Sweet, now I can troll the O-Minds. Reza is such a poster boy imo.

K beginner questions

Front squats vs. Low-bar Back Squats (besides the obvious placement of the bar)
1. Eye position during the lift
2. Back angle
3. Stance width
4. Knees at the bottom (can they cave in, should they track over toes, etc...)
5. Wink?
6. # of reps/sets. I see a lot of 2 and 3 rep work w/ front squats on videos, what's a good way to work these into a standard strength program?

Jerk-- What is the best way to learn how to jerk, how do you decide between split-jerk or a Dimas type jerk (guess a squat-jerk?). Should I learn to push-press first?

1. straight ahead or slightly up
2. as vertical as possible
3. slightly narrower than lowbar position
4. keep them pushed to sides. at max efforts they will probably drift in
5. hip angle at bottom should be similar to low bar squat (you get deeper because you're more upright). winking is obviously bad
6. I stick to triples or lower, it's hard to breathe

Jerk - learn to push press a significant amount more than you can press (say 25%), then practice push jerks, then split jerks. Squat jerks are for competitive athletes - I don't think they serve any purpose for someone trying to develop strength and power with olifts.

AJ can probably correct me on some of these points, but I don't think I'm that far off.

considering subbing front squats for lbbs on weds cuz I think I still have some close to linear progress left for lbbs, but they're getting pretty soul-crushing and making me hate life. Or maybe on Friday so I'm less soul crushed before I deadlift. Good idea?

what's this have to do with O-lifts? nothing.

kidcolin, I've been doing the "advanced novice program" out of PPST

alternate bench/press every workout
M 3x5 LBBS; chins
W 3x3 FS; alternate 1x5 dl and 3x3 pc
F 3x5 LBBS; pullups

also, if I wanted to get more proficient at o lifting but not necessarily on a competitive level, do I need to switch to high-bar back squats?

smiley,

see my log. Don't want to hijack.

Ivan Chakarov squats 270kg three times

I like the start position, if you know what I mean...

Poor rack position imo, I've got the same problem.

I'm not positive but I think it's because the forward knees and vertical back angle don't allow the adductors to really be stretched at the bottom. A slacked muscle can contract but it won't do any work in moving the bar. Which leads to the knees coming in at heavy weights.

I just noticed the car driving through, wtflol?

yeah car driving rules. Dude just makes that weight look like nothing. Gross. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mL2d...eature=related

I'm thinking of doing a variant of this.

i have a hard time going beyond parrallel in a low bar squat, which should be standard. i have it in my head that i'd like to go deeper, which would require a higher bar position. is the added depth going to be more beneficial than the extra weight of a lower bar position?

if you could never go below parallel in a low bar squat, the high bar version would be vastly superior for knee health alone. but basically, you have to be doing something wrong to be having a hard time getting to parallel.

i can get to parallel fine. i would like to get ~6 inches deeper, and somewhere in there my hips tuck. i'd have to drop the weight, and i'm not sure the extra depth would be more beneficial.

Anyone?

Also, what's the usual weight correlation between lbbs and fs? Or is there even one, and it only matter which one you've trained more of?

For example, if I can squat 200 lbbs, what should I be able to fs w/out having tried it?

Need to? Probably not. IMO for most beginners there is a LOT of improvement that can be done with practice and proper coaching for O-lifts. Switching to HB vs. LB back squats is something that can be done later if you find that it is limiting your progress, but you can certainly get decent at O-lifting without switching.

75%? I could be wrong. Definitely less the first time you do it.

FS ~ Bench

So yes.

Would there be much to be said for swapping lowbar SS squats with the easier to learn and more natural (so i've heard) oly style back squats? I'm fed up getting my ass kicked by lowbar.

I think Rip is overzealous in his criticism of high bar squats. Either method done properly should get the job done.

Personally, I found the lack of forward knee travel in the low bar squat reduced my chronic patellar tendon pain.

Lifetime partial squatters would also see a benefit imo to switching to low bar as they give some much needed attention to their posterior chain.

I like this thread a lot and am looking forward to it growing. I am very interested in O-lifting and am interested in getting more into it over the next few months a little bit, and a lot more when I complete SS.

A missed snatch from my friend Greg that I captured at my gym last week. A lot of people from my gym are in Alabama competing in the American Open.