Meanwhile in Estonia …
Mart Seim Back Squatted 400kg today. A big milestone for the 25 year old.
No belt. No wraps.
Below the video is a quick Q&A. Follow him @martseim on instagram.
Of course I had to ask Mart a couple of questions…
Gregor: So what’s next?
Mart: Now the main focus is lifting (classic lifts) and Pulls again.
Gregor: the 400kg came quicker than I expected.
Mart: It was a little surprise for me too.
Gregor: When did you know that today was the day?
Mart: Just before the 400
Gregor: What were your warm up attempts?
Mart:
- 70/2×3
- 120/3
- 170/1
- 220/1
- 270/1
- 320/1
- 360/1
- 400/1
Gregor: 360 must have been fast today?
Mart: Nope 🙂 I still didn’t have the best feeling.
Gregor: but you just thought “let’s try 400”?
Mart: Well 400 was a motivating number. Now I have more time to focus on other things.
Gregor: Any specific numbers you want to hit on Pulls?
Mart: I don’t do max with Pulls. Just want to get Pulls feeling easy.
Gregor: Okay and how will your Squat training look like from now on?
once a week I will do some sets with 350kg or something like that
Mart: So far I did Squats as the first exercise in my training sessions.
Now I will do squats at the end of my training sessions.
I want to keep that strength. So once a week I will do some sets with 350kg or something like that.
I will squat 3 times per week.
- Monday: Front Squat
- Wednesday: Back Squat
- Friday: some higher rep sets, like 270/6 or something. Light weight, but something to keep the legs working.
More from Mart:
Heck, give him some wraps and 2 weeks and Malanichev will have to worry 😛 Awesome lift!
Pulls? what for ? for someone that squat 400 kg, there is no reason for pulls, all the strength is there, doing only the lifts and some front squats will be enough, Seim has potential for lift bigger numbers than he did in Houston.
Muscular balance? The confidence to pull on heavy weights? Technique work without fatiguing oneself with the whole lift? Plenty of reasons to pull.
Because people who are outstanding squatters (relative to other exercises) are usually shitty off the floor. It’s a matter of leverage (long torso, short femur). Wouldn’t be surprised if pulls are a major weakness of this guy.
See, for example: https://glennpendlay.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/build-it-yourself/
i find it quite impressive to see him squat those big numbers. but i don’t understand he is still focusing so much on strength.
his (relative) weakness which hinders him from making the last step to the top are his snatch numbers. i dont think improving his already extremely strong squat will have so much carryover..
Logical reasoning. This comes to my mind too with Mart Seim but some things to consider:
– he could be focusing on improving his technique already. We just don’t know by watching his videos.
– he could have come to the conclusion that major improvements in his technique are not feasible until Rio and that bigger strength levels – even though his efficiency decreases further – are still beneficial enough for his total numbers.
– maybe squatting big is not as taxing for him. He is a born squatter. He’s doing it three times a week (few sessions for a weightlifter) and when it doesn’t cost him much training ressources – why not squat big? Improving the squat is never a bad thing for a weightlifter.
I did read somewhere that Rezazedeh stopped pushing his squat after he hit 400kg because he had “all the leg strength he needed”. Whether that was anecdote or truth I don’t know.
Hossein Tavakoli told us he squatted 450kg on a powerlifting bar.
I believe it…Rezazedah was brutally strong. His cleans were absolutely easy even with his WR attempts. He looked like he could press 225kg too and probably bench 300kg haha
I am quite impressed by his results actually. Never thought that he was gonna be a medal winner at a WC and who knows maybe gets a 250+ cnj. I have to say he’s got an awful technique and hardly did a clean lift in the past,but he’s progressing beautifully. Very powerful guy indeed.
he’s using all that leg strength to blast that stuff up…he can clean anything…the jerk seems to be his tough spot
And the infamous snatch
Hey Gregor, this is a quality article / Q & A!
It’s short and has so much valuable information from a practitioner (e.g. warm-up progressions, sequencing throughout the week)
Really great.
ya 260kg light weight lets go.