Lifiting competition at school in a month..

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pikindaguy

New Member
On May 25th there'll be a bench/squat competition at my school that'll either be divided into weight classes or a formula based on weight/weight lifted that will be used to determine winners..

I can't bench all that much (relative to others) so my focus will be on squats.  I have no idea what my 1rpm is right now, but today I did 335 for 10 reps as part of my HST program..and in my last HST cycle I did 5 reps @ 365 (I weigh just under 170)..so I think my 1rpm is close to 400. I'm really curious though as to how they judge the squat though..if it has to be completely parellel or what as mine aren't 100% parellel.

I'm a graduating senior here at UCLA and I would absolutely love to be near the top, and think I have a chance at being competitive.   Currently I do a 3-day week HST program, but for the next month I really want to focus on my squats to prepare..so what would be the best method to do it?

Should I only do squats (currently that's all I do) or throw in deadlifts, leg presses, etc then?  Should I also continue to focus on my upper body as much either (it might be advantageous to lose upper body strength/weight because of the way the competition works)?  Any other advice?
 
Are you near the end of your 10s? If so, I would go through the 5s if you have time still, but then focus on squatting. You'll want to find your 1 rep max, but make sure you have some people there to spot and that you warm up plenty. You don't need an injury or anything. I wouldn't max out more than once a week. I think maxing once a week and then doing something similar to 5x5 on the other days could work.
But then again. there are probably some people around here who can better advise you on preparing for a contest for squats.
 
I would spend some time doing full squats. Stopping at parallel puts strain on the knees and you'll get better leg development with full ROM. Unless you're injured, you should squatting all the way down.

You may want to try breathing squats, just don't go to failure.
 
About the full Squat. You sould only go as low as your back allows. This means the moment you cannot keep a neutral spine then you have gone to low. Neutral spine is the safest, most efficiant position the spinal colum can be. If you squat really low with a "curved" back, especially when working heavy, then you put your self at high risk of injury.

Good luck.
 
The last thing you want to find is that your lifts are disallowed because you didn't make the required depth. This might be hips below knee height. So if at all possible get hold of a coach and get him/her to watch you squatting ASAP. You may have to change your stance a bit to allow you do drop a bit lower so you want to have as much time as possible to practice this and get used to the feel. Hope it goes well.
 
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(liegelord @ Apr. 19 2006,00:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I would spend some time doing full squats.  Stopping at parallel puts strain on the knees and you'll get better leg development with full ROM.  Unless you're injured, you should squatting all the way down.  

You may want to try breathing squats, just don't go to failure.</div>
some people say ass to grass squats put more stress on the knee but i found it the oposite myself.
 
full squat..... mmm.... what a delicious nigtmare and torture !!!.... .... so, actually, if what you are doing is less than 100% parallel then that is partial reps..... try full squat but you will definitely have to lower the weight..... with 400 lbs it will be difficult to get up.... I've got the feeling that the squat you do in competition is not the same as for hypertrophy
 
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(liegelord @ Apr. 19 2006,18:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> Unless you're injured, you should squatting all the way down.  </div>
too many other factors to say this
 
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