« How to squat heavier despite trashed knees | Main | Protect your back with a 'virtual belt' »
October 3, 2005
How to Use 'Dead squats' for Extra Power
Question: I saw a big dude in my gym squatting from the bottom up from the power rack pins. What is the purpose of this type of training?
I will start with the benefits of ‘dead squatting’. First and foremost, it keeps you honest. While you can get cute in the traditional back squat by cutting your depth for instance, the dead weight sitting welded to the pins will accept nothing less than real strength. Second, it is a very safe way to squat. And fun too. The dead squat is the ultimate in muscle tension.
The drawbacks. First, because it de-emphasizes the negative, the dead squat does not build as much muscle as the down-and-up squat. It can be an advantage though, if you are satisfied with your thigh size and just want to get stronger. Second, the dead squat does not teach you to ‘store tension’ on the way down. It means that you will not improve your regular up-and-down squat without specific practice in addition to your power rack squats.
Set a light barbell inside a power rack at a level that places your thighs at parallel once you crawl under the bar. Get under – quickly, before your cramp! – take a breath, tighten up, and stand up.
De-emphasize the negative. Do singles. Add small amounts of weight until you work up to a near max, then take off some weight and do one or two back-off sets of five to ten reps. Let the bar rest completely on the pins between each rep. The whole workout might look like this: 185x1, 225x1, 275x1, 295x1, 305x1, 310x1, 225x10. Ease into it as you are likely to get very sore, especially in your hip flexors.
Follow the above routine one to three times a week. You will not need any other hip and thigh work. A few years ago I put two friends of mine, everyday guys in their forties, on this program. They kept improving at least five pounds a week for almost a year without back cycling of any sort.
The definitive text on the dead squat is How to Squat 900lbs Without Drugs, Powersuits, or Knee Wraps by Bud Jeffries (Strongerman.com). In the know people consider Jeffries the successor of Anderson. The man parallel dead squatted a grand!
For more information on this and related strength topics order Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding today
Posted by james at October 3, 2005 6:24 AM
Comments
Posted by: Rob Sjoberg at October 23, 2005 9:05 PM