Dumping the bar without a rack...

[Anthrax Invasion]

If a person squats at home and gets stuck in the hole, what should they do? This is assuming, of course, that said person has no squat rack or cage or anything of the sort to catch the bar.

 

[araiber]

Make sure you squat behind nothing so you can just drop the bar behind you on pads or a cushion, or blankets to not ruin your floor. Make sure its safe before attempting. Possibly think about having 2 chairs or benches set up on the sides of it. Feel free to use things in your house to support the weight.

 

[anotherbutters]

Get yourself a strong girlfriend/wife to catch the bar

I workout at home and have both rack and platform, but I wouldn't want to dump the bar onto the platform for noise and destruction reasons (the floor under the platform isn't concrete). It's tricky. The rack isn't brilliant either as I'm always hitting it with one side or the other when I bounce out of the hole.

 

[musketeer]

This is a problem that most people reach as they progress. As strength increases, so do the risks and the need for a proper training environment. My personal descision would be to bite the bullet and get a rack. Using chairs or other home- made utilities is simply asking for trouble as they are not designed for the job and will let you down at the worst time: when you are failing a rep! You need someing that you can rely on in order to train confidently. A $400 rack is worth the money if you use it 3 x a week for the ten years or so that it will last - that's 1500 accident free workouts at the price of 26 cents a go!

As an alternative to a rack, front squats are an excellent alternative. You are able to reliably dump the bar at the end of a set. This is not like back squats, where you cannot dump the bar if you are failing - the angle of your forward lean (when using 70% 1RM + ) will mean that the weight of the bar is pushing down through your body, and if you could throw the bar behind, then you could also easily finish the rep.

In order to save the floor or weights, two oversize tires can be placed where the weights will land. Experiment with the drop from lower heights - like with deadlifts - in order to gauge how the barbell will land.

When I plan to do heavy back squats, I train at a gym where the is an ajustable rack. If I'm not at such a place, I do front, overhead, and/or split squats instead.

 

[blut wump]

That's interesting Musketeer, I've been in that situation. I couldn't get out of the hole but I still had my torso reasonably erect so I hadn't yet been squished. I was able to shrug the bar backwards onto the rack-bars with my traps as I popped myself forwards and up and out.

I was wondering whether that clearly shows any particular weakness in me. Hips? Hams? I do generally find that anything I can get out of the hole is easy to complete.

 

[LiftingDukkha]

I agree with Musketeer. Basically every time I've ever failed a squat rep, it's been "falling" forward. Without rack pins to catch the bar, I would've almost certainly crashed on the ground with the bar smashing my head, or even worse, perhaps would've buckled in half with 4-500+ lbs squeezing me further & breaking my neck or spine.

I've seen pictures of guys failing squat attempts at PL meets, surrounded by 8 other guys, trying to catch the, say, 900 lb barbell as it's riding the back of his head & his face is crashing into the ground.

Squatting safety is not a foo-foo issue. It's the real deal!

(Does anyone agree with me that it seems ludicrous that at Powerlifting meets, it always seems mandatory that Squats be performed using only free-standing squat supports, with no rack or anything for safety except about 6-10 guys standing behind you & to both sides?)

 

[musketeer]

That's interesting Musketeer, I've been in that situation. I couldn't get out of the hole but I still had my torso reasonably erect so I hadn't yet been squished. I was able to shrug the bar backwards onto the rack-bars with my traps as I popped myself forwards and up and out.

I was wondering whether that clearly shows any particular weakness in me. Hips? Hams? I do generally find that anything I can get out of the hole is easy to complete.

I'd say for a tall guy like you, there will have to be a considerable forward lean to accomodate the long levers - no?

If you are nearly upright at the bottom, then you are probably not getting enough work from your hams. I was taught that heavy squats require an initial thrust from the lower back (effected by the glutes and hams) when in the hole. The quads then take over after the first 2 inch hip-drive.

PERHAPS someone who knows more could explain more accurately...

Just to re-itterate my point to everyone:

If you are throwing near limit weights behind you to the floor (especially when exhausted) you are taking a risk. Doing it routinely and intentionaly (because you have no rack) is almost certainly going to result in an accident at some point.

 

[cubuff27]

I have actually seen in the back of mags two straps that hang from the ceiling that go on the end of the bar so if you fail on the rep the straps grap a hold of it. I guess you could do the same with some chains from Home Depot if you have some good trusses up in the ceiling and you own your house it would be worth it...that is of course if you aren't married. No wife alive would probably let you put two big holes in the ceiling just so you could squat in safety ;-)

 

[anotherbutters]

Wow, the thought of catching a heavy bar from supports in the ceiling rather than dumping it onto a solid floor sounds pretty scary. I'd probably get hit by the toilet or a wardrobe after the ceiling caved in.

 

[blut wump]

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Wow, the thought of catching a heavy bar from supports in the ceiling rather than dumping it onto a solid floor sounds pretty scary. I'd probably get hit by the toilet or a wardrobe after the ceiling caved in.

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

If a person squats at home and gets stuck in the hole, what should they do? This is assuming, of course, that said person has no squat rack or cage or anything of the sort to catch the bar.

huh? whats holding the loaded bar off the floor if its not in a rack? sorry i cant really picture this...LOL

 

[Jim Ouini]

I've always thought these were pretty cool. Too pricey, though.

http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/prodinfo.asp?number=1227

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

My bench setup doubles as a squat rack. I can turn the posts around and raise them to a higher level, then get under it and unrack the bar. Problem is, if I'm stuck in the hole, I'm near the floor, and the rack is 4-5 feet high.

Jim, I'd rather just build my own set of those. I'm sure it'd be cheaper, and easier, than buying their shit for $400.

 

[AlwaysOn]

go to the hardware store and get adjustable sawhorses!!

its pretty much the same thing as ironmind but only like $25-40 per pair!!!!!!!!


http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine03/homegym.htm

 

[AlwaysOn]

and they are probably better than the $400 ironmind

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Damn, that's a pretty kick ass link. Thank you sir!

 

[Micker]

Link was cool, but I find it hard to take advice from someone who looks like the guy in that article. He looks like a before picture for sure. Anyone who would go through all that work setting up a home gym like that should at least have a muscle on some part of their body .

As far as dumping the bar during squats, if you are doing squats alone without a rack, you just can't go to failure. Make sure you have another rep left in ya or you are in for a loud bang.

 

[JL_204]

My bench setup doubles as a squat rack. I can turn the posts around and raise them to a higher level, then get under it and unrack the bar. Problem is, if I'm stuck in the hole, I'm near the floor, and the rack is 4-5 feet high.

This is similar to the set-up I just bought. I haven't done heavy squats yet as it seems hard to re-rack the wieght(the decline bar is somewhat in the way).

Have you had any problems with this???

 

[NorgePrecision]

The mere thought of the pressure on my knees as I'm trying to push up 400 lbs. and then having to come back down on the rack is almost unbearable. They may take it going up, but stopping and going back down puts a lot of pressure on the joints.

 

[LiftingDukkha]

Link was cool, but I find it hard to take advice from someone who looks like the guy in that article. He looks like a before picture for sure. Anyone who would go through all that work setting up a home gym like that should at least have a muscle on some part of their body.

I looked at the link. I don't know who the guy is. But his article is similar to other articles I read on the net dealing mainly with Westside Barbell, Louie Simmons-style training. In addition, other "fads" of late have to do with Grip Strength. These guys at www.dieselcrew.com perfectly represent this, both the Westside ME/DE + GPP work ethic, and the Milo/Ironmind Grip Work ethic.

My point is, if you browse around many of those types of websites, you notice that almost none of the guys in pictures given, look particularly big or muscular. But they're almost all to a man STRONG AS FUCK! Guys who look like gas station jockeys, deadlifting 700+ lbs, Clean & Jerking 300+ lbs. with 2" thick barbells, pinch-gripping 2 35-lb plates in either hand. STRONG AS FUCK! For many of us, that's the primary goal. Not really "just" powerlifting, but not showy appearance, either. I don't want to get into the stupid "PL vs. BB" debate. I'm just saying, hard as a lot of these guys work out these days, mainly using Louie Simmons' "garage-home-gym" Westside routines, a lot of guys are getting true all-around functional strength, outstanding strength compared to average people, and yet they might still only "look" like "average" Joes.

 

[blut wump]

[snip...]

As far as dumping the bar during squats, if you are doing squats alone without a rack, you just can't go to failure. Make sure you have another rep left in ya or you are in for a loud bang.

Easier said than done. I've more than once found myself stuck in the hole without expecting it. The past couple of times it's happened to me on an early set. I've re-racked the bar and gone on to do more sets with the same weight.

Presumably, my form isn't as dialled-in as it should be but you can't always predict when you're going to fail on a complex, compound movement.