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For those in the thread looking for advice, I recommend performing overhead squats. Just use a broom handle with a wide grip. It's almost impossible to squat in

by noobly 9y ago

For those in the thread looking for advice, I recommend performing overhead squats. Just use a broom handle with a wide grip. It's almost impossible to squat incorrectly when doing overhead squats and imo this makes it an excellent intro. Additionally, it feels amazing once you get stretched and comfy. I trained in Olympic weightlifting for a bit (non-competitively) and this is how they started inflexible people and noobs in general, and as someone who's taught many to squat, I've never seen it done as smoothly and have adopted this method of teaching.

jfaucett 9y ago
This. The overhead squat is the secret sauce. When I first started olympic weight lifting (I had already been hitting the gym for years) I had an olympic lifter teach me the move, b/c my squatting technique was so poor. It should be the first thing anyone learns IMHO. It teaches flexibility, balance, a great range of motion, and to your point it feels really amazing. You almost never see anyone at the gym doing it though. Its definitely way underrated. My squat, vertical jump, and single leg strength went way up doing this. Not to mention it teaches great form for cleans and snatches.
sethammons 9y ago
It works when it works :) I've seen my fair share of folks pick up Olympic lifting. While many eventually "get" it, the overhead squat does not force good form. People lean forward, or pick up their heels. After shoulders, hips, and ankles eventually gain flexibility, then, yeah, the overhead squat ensures good form because you can't support much weight on the bar otherwise. If you can overhead squat a solid amount of weight, you must have good form. A kind of survivorship bias :) For me, I have flexibility issues. I've been lifting from years now. I can "Asian squat" now and I can back squat well over 300lbs, but I can only overhead squat 125lbs once, and then I'm tore up for days.
- noobly 9y ago
  It creates good form because it forces your shoulders, spine and hips to be in the proper positions for a real squat. Of course, there are ways around this (such as inflexibility as you mentioned) but I've found it's a great teaching method for transferring into real back squats. In general it's much harder to screw up an overhead squat than it is a back squat, and often (in my experience) people struggle to kinematically understand even a weightless body squat. If you've ever spent a couple evenings trying to teach someone proper back squat form, you may know the struggles involved. In my experience a quick lesson on overhead squats speeds this process up greatly. And just to be clear, I'm not advocating anyone try weighted overhead squats, I just thought I'd share what I felt was a great intro/supplement into this "Asian" squatting. Also, 125 is a solid overhead squat!
vladTheInhaler 9y ago
I think it's important not to push the broom handle/PVC pipe practice further than necessary. People can hold a broom handle in all sorts of positions that would be impossible with even an empty bar, possibly ingraining bad habits.
- noobly 9y ago
  >People can hold a broom handle in all sorts of positions that would be impossible with even an empty bar, possibly ingraining bad habits. Just to be clear I wasn't intending my comment above to be used as a stepping stone for weighted overhead squats. I just find that keeping a bar overhead forces proper shoulder, spine and hip posture that enables one to squat properly down the road. For some, it causes that "aha" moment when it comes to squatting properly.

by noobly 9y ago

jfaucett 9y ago

This. The overhead squat is the secret sauce. When I first started olympic weight lifting (I had already been hitting the gym for years) I had an olympic lifter teach me the move, b/c my squatting technique was so poor. It should be the first thing anyone learns IMHO. It teaches flexibility, balance, a great range of motion, and to your point it feels really amazing. You almost never see anyone at the gym doing it though. Its definitely way underrated. My squat, vertical jump, and single leg strength went way up doing this. Not to mention it teaches great form for cleans and snatches.

sethammons 9y ago

It works when it works :) I've seen my fair share of folks pick up Olympic lifting. While many eventually "get" it, the overhead squat does not force good form. People lean forward, or pick up their heels. After shoulders, hips, and ankles eventually gain flexibility, then, yeah, the overhead squat ensures good form because you can't support much weight on the bar otherwise. If you can overhead squat a solid amount of weight, you must have good form. A kind of survivorship bias :) For me, I have flexibility issues. I've been lifting from years now. I can "Asian squat" now and I can back squat well over 300lbs, but I can only overhead squat 125lbs once, and then I'm tore up for days.

noobly 9y ago
It creates good form because it forces your shoulders, spine and hips to be in the proper positions for a real squat. Of course, there are ways around this (such as inflexibility as you mentioned) but I've found it's a great teaching method for transferring into real back squats. In general it's much harder to screw up an overhead squat than it is a back squat, and often (in my experience) people struggle to kinematically understand even a weightless body squat. If you've ever spent a couple evenings trying to teach someone proper back squat form, you may know the struggles involved. In my experience a quick lesson on overhead squats speeds this process up greatly. And just to be clear, I'm not advocating anyone try weighted overhead squats, I just thought I'd share what I felt was a great intro/supplement into this "Asian" squatting. Also, 125 is a solid overhead squat!

vladTheInhaler 9y ago

I think it's important not to push the broom handle/PVC pipe practice further than necessary. People can hold a broom handle in all sorts of positions that would be impossible with even an empty bar, possibly ingraining bad habits.

noobly 9y ago
>People can hold a broom handle in all sorts of positions that would be impossible with even an empty bar, possibly ingraining bad habits. Just to be clear I wasn't intending my comment above to be used as a stepping stone for weighted overhead squats. I just find that keeping a bar overhead forces proper shoulder, spine and hip posture that enables one to squat properly down the road. For some, it causes that "aha" moment when it comes to squatting properly.