Squats

Way down this road, in a gym far away
A young man was once heard to say
"I've repped high and I've repped low, 
No matter what I do, my legs won't grow" 


He tried leg extensions, leg curls, and leg presses too 
Trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he'd do. 


From the corner of the gym where the BIG men train, 
Through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain 
Where the big iron rides high and threatens lives, 
Where the noise is made with big forty-fives, 


A deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees, 
A very big man with legs like trees. 
Laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack 
Chalking his hands and monstrous back, 
said, "Boy, stop lying and don't say you've forgotten, 
The trouble with you is you ain't been SQUATTIN'."


 — DALE CLARK, 1983


Yesterday I went help a friend do his strength workout.

Not that gym workouts are of that much importance to a climber type of roadie... but since his goal is to be a professional cyclist, and since he is at this present moment without a contract (and thus, not in the "racing season"), it might not be so bad to use some weights.

It was the first time I went to this training site. For my likings, it isn't what I'd call a perfect training facility. It's a gym alright, but the focuses were on machines, which wasn't abound and covering all aspects either. But the main drawback was the lack of a squat rack, and the free bar to practice dead lifts and cleans with.

Never mind, the Smith in the corner will do. That friend of mine used to went to a coach for training advices. But from what I've heard, the menu he gave were pretty like that of a body builder (rather than an athlete); the training philosophy was quite weird (he stressed on achieving target numbers, not loading and building the correct muscle groups); and most of all, the lack of emphasis of maintaining the right form. He even instructed the wrong form with which to do squats.

Now with the Smith machine, my gym class teacher used to tell me to stand with my feet way forward, leaning backwards into the bars, and squat down. Which was exactly how the coach told my friend to do. Which also I believe was totally wrong.

(Tina maybe you can get your brother to correct me on this! :D )

Our goals, (as in mine, and that of the aforementioned coach), were quite similar: to develop my friend's glute muscles. As a skinny climber, he lacks the ability to utilize his glutes in a low and aerodynamic position, or jump for a quick acceleration. (I'm not sure if he told the coach he wanted to strengthen this area or the coach asked him to do so. Since we've went on rides together before, I have told him about this problem. Alround performance-wise this guy would almost beat me in every aspect, but when it come down to a sprint, nine out of ten times he'd had to eat my dust.)

Well that was then, and the thing was based on observations only. (Actually the first person to have pointed that one out wasn't me, but rather a dude called Nate Busch, who was a former pro that rode for Trek VW.) But since I began to take on the job as my friend's personal masseur, I was able to verify that with my own hands. Here I can proudly declare, of all those men's buts (!) that I've touched, this fella is definitely on the lean side. But to know the problem was one thing, trying to fix it was quite another.

As to the so-called "squat" positions suggested by the coach. Yes, a man with strong glutes would easily pump up the bars with that sort of form without a hint of a doubt. But for someone lacking the glutes, or one who doesn't know how to activate his glutes, lifting weights using this position could still be achieved by contraction of the quads. Actually, using this method wasn't going to get any benefits of squats at all. You might as well go on a leg-press machine (which, the gym didn't have, oddly enough) if you only want to do this sort of training. I told my friend to use a wide stance, feet pointing slightly outwards, and sitting backwards while squatting down. Maintaining a rigid back, stomach engaged, knees kept vertically behind the toes... basically what Mr. Mark Rippetoe promotes in his book Starting Strength.

After this change, the 10RM weight of my friend immediately dropped from more than 40kg to 20 (my "warmup" loading). In fact, that's when ironically the benefits of the Smith kicks in. With my friend barely lifting those 20kg, lacking the support would have get him literally tipped over if we're not careful. (I think next time I'd have him start from 15 or even 10 maybe.)

While I'm no professional trainer by any means, I can see where the problems might be. The rider in this case didn't have the strength in his glutes to support a "sitting back towards the rear" position. The reason I can make this assumption, is while this guy's hip joints have reasonably good range of motion (I also helped him with passive stretching and stuff after a massage session), he could barely maintain an "air squat" position or do a starting pose of a dead lift, with a tendency of tipping over. (Watching him doing all those panicky stuff was actually quite funny.) AND if I force him to do so, his back tends to hunch up. All traces suggesting his glute muscles couldn't sustain much load in a stretched-out manner. Let alone to contract and putting the power down.

The advice I'd gave him? Do squats. And do the CORRECT squats. With someone watching and constantly helping him to note maintaining the correct form, knees held back etc., he'd be able to really focus on where he lacks. In training, I believe, form comes before performance.

On a final note, next time I'd try to get a box or something to put under his bottom, so as to prevent him from going too deep. This guy really doesn't have much stuff to pump that thing up from an over-extended position.