Anyone else into Overhead Squats?

[phatman42]

Been doing them for a few weeks now, and starting to get confident with them. I've always had pretty poor balance, and this seems to be getting my right in that weakness.

Only doing 130ish at the moment, don't wanna rush it. Going up a couple of pounds each session.... it all adds up after all

 

[vinylgroover]

Sounds unnecessarily risky..........what is their benefit?

 

[IronLion]

I do them

I don't do them heavy but I use them to warm up for squats sometimes. I hope you are doing them in chucks or oly shoes phatman, they are much easier with a solid flat shoe.

My best snatch is 309 so that is also my best overhead squat, 130 is a very respectable weight with those....I still rarely go above 135

 

[louden_swain]

They are tough!!!

When I was a thrower, our coach had I use them in our training.

Excellent for building balance and coordination.

Using 130lbs is really respectable!

Good work!

 

[phatman42]

vinylgroover: no more risky than other oly lifts.

IL: yeah i've been incorparating olympic lifts (well power snatch, power cleans and OHS) into my WSB routine, cos they're just so much fun

Sticking to triples though... not much point in going for maxes.

 

[Zander1983]

Sounds unnecessarily risky..........what is their benefit?

They're more for athletes rather than bodybuilders. As has been mentioned, they're great for balance and total body coordination.

 

[sinjinsmythe33]

yep

did them last nite with dumbells. very challenging, dont do them toward the end of your lower bidy work. do the first, when you are fresh.

 

[IronLion]

i have been putting my oly lifts into my wsb split lately too, care to post what yours looks like now?

 

[phatman42]

Re: yep

did them last nite with dumbells. very challenging, dont do them toward the end of your lower bidy work. do the first, when you are fresh.

How on earth do you do them with dumbells?!??

With the BB i have my hands very wide (index fingers on rings) and even then it's tough!!

 

[phatman42]

i have been putting my oly lifts into my wsb split lately too, care to post what yours looks like now?

I've got OHS on both my squat days (after the main squat exercise)

Also on DE squat day i do as my squat assistance lifts,
2 from Power Snatch, Power Clean, SLDL or Speed DLs

Depending on what i feel like doing at the time

 

[sinjinsmythe33]

How on earth do you do them with dumbells?!??


i take the dumbells and press them above my head, squat deep, wide stance, then come up most of the way. these were only 35 pd dumbells. if i had to do it again, i would have started with them instead of box squats. the overhead are very challenging, and i am new to them.

 

[IronLion]

Try this, squat down with dumbell at your shoulder level, when you are in full atf squat position press the db's overhead, then complete the move by squatting up with the db's overhead

this is called a zott press and it is hell....lol

 

[JollyRogers]

I like hell, I gonna try this on Saterday.

 

[OfWolfandMan]

IronLion,
So do you do this and repeat...Like
1.squat
2.press overhead
3.stand up
4.lower the weight,then repeat like before
Just wanting to make sure.What kind of reps would be good for this movement?Thanks for any replies

 

[IronLion]

yes
1weight at shoulders
2squat
3press overhead
4stand
reapeat

I do them with Kettlebells sometimes, db's should be a little easier, i like them as a third move on a me lower day b/c they work shoulder stability/flexability and balance and core.

try 1-2 sets of 10 and move on, maybe do 3 sets of 10 the first time to get the rythm down, oh and remember to squeeze the shit out of the dumbell

 

[endpoint]

I do them as warm ups....and finishers for some snatch work

 

[coolcolj]

Try drop snatches - much more challenging and functional

ie bar on shoulders like your gonna squat, then dip down a bit, and push yourself under the the bar into the oevrehad squat bottom position, jump your feet out wider to accomplice this and then oevrhead squat the bar up. Then lower the bar back to your back, bend legs to absorb the shock, repeat.

rigt click and save
http://138.9.1.58/athleticperformance/exercise videos/Olympic Lift Videos/snatchheavebalance.MPG

 

[Cuthbert]

CCJ.... drop snatches are sweet. I've only done them on a couple occasions, but I really enjoy them.

 

[Exodus]

i do these in the first 3 weeks of my 9 week wsb split.

i worked up to 135 for 4 sets of 10. and 155 for 3 sets of 10.

i love them. im looking forward to doing them again in 3 weeks.

X

 

[Nico Cujo]

IronLion, that 140kg snatch is awesome. Do you compete in the OL's?

 

[OfWolfandMan]

Iron Lion
Dude,I tryed the zot presses......that had to have been one of the hardest things Ive ever done.I just did them as a warm up,and used an empty 45lb bar...ALOT harder than I thought they would be.Thanks for filling me in on them

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Overhead squats are severely underrated.

 

[OfWolfandMan]

I have another question for you guys that overhead squat.Are you not able to sit back into it much?If I try to sit back,I feel like Im about to fall back,so my knees end up going foreward alot,which makes holding the bar on overhead squats feel very hard.My upper body goes foreward more,and my shoulders feel like Im forcing them into a stretching movement,more than trying to strengthen anything.
It all feels good,but seems like Im doing something wrong

 

[Cuthbert]

I'm no pro on OH squats, and I haven't done them in a bit... but I do not remember being able to sit back much at all.

As far as the shoulder stretching goes, I know I'm not flexible to hold the bar as far back as I want while it's overhead. With time, the shoulder girdle will become more flexible.

Have a look at some good olympic lifters, and see how far backward their shoulders stretch in the bottom position of a snatch... right before they OH squat the weight up.

 

[Exodus]

im not a pro either....... but i actually dont worry to much if my knees go a little forward. i thought quads were a big muscle involved in the olympic lifts so thats one of the reasons i do them. since im training powerlifting style, my quads dont get much attention. but the events kill them, and so do overhead squats.

X

 

[IronLion]

here is a picture of me coming out of the hole on a snatch, the bar should be behind your head, pretty much in line with your hips. Knees will come forward a lot more than a box squat. The benefits of learning this way is that it helps your balance and regualr squat form immensely....not to mention giving you more shoulder stability and flexability

 

[Exodus]

your a beast.............. but thats what i look like at the bottom of the overhead squats.

X

 

[overhead]

I gave these a shot a couple of days ago, my shoulders are really not very flexible, but i bet this will help. I have a question about the snatch portion. When doing a snatch, as a pull the bar overhead, should I be in almost a full squat postion?

 

[IronLion]

In a full snatch you pull the bar as high as you need to drop underneath it, for me that is about mid stomach. After you pull you have to violently drop as low as possible. Try some drop squats to get used to this feeling

 

[benchmonster]

Zott's presses are very tough. As is a squat press. Take a kettlebell in each hand, hold at chest/shoulder height in front of the body, go to a full olympic squat, stand up, then press overhead.

I did 2 sets of 5 of these the other day with 77 lb kettlebells. Unbeleivably tough exercise. then did a set of 5 cleans, and followed that up with a set of 5 clean and presses all with the 77's. I did this after my bench workout. All 4 sets may have taken 10 or 15 minutes and would have been plenty of workout all by themselves.

Be aware of the power of the odd lift.

B.

 

[overhead]

In a full snatch you pull the bar as high as you need to drop underneath it, for me that is about mid stomach. After you pull you have to violently drop as low as possible. Try some drop squats to get used to this feeling

Thanks, I will give a another shot Friday. I am not so worried about violently droping my body low to the floor, but the bar violently hitting me in the head is a concern .

 

[Exodus]

I am not so worried about violently droping my body low to the floor, but the bar violently hitting me in the head is a concern .

QUOTE OF THE DAY GOES TO OVERHEAD!!!!

X

 

[overhead]

Tried it again today and they felt much better. What I did was a snatch , locked my knees, than did a squat, then lowered the bar again. It felt pretty good and I did not hit myself in the head, which is always a plus. I am going to have to improve my snatch (geez that sounds bad) before the squat portion will work my legs enough, but I figure at the very least if will improve my shoulder and hip flexibility. Thanks for the tips IL.

 

[Exodus]

well, you could set the bar up high so you wouldnt have to do a power snatch. but i like doing them. but sometimes i just do the squat.

X

 

[overhead]

I thought about that, but I also like snatching. There are just too many darn excercises I like to do and just not enough time to get them all done, so I have to combine them as much as possible.

 

[Exodus]

amen to that one.

good luck to you.

X

 

[overhead]

A side note, while I was doing this today and had the bar over my head, some guy walked by and said "aren't you worried about dropping that on your head", I laughed so hard that I almost dropped the bar

 

[endpoint]

Try drop snatches - much more challenging and functional

ie bar on shoulders like your gonna squat, then dip down a bit, and push yourself under the the bar into the oevrehad squat bottom position, jump your feet out wider to accomplice this and then oevrhead squat the bar up. Then lower the bar back to your back, bend legs to absorb the shock, repeat.

rigt click and save
http://138.9.1.58/athleticperformance/exercise videos/Olympic Lift Videos/snatchheavebalance.MPG

the one thing that is helping my snatches greatly ATM

 

[coolcolj]

In a full snatch you pull the bar as high as you need to drop underneath it, for me that is about mid stomach. After you pull you have to violently drop as low as possible. Try some drop squats to get used to this feeling

that means I could snatch 253lbs right now if I had the technique down!!!

 

[JOKER47]

I just tried full snatches for the first time today as part of my DE lower. Man, they are tough, but I like'em.

I plan to keep them as a secondary move for DE lower.


Joker

 

[overhead]

I would like to try those drop snatches , but I have been advised to avoid behind the head presses due to a shoulder problem I had a while ago. But, then again , if done correctly I assume I would be more dropping under the bar then pressing it. I guess the drop snatch would not put that much more stress on my shoulder than a regular snatch. Maybe I will give it a shot.