him than a true bottom
position squat, then that's what he
should do.
And speaking of pause squats -- here's
a way to use the pause as part of your
progression scheme.
Let's say you can do 3 x 5 working sets
with 300 pounds in the squat.
You could add weight in your next
workout -- OR you could add a pause.
For example, do 3 x 5 with a pause on
the first rep of each set and no pause
on the next four reps.
The next time you do squats, do 3 x 5
working sets with a pause on the first
TWO reps of each set -- followed by three
no pause reps.
In your next squat workout, do 3 x 5
working sets with a pause on the first
three reps of each set -- followed by
two no pause reps.
In the next squat workout, add weight and
do 3 x 5 regular reps with no pause.
In the workout after that, do 3 x 5
working sets with a pause on the first
rep of each set only.
And then repeat the progression cycle.
You can do this sort of thing on any
basic exercise. George F. Jowett wrote
about it way back in the 1920's -- and
a guy named Grimek read the article
and gave it a try on his presses.
It worked pretty well for him.
So there we have some old-school training
advice from George F. Jowett -- used by
none other than John C. Grimek -- that
I'm able to share in response to a
training question received on July 23,
2014.
I don't know about you, but I think that's
pretty darn cool.
As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a
good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. I cover plenty of other old-school
training tips in Strength, Muscle and
Power -- and I cover more military press
secrets in my Military Press Course --
and I give you TONS more info about
John Grimek and his training in my John
Grimek training course. You can grab them
right here:
a. Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
b. The Dinosaur Training Military Press
and Shoulder Power Course
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_course.html
c. The Training Secrets of John Grimek
http://brookskubik.com/johngrimek_course.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
back issues of the Dinosaur Files Newsletter -
are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Read, study, search,
and learn. The more you know about real world,
sensible strength training, the better."
-- Brooks Kubik
