Squatting . W I D E

[Firehawk]

I'm looking for replies from DarkAngel, Jaster, any guys that take pride in their squatting and know about westside training their squats really wide...

I just did a session today on the box squats and was squatting very wide. I had just watched a workout session on Chuck Vogalpohl (Sp) and how they all squat over there.

Louie Simmons swears by squatting wide and i completely felt it much more in my ass.

I guess the question is how wide do you guys go? I was probably double shoulder width out...

[Gartrell]

My feet touch the sides of the power rack...

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by Gartrell

My feet touch the sides of the power rack...

How wide is the power rack? That's not THAT wide if it's a standard type, like 4 ft or so...

If you seen those boys from westside squat, they squat much wider than my powerrack. They are probably a good 5 ft or so from inner foot to inner foot, which ispretty damn wide.

[Cort]

Wide for me is probably 3/4 of a foot or so past each shoulder. I've never really measured it, I just get into a position that feels comfortable and lift.

[.V.]

I was wondering something along the same lines a couple of days ago. Is wider better, stronger, safer? Or is it just a personal preference thing?

[Firehawk]

The wider you go the more you target your hips/glutes/hamstrings. The narrower you go the more you target your quads. It's all in what you'er trying to do.

If you want a big squat, wider is better, targetting the muscles that give you a big squat and can handle the load. I'm doing it the westside way, which is extremely wide.

Also if you are on a box and squat wide, you can practice staying more vertical and it teaches better form.

[.V.]

Thanks - good info - this may be helpful. I've only been going shoulder width - and that was wider than it used to be. I started going shoulder width when you told me about box squats - right after I lost about 100lb of squatting strength in a week. The box squats have helped immensely - perhaps the wider stance will too.

One more thing - will going wide still work the glutes too?

[Firehawk]

wide stance focuses totally on hips/glutes/hams. If you think you're stance is wide, go wider. Well, if you wanna do it west side style, that is.

[.V.]

Well, you HAVE pointed me in the right direction more than once. I think I'll give it a try. What about quads though? I don't want to neglect them. If you are doing really wide squats - do you do some close ones to hit the quads too? Or will doing it wide hit them enough?

Hey firehawk - where is the video clip for this style? You always have a clip.

[Cort]

Well, you can always incorporate both wide squatting and normal squatting if you are afraid of neglecting areas. I like them both, but wide stance defenitely lets me go heavier.

[Firehawk]

You can target quads during deadlifts, by starting at parallel to the ground (quads are parallel), using quads to squat the weight to the knees and then back for the rest of the way. The best deadlifters in the world do this.

Or you can do what cort said and do both...but like he said, wider stance lets you go heavier. You are incorporating the bigger muscles with a wider stance. You won't ever see someone squatting 800-900 with a close stance.

[DaRkAnGel]

I'm not sure exactly how wide i squat... its probably close to double shoulder width but maybe a little less. The thing is the wider you go the harder it is to hit parallel if the weight isnt heavy enough or if you're not flexible enough.

I pay attention to two basic things to get my width... As soon as i unrack the weight i step 2, or maybe 3 times at most to get into my setup. I make sure not to jump around trying to get into the stance that makes me feel most comfortable, so whatever i do in these steps is the stance i take. I do this because every step you're losing energy so im just trying to be as effecient as possible.

And the second thing, siting back instead of down makes a big difference in hitting parallel. It keeps you tighter and it makes it much easier.

I like to squat real wide just because im better at it than squatting close stance. I tried close stance when i was starting and i really got nowhere for my squat but now my squat exploded so much its not even funny. Ill do some sets of close stance squats today to give you an idea of what im squatting with that weight, but yesterday i was doing 275 x 10 and i could have probably done these for 20 reppers.

[DaRkAnGel]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

You can target quads during deadlifts, by starting at parallel to the ground (quads are parallel), using quads to squat the weight to the knees and then back for the rest of the way. The best deadlifters in the world do this.

Or you can do what cort said and do both...but like he said, wider stance lets you go heavier. You are incorporating the bigger muscles with a wider stance. You won't ever see someone squatting 800-900 with a close stance.

I almost agree with this... guys like reza zadeh have no problem squatting 800 with a close olympic stance, but not including that guy whose an absolute freek i dont think there are many out there.

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by DaRkAnGel

I almost agree with this... guys like reza zadeh have no problem squatting 800 with a close olympic stance, but not including that guy whose an absolute freek i dont think there are many out there.

You're always gonna have someone breaking the rules.. lol

Welch, I'll try to find a clip...I have a DVD of chuck Vogalpohl's workouts all the way up to the 2004 Arnold Classic.

He's shredded with an 895 deadlift I think, and a 1000+ squat at 220 lbs.

He's from westside, and Lou Simmons is the one that advocates squatting very wide on a box all the time.

I'm very weak in my glutes and thus it's holding me back. I can deadlift 355 or more for reps starting from parallel squat position yet i can't squat 225 for 1 properly. So it ain't my quads that's the problem lol.

[Jaster]

I squat 3 different widths. Shoulder with, Shoulder plus 1/2, and double shoulder.
It depends on what I want to hit. In a meet I always go at least double.