Sticking point on squats

[bigred133]

I have been doing the workout from the book "Starting Strength" since November 15th, 2006.

This workout includes full ROM ATG Olympic back squats every workout 3 days a week. Here is the link from the training sticky if you are not familiar with it. I have read the book cover to cover myself.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752

I started with a light weight and perfect form out of the book, and progressively increased weight each workout if I got all the required reps for 3x5.

Now that the weight is heavier, when I do my work sets I seem to get stuck and pause for half a second about half way up, and then I finish the rep. This seems to be the point where the hips have got me out of the bottom and now the legs have to get me the rest of the way up.

I still have good form, and I still get the weight up, but there is a pause in the middle. I hit the sticking point, push harder, and get it up.

This does not happen during warm ups, but only during the work set.

I have tried explosively speeding up my reps during warmups, by my work set goes up slow.

My question is: Do I still increase the weight 5lbs each week if I get all of my reps, even though some of the reps look like this?

If I do not increase the weight then there would be no change to the workload. If I do increase the weight I will keep pausing at the sticking point.


Please advise. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TomoUK]

what weight are u at now and what is your body weight?

As long as your keeping your form; staying on your heels during the pause and avoiding the temptation to lean forwards and push off your toes then i dont see a problem, id keep increasing the weight.

 

[bigred133]

what weight are u at now and what is your body weight?

I squatted 220 for 3 sets of 5 last night for a 5lb increase over Monday's workout. I just weighed in at 203 with a belly full of food and average bodyfat with a 38" waist at 5'10" tall. On Nov 15 my 5RM tested at 135 when full squats were a new excercise to me.

I am staying on my heels. That has never been a problem. Some times when I get stuck for a second my torso leans forward as I try to continue to lift my hips but I instantly correct it and lean back pressing my neck into the bar to prevent that, and then straighten my legs. I am not trying to push off my toes.

 

[blut wump]

You'll repeatedly find this happening as you continue to increase weight and continue learning to squat. Your warmup weights aren't causing anything to fail and muscles are breezing through them. As you hit your work sets, muscles are having to call in support to get through parts of the lift.

Assuming your form isn't collapsing and you're having to turn it into a GM, keep increasing the weight so long as the lift is going up. When you come to reset the weight at some stage, you'll find that your form on the current weight has improved as you've become stronger overall.

You could also try to push harder out of the hole to blast through the sticking point. Also make a bit effort to get your hips though. It might be worthwhile to take a video and post it up for comments.

 

[TomoUK]

I definately wouldnt worry about the pausing then, its bound to get harder now your lifting well over your bodyweight for sets of 5, just keep increasing the weight as you can, eventually you will get to a point where you cant increase it any more and will need to change things up slightly, no need to worry about that just yet tho. sounds like your making good progress, keep it up!

I squatted 220 for 3 sets of 5 last night for a 5lb increase over Monday's workout. I just weighed in at 203 with a belly full of food and average bodyfat with a 38" waist at 5'10" tall. On Nov 15 my 5RM tested at 135 when full squats were a new excercise to me.

I am staying on my heels. That has never been a problem. Some times when I get stuck for a second my torso leans forward as I try to continue to lift my hips but I instantly correct it and lean back pressing my neck into the bar to prevent that, and then straighten my legs. I am not trying to push off my toes.

 

[mm107]

You'll repeatedly find this happening as you continue to increase weight and continue learning to squat. Your warmup weights aren't causing anything to fail and muscles are breezing through them. As you hit your work sets, muscles are having to call in support to get through parts of the lift.

Assuming your form isn't collapsing and you're having to turn it into a GM, keep increasing the weight so long as the lift is going up. When you come to reset the weight at some stage, you'll find that your form on the current weight has improved as you've become stronger overall.

You could also try to push harder out of the hole to blast through the sticking point. Also make a bit effort to get your hips though. It might be worthwhile to take a video and post it up for comments.

hey blut, maybe he could do some partials after his work set? set the pins to exactly where his sticking point is and blast it? (not heavy ass weight, but weight he is able to do for 5 reps with SPEED)

Just wondering, im kinda of asking for myself as well.

 

[silver_shadow]

i don't know how useful that would be for a relative novice to the exercise. bigred, just concentrate on blasting out of the hole, also a good back arch helps transfer the load nicely to the hip IMO. and nice progress too

 

[blut wump]

hey blut, maybe he could do some partials after his work set? set the pins to exactly where his sticking point is and blast it? (not heavy ass weight, but weight he is able to do for 5 reps with SPEED)

Just wondering, im kinda of asking for myself as well.

He could do partials but he's not really trying to move mountains yet and just needs to get stronger. Straight squatting should be all he needs at this stage. Blast out of the hole and hold the core tight.

For yourself, it might be different; I get the impression you're a lot more advanced. Box squats are always a good option as are speed squats to help to learn to drive hard and fast.

 

[mm107]

He could do partials but, despite his weight to bodyweight ratio, he's not really trying to move mountains yet and just needs to get stronger. Straight squatting should be all he needs at this stage. Blast out of the hole and hold the core tight.

For yourself, it might be different; I get the impression you're a lot more advanced. Box squats are always a good option as are speed squats to help to learn to drive hard and fast.

Yea, your DEF right....when i first started all i worried about was straight squatting......Bigred listen to them....Full squating is the shit 3x week squatting is amazing

 

[Czar87]

When are hips brought into the lift during a squat ? When im pushing straight up with traps ?

 

[mm107]

When are hips brought into the lift during a squat ? When im pushing straight up with traps ?

when you go below parrellel the weight transfers from you knees to your hips