is it abnormal that i only squat as much as i bench?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

i'm a pretty skinny guy. 5'10, 170#, small bones.

my upper body is pretty built - back, chest, arms.
my core is getting there - lost the gut, working towards a 6 pack.

my lower body is pathetic. to put it in perspective, my calves are the same size as my bi's when flexed, maybe smaller
i neglected legs in college when i used to lift, and starting doing squats on and off last year (incorrectly on a smith machine), until this year when I started doing rippetoe SS.

i started light at 135# to get the form down, and even though it was easy enough that i could've made 10# jumps each workout, i stayed conservative and only incremented 5# each time.

i'm currently stuck at 225# with GOOD form and full RoM, meaning thighs at least parallel to the ground (if i did pussy squats like i see most guys at the gym, i could go heavier).
if i tried full RoM with more weight, i don't think i can get myself back up. heck, i'm too afraid to try to go down to even parallel in fear of my legs giving out and me falling to the floor.

in comparison, i just did 3x5 @ 215# on the bench and will be moving up to 220# next workout.
for DL, i'm up to 275#, which feels heavy but i'm not at my physical limit yet.

any tips?

 

[MegaVovaN]

I am a noob, so take this with grain of salt...

Umm, just increase squat weight? Why do you think X more pounds are going to break your legs? And if you can't get up that's what the supports in rack are for. I failed at 150 lb, then broke through it several workouts later. Then I failed last set at 155, again, broke it yesterday (did all reps in all sets with 155).

And yes, it is abnormal. Because you neglected your legs and did bench in college.

AFAIK, the lifts go like this in a well rounded athlete: DL > Squat > Bench > OH Press

 

[KoolDrew]

if i tried full RoM with more weight, i don't think i can get myself back up. heck, i'm too afraid to try to go down to even parallel in fear of my legs giving out and me falling to the floor.

Just set the safety pins or get a spotter and don't worry about it. If you get rid of the fear of failing it'll be a lot easier to lift heavier. If you truly are stuck at 225, then lower the weight and work your way back up.

 

[crt1530]

Put more weight on the bar and squat it.

 

[GenHoth]

They are correct, you need to lose your fear of squatting more weight. Put the safety pins in and go for it. Lord knows those things have saved my ass on numbers occasions.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

so you guys have actually fallen while squatting before?
even with the safety bars in place, it's still scary to me.

 

[GenHoth]

Fallen isn't quite how I would put it, but yes. I have gotten to the bottom of my squat realized I was stuck and unloaded the weight. I have also lost form, came too far forward and the weight caused me to fold over till the safety bars caught the weight. (total distance on that last one was probably less than 2 inches) Once you understand that you won't hurt yourself if you're careful you'll be able to gain again.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
so you guys have actually fallen while squatting before?
even with the safety bars in place, it's still scary to me.

I have actually fallen. It was with a straight bar too. I was trying to lean back further and lost balance. Made an awful noise and was pretty embarrassing, ha.

 

[Deeko]

I haven't actually fallen, but I saw it happen once. It was actually kinda funny....to me anyway.

If you have the bars set to the right height, and you get stuck at the bottom, you just let go of the weight. It will be loud and annoying, but that's why they're there.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

The fear thing happened to me with squats. So I held back. I was doing 3x6, so then next time I did 3x8, then 3x10. After the 3rd time I had assured myself I was ready to move on.

It's not the fact that you will just fall over. If you can't get back up then unload the weight like others have said.

It might also help to work on other leg exercises as well like deadlift and leg press.

 

[presidentender]

I only did upper body work throughout high school. When I got to college, I started squatting, and while I started embarrassingly light, I did exceed my bench fairly quick. Don't be afraid of hurting yourself, get enough depth, and you'll be fine.

As for being unable to get back up- so what?

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
so you guys have actually fallen while squatting before?
even with the safety bars in place, it's still scary to me.

Not fallen, but when i failed a couple times, the bar would get wobbly and the plates fell off. Then I fell.

as far as upping the weight is concerned, I think you will be surprised if you throw a couple of quarter plates up on top of that 225 you're stuck at. My thing is when I'm going heavier, I bring my intensity up a couple of notches i.e, my eyes bulge, my body tenses like a spring and unload all of that tension to lift that bar off the rack. Just yesterday, I lifted 205 for 2 reps for the first time in my life on my own. I just got intense kinda psyched myself up for it and threw that sucker up. I'm sure your legs are MUCH stronger than you think they are.

 

[bignateyk]

You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

above parallel? watch your knees man, youre asking for trouble there. that's a LOT of strain on the knee joint. why can't you go past paralell at least?

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: bignateyk
You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

above parallel? watch your knees man, youre asking for trouble there. that's a LOT of strain on the knee joint. why can't you go past paralell at least?

? The further down you go the more stress it puts on your knees doesn't it?

When I do front squats I usually squat my ass pretty much to the floor, but I only use 185lbs.

 

[lucasorion]

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-...e-fix-common-problems/

on Wednesday I took the plunge and jumped up #30 from what I had been hovering at (#245) to #275 on my squat, and my eyes were bulging a bit, I had to grunt a little, but I managed 3x5. Today I'm going to try for 4x5 at the same weight. I made the jump because I realized that while #245 wasn't totally easy for me, I wasn't being challenged the way that I was when I started doing squats back in March. My bench on the other hand, is still limited by my left shoulder issues. I can't even do flys at this point, due to the pain, but hopefully if I do the routine here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ONHZmsFec I will get back to where I was previously on my bench (was up to #225 5x5, now only able to do 3x5 at #205)

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

thanks, i'm pretty happy with my bench, but it's so out of proportion with squats which is where the problem is.

you mean 170lb barbell right? dumb bells would be very impressive. my gym only goes to 120# on dumb bells

 

[presidentender]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: bignateyk
You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

thanks, i'm pretty happy with my bench, but it's so out of proportion with squats which is where the problem is.

you mean 170lb barbell right? dumb bells would be very impressive. my gym only goes to 120# on dumb bells

Maybe he means 2 85# dumbbells.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: bignateyk
You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

above parallel? watch your knees man, youre asking for trouble there. that's a LOT of strain on the knee joint. why can't you go past paralell at least?

? The further down you go the more stress it puts on your knees doesn't it?

When I do front squats I usually squat my ass pretty much to the floor, but I only use 185lbs.

Uh oh, you've insulted the first principle of Rippetoe, you're gonna get it now!

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: presidentender

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: bignateyk
You've got a pretty damn good bench for your size, so i'd say you're not too far out of line.

I am 5'11" 165lbs

I squat 5x5 @255lbs (to about 2 degrees above parallel)

My bench sucks though due to a shoulder injury. I've been stuck at 170lb dumbell press for like a year now.

thanks, i'm pretty happy with my bench, but it's so out of proportion with squats which is where the problem is.

you mean 170lb barbell right? dumb bells would be very impressive. my gym only goes to 120# on dumb bells

Maybe he means 2 85# dumbbells.

true, but most people i know will say the weight of one if dumbbells are mentioned.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Deeko
...

Uh oh, you've insulted the first principle of Rippetoe, you're gonna get it now!

Care to explain? If it is indeed better for my knees to drop my ass to the floor, i'd rather do that as I tore a ligament in my left knee several years back and I like to limit the stress on it.

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: presidentender
...

Maybe he means 2 85# dumbbells.

true, but most people i know will say the weight of one if dumbbells are mentioned.

yeah, I was talking about the total weight with 2 85lb dumbells. My barbell bench is actually worse than my dumbell bench. As a result of my rotator cuff injury, I can't really do barbell pressing anymore. With dumbells I can change the angle of my right arm to take the stress off my rotator cuff. The most i've ever barbell pressed is 185lbs.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: Deeko
...

Uh oh, you've insulted the first principle of Rippetoe, you're gonna get it now!

Care to explain? If it is indeed better for my knees to drop my ass to the floor, i'd rather do that as I tore a ligament in my left knee several years back and I like to limit the stress on it.

First result from google:
http://www.building-muscle101....or-partial-squats.html

 

[spamsk8r]

Are you doing high-bar squats (with the bar up on the back of your neck, basically) or low bar squats (with the bar on your scapulae)? If you're doing high bar, change to low bar because it provides a much more stable surface and will allow you to put up more weight. If you're already using low-bar, just set up the safety bars and go for it. It's pretty easy to bail on a low-bar squat, you just kinda let go. Also, remember to always think "Up!" when you're coming out of the hole (the bottom of the squat), that helps me when it gets heavy due to the fact that it reminds you to engage your hips more.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: spamsk8r
Are you doing high-bar squats (with the bar up on the back of your neck, basically) or low bar squats (with the bar on your scapulae)? If you're doing high bar, change to low bar because it provides a much more stable surface and will allow you to put up more weight. If you're already using low-bar, just set up the safety bars and go for it. It's pretty easy to bail on a low-bar squat, you just kinda let go. Also, remember to always think "Up!" when you're coming out of the hole (the bottom of the squat), that helps me when it gets heavy due to the fact that it reminds you to engage your hips more.

sounds like i'm doing high bar squats. the bar is behind my next on my upper back basically.

is what you call low bar squat also called front squats? where the bar is basically resting on your shoulders/arms in front of you.

 

[jjanders]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: spamsk8r
Are you doing high-bar squats (with the bar up on the back of your neck, basically) or low bar squats (with the bar on your scapulae)? If you're doing high bar, change to low bar because it provides a much more stable surface and will allow you to put up more weight. If you're already using low-bar, just set up the safety bars and go for it. It's pretty easy to bail on a low-bar squat, you just kinda let go. Also, remember to always think "Up!" when you're coming out of the hole (the bottom of the squat), that helps me when it gets heavy due to the fact that it reminds you to engage your hips more.

sounds like i'm doing high bar squats. the bar is behind my next on my upper back basically.

is what you call low bar squat also called front squats? where the bar is basically resting on your shoulders/arms in front of you.

No, front squats are an entirely different exercise, with, as you said, the bar in front of you.

Low bar still has the barbell in the back, it's just resting lower. When people first start squatting they tend to put the bar fairly high, like at the base of the neck....try letting it roll down a couple more inches to your scapula (shoulder blades), as Spam said.