The hole will make or break you as a raw squatter. It is impossible to be a great squatter if you aren’t strong out of the hole. Being explosive in this portion of the lift will help carry you through any sticking points you may have. A combination of great strength in the legs, hips, back and abs, along with excellent mobility and technique are required to become great in this most difficult portion of the squat.
Improving your power out of the hole is critical if you wanna squat huge like my 700×10 in the Animal Cage at the Arnold Classic last weekend!
Mobility is one of the most overlooked aspects of being a great squatter. A lack of mobility in the hips, glutes, groin, low back, hamstrings and quads or any combination of those muscles can cause you to achieve less than ideal positions in the bottom portion of the squat and not allow you to fully express the strength you currently have. It could be a lack of mobility, not a lack of strength, that is causing you to miss squats. Tightness in one area or the other can cause you to shift forward in the hole, minimizing your ability to recruit your hamstrings, or mobility restrictions could be causing any other number of compensations to occur to allow you to hit depth and thus forcing you into less than optimal positions to express your strength. Improving mobility is a simple way to improve your squatting.
It is important to distinguish between something being simple and easy. Being a great squatter is simple, but it certainly isn’t easy. Improve your strength with squat variations, enhance your mobility through stretching, build muscle and address weakpoints with accessory work, recover properly with well planned nutrition and enough rest; none of those are complex ideas but none of them will come easy to you. They all require hard work, diligence, sacrifice and perseverance.
Once you have established proper mobility to achieve optimal (or as close to optimal as possible) positions, you now must develop strength out of the hole. Building strength in this critical portion of the lift is simple (not easy), you must eliminate the body’s ability to exploit the stretch reflex as a mechanism to rebound out of the hole. Doing this will teach you to recruit more muscle fibers and contract them more efficiently and explosively and you will become that much stronger when you once again have the ability to utilize the stretch reflex.
Check out this video where I discuss and demonstrate my favorite exercises to build strength out of the hole…
Check out these 12 week cycles of Dead and Pause Squats to help you build strength out of the hole. This part of the article is only available for JTSstrength.com Monthly and Yearly Subscribers…
To Read the rest of this article CLICK HERE to become a Juggernaut Member today and access exclusive content like this article and much more. Juggernaut Members get access to all our Members only content! Chad Wesley Smith is the founder and head physical preparation coach at Juggernaut Training Systems. Chad has a diverse athletic background, winning two national championships in the shot put, setting the American Record in the squat (905 in the 308 class, raw w/ wraps) and most recently winning the 2012 North American Strongman championship, where he earned his pro card. In addition to his athletic exploits, Chad has helped over 50 athletes earn Division 1 athletic scholarships since 2009 and worked with many NFL Players and Olympians. Chad is the author of The Juggernaut Method and The Juggernaut Method 2.0. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
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10 Comments to "Building Strength Out of the Hole"
Petteri Amee says:
March 5, 2013 at 7:21 pm -
Can’t see the members content and I’am a member
Trebin says:
March 6, 2013 at 6:07 pm -
So would you add both of these in after your normal squat workout or replace normal squats w/ the pause and deads.
Chad Smith says:
March 6, 2013 at 7:59 pm -
Normal squat work first, then paused work or dead squats. Check out my other article, Building An Explosive Squat.
Trebin says:
March 7, 2013 at 5:46 pm -
Awesome, this will be a great addition for assistance work w/ the cube. I appreciate the quick response as well!
Malcolm Smith says:
March 6, 2013 at 9:25 pm -
Chad, I’m doing a 12 week leg training to build my strength in the squat. I do have a problem whenever I do miss a attempt in squat it is out of the hole or 1-2in above. On the squat training I’m doing now is like a percentage of max squat for 3 work sets of 5 reps, then the next week I do a percentage for 10 sets of 5, then the next heavy week i do a different percentage with 4 reps. You kind of get the idea. Now doing this squat training when would I incorporate the pause squat or the dead squat in this cycle. Could I do the pause squat or dead squat on the day I deadlift?
Chad Smith says:
March 6, 2013 at 9:54 pm -
Yes, pause squats and dead squats could be done as supplementary work after you deadlift. Olympic shoes are great to help keep you stable and hit depth easier in a narrow or medium stance.
Malcolm Smith says:
March 6, 2013 at 9:31 pm -
Chad, another question. I have notice that alot of raw squatters has been wearing like the olympic weight lifting shoes, the ones with the raised heels. What are the pros and cons of wearing the olympic shoes? Would it benefit in the squat?
Malcolm Smith says:
March 7, 2013 at 1:38 pm -
Chad another question about the dead squat and pause squat. Do you base the percentage of the lifts off your max competition squat? Like my max compitetion squat is 605 so on say the dead squat I would do 55% of 605 for 6 sets of 1 rep?
Chad Smith says:
March 8, 2013 at 3:28 pm -
Yes, unless you compete in wraps. Then I would base your %s off your wrapless max. 5rm, 3rm, 1rm-You just work up to as heavy a weight as you can for a set of 5, 3 or 1.
Malcolm Smith says:
March 7, 2013 at 1:59 pm -
Chad, I know you probably saying I wish this guy would group all his question at one time, but I have CRS(can’t remember shit) syndrum. On the Pause squats week 3,7 and 11 it has 5 Count Pause Squat-Up to 5rm, 3 Count Pause Squat-Up to 3rm, 2 Count Pause Squat-Up to 1rm. What weight do you use?