under the influence of you guys, i bought some "fancy" squat stands to go with the barbell weights my wife found at an estate sale. and so it is that i realized that despite my "incredible" jumping ability and past cycling exploits and more recent running habit, that i could properly *curl* more weight than i could squat. and since my curl is nothing to write home about, i figured, "uh, maybe it would be profitable to try to improve my squatting ability...".
so, here i am.
Welcome BA! This will be a good thread for you, as Abide also trains ultras, you guys will be able to compare notes about how ST fits in with ultra running.
We're all reluctant squatters too. For years, I avoided them. Now I love them. Like I think Dan John has said, they're great mass builders, and as a lot of people have said, they're the king/queen of lifts.
For your volleyball, I would also suggest box jumps and maybe bench hops too. I started doing box jumps this year, and, although my training has been sporadic, they're really a great exercise. I would consider them the king of plyometric exercises. Bench hops meanwhile are great for the lower leg and arches.
I wonder if there's someway we can get you on the first page, so that all the weekly logs are in one place. Ideas?
Dama be nice! Just a little background about my post, at this time the general consensus for squatting safely is that your knees need to track over your feet. Like Lee posted the how far forward your knee extends is a result of the bar position and in order to keep balanced your knees may extend further past your toes.
Anyway thats why I like the knees out cue as it usually keeps the tracking correct and it also works abduction muscles which hopefully balances the adduction resulting from running too much. On another note it looks like Lee has longer femurs too so his knees will almost always be past his toes unless he goes really wide stance and low bar position.
Yah, I don't have a natural squatting build. I've got fairly long limbs. But I think if I point my feet slightly outwards and adopt a slightly wider stance, that will bring the knees in a little. Then with better bar position once I get rid of the pad, I should be closer to those illustrations.
Don't worry about Dama though, I like it when she gives me sh!t.
Been thinking a bit about my next cycle coming up in a week, and I think I might adjust the plan a little to incorporate an upper/mid/lower mix through the week. I think 3 leg days with running and biking is too much and twice a week should be sufficient. Core would mainly be ab roll outs and stabilizations like farmers walks etc.
Legs / Upper pull focus
Upper push focus / Core
Legs / Upper mixed / Core (friday f%$* around day)
That's similar to what I was doing before I adopted my two-week cycle, and what I'd probably revert to if this squat/deadlift alternation proves too much. Something like:
DL/Row
Squat/OH Press
Bench/Pulldown
or
DL/Row/OH Press
Squat/Bench Press
Row/Pulldown/Power Clean and/or Plyometrics
For the time being, however, I seem to be tolerating a full body workout every time, but I'm not running long distances like you. Deadlifts don't seem to interfer much with running, but squats certainly do, although the effect may be starting to lessen, too early to tell.
Ran 1.5 miles just now. Felt a little more like a real run than just one mile, and I started to feel stronger towards the end. Still, the last 1/4 mile or so I start to feel just a ever so slight niggle in my left knee, just a little tightness, so I'll cap it at 1.5 miles until that disappears, then bump up to two miles. I'm kind of enjoying starting over again like this, adopting what the Zenists call 'beginner's mind.'
P.S., Thinking about trying the EMOM DL today, trying to decided whether to start with 335 or 325. I'm pretty sure I can pull off 325, but I should probably try to see if I can do 335. It will be interesting to see if, like you, the lifts start to get easier after a couple.
If this works for me, I'll probably try something similar for the squats next Friday, and maybe the bench press too, although I'm a little concerned that I may be overemphasizing the bench again, at the expense of the upper body pulls. Here's the slightly revised, and simplified, two-week cycle: