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Forums - Sports Discussion - Fitness Federation

 

Favorite healthy snack?

Tuna and water 8 50.00%
 
Tuna and water 3 18.75%
 
Tuna and water 5 31.25%
 
Total:16
VGPolyglot said:

How do you do that without hurting your back?

Proper form means there is not force on the back.  It is on the quads and glutes in squats.  Note the shoes and belt assist in this regard.  If you are doing squats do air squats, then with the bar, then slowly add weight.

Below is a good guide of what goes into proper squats

  • Stance. Squat with your heels shoulder-width apart. Put your heels under your shoulders.
  • Feet. Turn your feet out 30°. Keep your whole foot flat on the floor. Don’t raise your toes or heels.
  • Knees. Push your knees to the side, in the direction of your feet. Lock your knees at the top of each rep.
  • Hips. Bend your hips and knees at the same time. Move your hips back and down while pushing your knees out.
  • Lower Back. Squat with a natural arch like when you stand. No rounding or excess arching. Keep your back neutral.
  • Grip. Squeeze the bar hard. But don’t try to support heavy weight with your hands. Let your upper-back carry the bar.
  • Grip Width. Use a medium grip, narrower than when you Bench Press. Your hands should be outside your shoulders.
  • Bar Position. Put the bar between your traps and rear shoulders (low bar) or on your traps (high bar). Center the bar.
  • Wrists. Your wrists will bend and hurt if you try to support the bar with your hands. Carry it with your upper-back.
  • Elbows. Behind your torso at the top, not vertical or horizontal. Inline with your torso at the bottom of your Squat.
  • Upper-back. Arch your upper-back to create support for the bar. Squeeze your shoulder-blades and raise your chest.
  • Chest. Raise your chest before you unrack the bar. Keep it up and tight by taking a big breath before you Squat down.
  • Head. Keep your head inline with your torso. Don’t look at the ceiling or at your feet. Don’t turn your head sideways.
  • Back Angle. Not vertical or horizontal but diagonal. The exact back angle depends on your build and bar position.
  • Unracking. Put the bar on your back and your feet under the bar. Unrack it by straightening your legs. Walk back.
  • Way Down. Bend your hips and knees at the same time. Hips back, knees out. Keep your lower back neutral.
  • Depth. Squat down until your hips are lower than your knees. Thighs parallel isn’t enough. Break parallel.
  • Way Up. Move you hips straight up. Keep your knees out, your chest up and your head neutral.
  • Between Reps. Stand with your hips and knees locked. Breathe. Get tight for the next rep.
  • Racking. Lock your hips and knees. Then step forward, hit the rack and bend your knees.
  • Bar Path. Move the bar in a vertical line over your mid-foot. No horizontal movement.
  • Breathing. Big breath at the top. Hold it at the bottom. Exhale at the top.
  •  




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    Hi everyone, I know it's been a while but I was in the neighborhood so I'm here to give my little baby thread a nice bump.

    For the past eight months I've been continuing to work pretty hard in the gym. I met a new group of friends and began working/hanging out with them more and more, and they have convinced me to take up Powerlifting! I'm not sure when I will compete yet, all I know is that I want to. With powerlifting, I have a chance to win some money, meet some more cool people, and hopefully compete on the National (International?) stage somewhere down the line!

    (Powerlifting consists of 1 rep max effort bench press, squats, and deadlifts; competitors are divided by weight class, much like olympic weightlifting)

    It hasn't really changed my focus/structure in the gym past the fact that I focus on strength more than I used to. I was dieting down to get a "summer body" from May onward but two weeks ago I said fuck it and - well long story short I'm back at 210 lbs. As for my strength it continues to grow, and I'm very excited to see how far I can take this.

    As for cosplay, that never happened LOL but maybe I'll do a group cos with friends somewhere in the future

    Anyway this is me a few weeks ago at my peak. Not long after this I said fuck diets and crushed 2lbs of dinosours and a case of pilsner (RIP the summer body....... and my digestive system)

    Other stuff: Did a few more mountain hikes this summer. here's a shitty portrait picture of Lineham Ridge in Waterton Lakes National Park (I think that's the name)

     

    Shout out to Nymeria because I know you've been killing it. Hope all is well with you!

    Also Farsala.... you reminded me to post here, so I expect you have been working hard too



    #1 Amb-ass-ador

    Yes, spent my entire summer focused on working out. Gained 45+ lbs, from 158 to ~205. I would say that was my first ever bulk phase, now I am into cutting down to 185 while keeping the muscle. My short terms goals will be to attain that weight and get more defined abs and back.

    When I first started I could barely lift 20lb bicep dumbbells, despite some minor working out before. Now I can more then double that. Pull-ups are my go to. Started out 2 or 3, peaked at 10+ on easy bars, doing about 5 or 6 on the new bars at my university.

    Overall a good few months with lots of progress and learning. However true strength has yet to come.

    My long term work out goal is the fabled one arm pull-up. By that I mean from dead hang with a single arm to the top. Right now I can do 1 assisted one arm pull-up, with my other hand grasping my wrist/arm.



    ReimTime said:

    Hi everyone, I know it's been a while but I was in the neighborhood so I'm here to give my little baby thread a nice bump.

    For the past eight months I've been continuing to work pretty hard in the gym. I met a new group of friends and began working/hanging out with them more and more, and they have convinced me to take up Powerlifting! I'm not sure when I will compete yet, all I know is that I want to. With powerlifting, I have a chance to win some money, meet some more cool people, and hopefully compete on the National (International?) stage somewhere down the line!

    (Powerlifting consists of 1 rep max effort bench press, squats, and deadlifts; competitors are divided by weight class, much like olympic weightlifting)

    It hasn't really changed my focus/structure in the gym past the fact that I focus on strength more than I used to. I was dieting down to get a "summer body" from May onward but two weeks ago I said fuck it and - well long story short I'm back at 210 lbs. As for my strength it continues to grow, and I'm very excited to see how far I can take this.

    As for cosplay, that never happened LOL but maybe I'll do a group cos with friends somewhere in the future

    Anyway this is me a few weeks ago at my peak. Not long after this I said fuck diets and crushed 2lbs of dinosours and a case of pilsner (RIP the summer body....... and my digestive system)

    Other stuff: Did a few more mountain hikes this summer. here's a shitty portrait picture of Lineham Ridge in Waterton Lakes National Park (I think that's the name)

     

    Shout out to Nymeria because I know you've been killing it. Hope all is well with you!

    Also Farsala.... you reminded me to post here, so I expect you have been working hard too

    Damn dude. How many cigarettes a day does it take to mantain that physique? Couple packs? Whatever the case may be, keep up the good work, and best of luck in competition. :)



    - "If you have the heart of a true winner, you can always get more pissed off than some other asshole."

    Having a hard time eating enough protein, especially for cheap. For example my meal today.

    Scoop of whey with milk- 40g Protein and $1.50
    4 Eggs- 30g protein $.40
    1/2 lb Ground Turkey with cheese and vegetables on top and a tortilla- ~60g protein $2.50
    Granola Bar- 10g Protein $.40
    ~12 oz Cottage Cheese- ~33-40g Protein $1.00

    Totals: 173-180g Protein for $5.80 per day.
    I fail to reach my requirement of 200g protein, and a months worth of food would cost $174. The money is approximate, so I assume its a little bit more and to reach the 200g protein I would say $200. I was used to eating 2 potatoes and some beef/night before I started working out. Was like $100 a month.



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    I'm just back from a 2 week vacation where I didn't work out at all. Well I did walk up and down the hills of San Francisco and bike along the coast but it's not the same, plus the food was not always healthy so it's back to serious things now.

    What I need to focus on is nutrition because I know that what I need to change to bulk up right now.



    Signature goes here!

    I limit or cut out: alcohol, dairy and grains if I want to  reduce my body fat %. White meats, green leafy vegetables, green/black tea, black coffee and plenty of water. I never got into doing the heavy lifts at the gym. More light/medium weights on weight machines, treadmill, rowing machine, spin classes and cycling my push bike. 



    A cool YT channel that I watch from time to time is "Jujimufu". He's got some really cool videos out, and although my goal has never been to be as big as him, he has a great personality and the videos are entertaining, so I watch them.

    (Hope it was okay to post in here; someone posted a link to this and I guess I didn't realize it hadn't been used in so long.)



    Taking a bit of a rest this week, did two half marathons in two weeks, and they were relatively flat so my best times yet. Got another half marathon next weekend.

    I'm only doing them for the medals (trophy mad me) :D

    Note: Never seen this thread before, but as its been brought up thought I would get involved :D



    Making an indie game : Dead of Day!

    Is SKMBlake actually ReimTime?



    - "If you have the heart of a true winner, you can always get more pissed off than some other asshole."