Quit Cheating Your Squats- Get Low

 Squat Day-

Today I squatted and I felt it was one of the first times in a long while that I didn’t feel as though my knee was really hindering my squat. I can get lower than I could ever hope for before any of my knee problems. Before injusry, blaming my tight hips was a constant echo in my life. (You don’t go through two avulsion fractures of the pelvis without tight hips and quads..) What I didn’t realize at the time, was that everything that I did was contributing to my hips and quads being tighter and tighter and I was content in just being the guy with tight hips that couldn’t get low in his squats. I couldn’t squat low, so I developed my quads further and compounded the problem. I never stretched enough, and I paid for it.  It may have helped the tightness in my quads losing half the size of one of my quads and considerable size in the other, but that isn’t the only reason.

Iron never lies

There is one activity that I had to endure for a long period of time while I was hurt that I attribute to being more flexible now. This activity is wearing a brace from your hip to your ankle that keeps your knee locked into place. Try putting a sock or shoe on while you have a straight leg and you will understand. If every time you want to touch your feet you have to do a hamstring stretch, you are going to loosen up.

Being able to get to or past parallel is very important.

1.Better for Your Knees-

Stopping half or quarter of the way down makes the knees take on the majority of the force of the movement whereas when past parallel the hamstrings and glutes will assist in softening the blow to the knees and help stabilize as you move back up.

2. Develop Your Hamstrings and Glutes-

When you get to or past parallel your hamstrings and glutes are recruited. Rather than simply developing Quad strength, parallel squats develop the hamstrings and glutes. You don’t want huge quads and no hamstrings.

Today’s workout-

4x6 Front Squat

3x6 Back Squat

3x6 Box Squats

4x8 Single Leg- Leg Extension

3x6 Front Squat- Push Press

^^^I cannot for the life of me figure out the name that the Crossfit Games gave to these, any

To Squat or Not to Squat

To squat or not squat.

There really is no question, Squatting should be in your exercise regimen. The squat goes along with a few other exercises that you can not forget to have in your workout list. 

Lifts Not to Forget- 

-Squats
-Deadlifts
-Pull-ups
-Power Cleans
-Bench Press


This list is not in any sort of order of importance. These lifts all recruit multiple muscle groups which leads to more work in multiple areas for one workout. Maximizing your time in the weight room is very important. Everybody wants the "Get Ripped Quick" workout but there is no get ripped quick secret, but there are get ripped faster secrets. Utilizing compound lifts is a main component of being able to slim down quick. I seldom have a workout that doesn't have one of these five lifts in it and I try to have them relatively early in my workouts so that I can put my full effort into them. Nobody cares how much you can curl, but people ask how much you can squat/bench/power clean. These are the lifts that I compete with myself to be able to see an improvement with my own personal bests. Finding your own personal motivation is important and that is mine. Beating myself. Try to do something that you couldn't do the week before. I used to squat 445 lbs. After two knee surgeries, I am ecstatic to be able to get 5x275lbs. There was a long point where I couldn't squat without any weight. That is a humbling experience. I now simply try to improve, the body I want will follow.

Today's Workout-

Squats 4x6

Single Dumbbell Clean and Press 3x6

Calf Raises- 3x10

Barbell Shrugs- 4x10

Leg Press- 

           2x10 single leg 

           3x10 double leg

I wanted to put in Power Clean in today as well but decided against it because I am deadlifting tomorrow and there were no platforms available and I wasn't about to sit and wait for one. 

Have a great Friday everyone. Do work. Much Love. Follow me @fitness4student and don't forget to stay awesome. 

Patience is a Virtue- Goals

When you don't achieve your goals right away, don't get discouraged. Transformations take time. When you are making goals it is important that you pick realistic timelines for completion. Your goals need to have a specific timeline as well. If you create a goal and say, "I'm going to achieve (blah blah) sometime in the next 3 months" you lose all credibility for that goal. You'r making it easy for yourself to put it off until the last month. Instead, say, "On this date (blah blah)  I will achieve (blah blah)." Set a realistic goal at a point that is challenging yourself a little but not too hard to accomplish. If you set a three month goal, and you don't achieve what you want after 3 weeks, you cannot get discouraged and just quit. You need to have determination and stay patient, results will follow. This advice can be used in any type of goals. Use it for your goals today.



Today's Workout-

3x5 Close Grip Bench
3x5 Squat
2x12 Skull Crushers
2x5 Dead Lift
2x8 One Arm Tricep Extension
2x8 Two Arm Tricep Extension
2x12 Tricep Pushdown

Abs-
2x20 Plate Twists
2x30 second Front- Side- Side Planks

Squats and Triceps

      Great combo right? Today's workout had me feeling nauseous most of the time. I kind of screwed up when I took my pre-workout compared to the last food intake I had, and that could have played a role in my nauseousness. Or it could have just been that it was the first time that I squatted to leg fatigue rather than knee fatigue in the last 8 months. It felt great, even though I felt like I was going to pass out after. I can't stress how good that makes me feel though. Every time I squat to that extreme I get a rush of energy running through me for the rest of the day. I get that workout high from squatting and that's why I like it.

Remember that compound exercises (exercises that use more than one muscle and joint) burn more calories and get better results with less reps. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you use your lower body in a lift you burn a lot more calories than upper body lifts. This is because your legs are (or should be) bigger than your upper body. Working your legs hard is better for fat loss than only working your upper body. If you want to get a better body faster, go do some squats. Do it.

You don't need to go to a gym to do squats. Do body weight squats, Grab something heavy around the house and hold that and squat. There are tons of ways to get around going to the gym. Utilize these ways.


Today's workout-

3x8 Close Grip Bench
2x10 Parallel Squats
2x10 Sumo Squat Jumps
2x10 Skull Crushers
2x8 Straight Leg Deadlift
2x10 Step-ups
2xFail Dips
2x10 Overhead Tricep Extensions
2x10 Tricep Pushdown

Abs
2x24 Plate Twist
2x24 Plate Oblique Dips
2x30 Three-way Planks

Body Weight Exercises- Day 3

Yesterday was a really rough workout but I made it through it. I am very hopeful that this month is going to be really beneficial to me after experiencing how hard this month is going to be yesterday. This morning I ache in spots that I haven't ached in since high school. It feels great, since I have been bulking hard the last four months, I haven't felt a really good sore morning in awhile. I missed the feeling and I'm very excited to keep going.

Today's workout will be focusing mostly leg workouts. My goal is to have my legs feel like jelly tomorrow.


Day 3- Leg day.
        -Warm-up Jog 5 minutes
        -Body squats   4x 30
        -Walking Lunges- 5x 20 steps
        -Exercise Ball Hamstring Pull in- 5x15
       
        -Running/Wall sits-   4x  Run a lap(7 lap mile track), Wall sit (45 seconds).

        -Stretch and Cooldown