Ask a Personal Trainer

reiteration

where you based at - I may have a bench for sale... county durham for me...

IronGiant

West Coast of Ireland...

reiteration

aha...bit far for me...

Dan Turner

Wardy,

read your other post and was a good read, you might be the guy to help me out.
I've just left uni and while I was there I had enough time to be able to train pretty hard and get myself into a physique I was happy with. But after a pretty horrific ankle injury I slipped quite a bit and then my final years we work intensive (as expected). Recently I have got back into a good routine and am starting to see tone etc coming back.

Anyway to the point, I've been very concious the last couple of months that I think I'm allowing myself to get sloppy on my squats. I do my best to keep back straight, pick a point to focus on, close grip etc but I've noticed I seem to be pushing quite a lot through the balls of my feel rather than the heels and then have to make a concious effort to correct.
Is there something fundamentally wrong that I am doing or are there any tricks which might help me teach my body how to be?

Cheers

Dan

Desmo

Have you tried squatting bare feet? If your trainers have too high a heel on them it will tip you forward and you start to push through your toes. Try it without your trainers on and see if you push through your heels more. It's a really quick way to remove one of the simplest problems on squats.

Dan Turner

I used to squat bare feet but since moving have been in trainers. Perhaps that is what it is. I will try it out this week hopefully and report back.

Cheers Desmo

reiteration

I have seen a few people place their toes on thin plates...not sure of the exact reason why tho - never tried it myself...

Desmo

Same sort of thing, stops you from tipping forwards. Wouldn't do it myself though, has to be much better for your feet to just take your shoes off or wear decent flat soled shoes.

Wardy257

Try squatting onto a box or bench with no weight and see how far you can get your hips back. When doing this your weight should be on your heels. This should get you into good habits.

Bar position may also be a factor if it is too high on your back?

I wear flat bottom running shoes with the vibram sole to help keep my fet flat.

Do you do any mobility work?

99P

Hi Wardy, I currently have a minor niggle in my upper right arm (outside of the bicep, what muscle is that??) which is stopping me from lifting my normal weight for bench/shoulder press and lateral raises. Other arm exercises are ok. In this situation, am I best to stop all training until my arm has fully recovered or do you think it's ok to carry on training and just skip those exercises?