My worst enemy

   I'm sure most of you who work out or had gym class know the basics of squatting. You stand with your feet shoulder width apart and then bend down. Easy. Then again... maybe not so easy. My first training session with my dad was God awful. I got under the bar on the squat machine and did it. Easy. Sweet damn was I wrong. The rest of that day was me feeling like a five year old trying to learn the 'correct' way to squat. The next few months weren't easier. 

   As I've mentioned before, power lifting consists of three events: squat, bench press, and dead lift. When it comes to training I focus on one event every session. Wednesday I focused on my squat technique. Whenever I get up under the bar on the squat machine I freeze up and can't remember what to do. That sounds weird. Just bend down...but there's more to it. 

   To keep things from getting wordy and technical you have to tighten up your hamstrings and butt muscles and then start the squatting process with your hips instead of your knees. It sounds difficult and tiring just from that sentence and I'm here to confirm it is. My butt and any muscles that come with it are nonexistent. As for my hamstrings, they too don't exist. My quads, or the front muscles of my thighs, are gorgeous, however. Those babies are pure muscle. So naturally, I keep wanting to use my quads. Not good. That means most the pressure from the weights and my own body are being put on my knees. I have trouble with this every time I go under the bar. After five sets of doubles and struggling I decided I needed to work solely on technique. I ditched the bar and did standing belt squats. After fifteen of those my squats were a gazillion times better. I finished my session doing those until I couldn't anymore. 

     The next morning I wanted to cut my legs off. The soreness was fierce. My legs were pure jelly for the next two days. My quads were on fire. Walking to class up and down the stairs could have been the death of me. Even so, I was glad to have buckled down that night and really worked on making my squat technique better. My next squat day will benefit from it greatly and making personal progress is all that matters.