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Overloading Partial Squats with Slow Descent

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Meanwhile in China …

Kirksman from Lifthard.com is in China, learning from the coaches there.

Follow his instagram for updates. He posts stuff about the training philosophy, as well as exercises like the one below.

Overloading the descent of the squat to improve quad strength and back tightness.

This is a 20 year old kid doing a 300kg controlled descent squat. For 2 reps. They have to place the bar back without a sound. This is to improve their back tightness and quad strength. To protect their knees, they stretch the ankles all the time to ensure the hips can sit as closely as possible to the ball of the foot. We are talking knees about 10 miles in front of the toes for maximal protection of knee joint and strength in the quads. I asked them about balance between quad and posterior. They showed me their program and the amount of pulls and posterior isometric/dynamic work. Its right about 50/50. The coach’s programmer (they don’t program it. Another lady upstairs, oh wait till U hear about the lady upstairs’s job) makes sure they have front back left right balance. That’s why they have tons of trunk, TVA work. To ensure no lateral shifting or twisting happens. Even the way they walk is observed. Edit: trust me, there are things I’m extremely challenged to understand or believe at this moment. This is just one of the many. #fitness #lifthard8 #weightlifting #crossfit #squat

A video posted by Kirksman Teo (@lifthard8) on

About Gregor Winter

Hi, I run ATG.

Follow me on instagram @gregorwinter (and ATG @atginsta).

Comments

  3. Helder says

    Been reading some of the author comments and i truly believe human anatomy must be very different in China.Internally rotated shoulders for snatching and no knees out as it promotes hip impingment???

    • Johnny says

      If you’ve combed through all the information online that people have been kind enough to share on the internet, especially the russian and chinese weightlifters, you will see that internal rotation is the way to go. You can try it yourself, everyone who’s “switched” to internal rotation always reports a much more integral stability. With that said, there have been some discussions here and there of external vs internal rotation ever since all the information came out, and from what i gathered, some people are already doing internal rotation, but they seem to think its external. For the average joe, they may very well be using internal rotation if they didn’t go to some crappy certification seminar. Perhaps you’ve also been doing internal rotation this whole time, but think of it as external. You’ll see what I mean soon enough.

      • Helder says

        I know what external and internal shoulder rotation is .Impingement in the shoulder joint happen with medial/internal rotation, why should i follow poor advice? What is amazing is that none of the chinese lifters on film are with their shoulders in an internal rotated position…

      • Helder says

        I read it and disagree.. you filmed the lifters at the training hall in Almaty, did they internally rotated the shoulders?? Only lifter that i cam remember doing it is Kendrick Farris..bad shoulder mobility.

        • Will says

          I do think to a certain extent, it is a cue, as in if they think about internally rotating they will end up in a stable (relatively but not completely internally rotated) position. I think if you actively externally rotate your shoulder they become very unstable and you lose lifts behind easily. klokobv is an example of someone who does it to an extreme,

  5. Tyler says

    I believe one reason why they advocate internal rotation overhead is because it considerably slacks the joint giving the lifter the ability to adjust with less precise attempts, essentially giving you enough flexion to bring your arms all the way behind your body, this is very useful for heavy snatches where the hips tend to lead excessively out of the hole or instantaneously managing a forward COM on the jerk, etc. External rotation will absolutely limit this ability as it makes the joint more stable. Also If one has sub-par shoulder mobility they may need to IR significantly just to lockout overhead and therefore actively rotating in this way will feel “natural” and give them a path of least resistance. Yes for some people who have sensitized structures in the shoulder this may not be recommended as it reduces joint space … My personal opinion is that it works excellently with the jerk as the shoulder is in too much flexion/external rotation in the rack to lockout overhead anyway, but feels awkward in the snatch. The “turnover” in the snatch is an external rotation motion, so trying to fight this before/during the catch feels bizarre. When it is used in the snatch I’ve noticed the adjustment from external to internal bias happens as the lifter starts the recovery, not beforehand. plus the grip being wider means the shoulder is in less flexion and therefore is relativity slacked anyway. I would love anyone else’s point of views on this, it’s a interesting topic!