Front Squats, And Why They RULE!

I've said time and time again, if you want to get stronger, faster, bigger, leaner, more powerful, and look like you actually lift weights, get under the bar and do some squats.  Seriously, you can read this article later! go hit up the squat rack for a few sets of heavy triples!

And now that that's done, let's talk about why next time you run off to the gym, you should try putting that heavy bar on your shoulders instead of your traps.  What the heck am I talking about?  FRONT SQUATS!  The ultimate total body squat exercise (save for overhead squats, though those can be a little harder to jump right into).  I'm not kidding, back squats and front squats are two completely different beasts.  To put it in perspective, I can easily rep 280 lbs for a set of three back squatting, then after a minute or two I'll be ready to come back and hit it again.  When I approach my max in front squats (which happens to be about 80% of my max back squat), I literally need to compose myself for quite some time between sets.  They absolutely drain you, and work your body to a whole new level of fatigue.  Don't be scared though, because after a set of good, deep front squats, you'll walk away from that squat rack feeling like you REALLY pushed yourself, and nothing feels better than that.

So what's a front squat look like?  Well, before I attempt to explain via text on a page, I'll show you a video:

This guy definitely knows how to front squat, great depth, great flexibility, and INCREDIBLE strength from the very rock bottom position.  Can you do this?  Absolutely, though obviously we'll start off with a little less weight.

First step in a front squat, approach and grip the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width.  This will ensure your upper back is as tight as possible, and will fight your urge to "hunch" in the bottom of the squat.  Second, bring your elbows down under the bar, and push them forward until the bar is resting on your deltoids (shoulders).  Make it tight against your throat.  Don't worry about breathing problems, and if you are choking just a little, LOOK UP.  It will clear your airway.  I'm serious here, you want that bar tight against your neck, keep it close to you.

Now, un-rack the bar with either both heels under it or in a split position (just make sure you're not using your toes to lift the weight off the rack).  Step back with a couple slow, very controlled steps, and get your feet into a position that's either shoulder width or slightly wider (I go a little wider because I have very long legs).

Now this is important.  You may have learned to keep your legs parallel and your toes pointing straight forward.  If you do this in a front squat, you'll dump the bar.  Front squats require you to remain UPRIGHT in the bottom position, and therefore they might feel a little weird at first.  To accomplish this upright position, the first thing necessary is to point your toes at an angle slightly outward.  When it's time to descend, lock in your lower back, and instead of pushing your butt "back" like so many personal trainers might have told you, push your knees OUT and start to descend between your hips.  This may take time to get right, and you'll need to build up some hip flexibility to get it right.  STAY ON YOUR HEELS.  Don't go onto your toes, or your knees will punish you.  Keep going as deep as you can, continually pushing your knees out, and staying on the outside of your heels.  Once you're as low as you can go (hopefully at least below parallel), drive with your heels, quads, and glutes, and try to stay upright.  A little forward lean is expected under heavy loads, but try to keep it minimal.  Oh, and don't let your knees buckle inward!  Push them out with all your might!  Once you're standing again, feel free to do another.

Now I keep saying to remain upright, but I haven't told you two EXTREMELY important tips to doing so.  Firstly: KEEP YOUR ELBOWS UP!  Don't let them dip.  Keep them parallel to the ground (I mean your upper arm here, your elbows shouldn't point toward the ground at any time in the squat.)  Second:  FLEX YOUR CORE!!!!  Front squats are one of the greatest core exercises of all time BECAUSE they require you to keep your core extremely tight to stay upright.  You have to clench your abs with everything you got, even before you start the squat.  Don't even THINK about heading down until you make sure your abs are TIGHT.  The requirement for a strong core is much moreso than in back squats.

Here's a picture:

Alternate Grip:  If you're having trouble with the classic Olympic grip, you can try the cross arm grip.  You're still balancing the bar on your shoulders, but your grip looks more like one of those russian "hooplah" dancers, if you know what I mean.  If you don't, here's a picture:

I honestly don't like this grip too much, and if you do any sort of Olympic lifting, even as an assistance exercise, DON'T USE THIS GRIP.  But for those of you just starting out, or just doing front squats for the fun of it, feel free to try it out.  Some people like it much better.

So there's your intro to the front squat.  I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend hitting this exercise ASAP! You won't be sorry.  The gains possible off of front squats are enormous, and a lot of people have found that if they've plateaued on back squats, front squats can push them over that stall point and keep their numbers going up.  As far as Olympic lifting is concerned, the front squat is MUCH more applicable to the lifts than back squats, because you're forced to stay upright (and every single time you clean a heavy weight, you have to front squat it up...see the relation).  Hit the gym and try these bad boys out and you'll look and feel like an absolute monster!

Squat deep, squat heavy, stay tight, and GOOD LUCK! 

My Beef with YOUR Legs

All right, this here's my blog, and though I'll almost always give helpful, hopeful, kind and informative information, a guy's gotta blow off steam sometimes, right?  

I've recently had a string of circumstances in which I've overheard people discussing the infamous "leg day" in the gym.  Oh god, LEG DAY!  HOW AWFUL!  It's been nothing but moaning, groaning, and whining at how sore they are after their LEG DAY.  "Aw man, I hate walking up stairs after LEG DAY..." or, "Man I think I'm going to take my rest day today, I just hit LEGS yesterday and I can barely walk."  I usually just stand there, fuming a little bit, trying not to scream out at them that they have no idea what a real leg workout really is.  Luckily though, self control is one of my better qualities.

So what's my big issue with LEG DAY?  Well, while I can agree with a lot of bodybuilding philosophies, the dogma behind leg day is NOT one of them.  Sure, I can understand you may be sore after some high rep squats, leg presses, and lunges, but I won't tolerate the whining for days on end that follow such a "high intensity " workout.  I put high intensity in quotes because it's all really a matter of opinion, and I hate to say it, but most gym rats have no idea what some top level athletes go through to force their legs to the next level.  Allow me to explain, but before I do, understand that I AM going to bring up Olympic lifting and power lifting yet again, and because I am training for Olympic weightlifting you may think I'm biased.  You're entitled to that opinion, and you probably are right in a way.  I'm biased, sure, but for sound reasons.  Anyway....

Let's look at an amateur Oly weightlifter.  Do you bodybuilders have any idea what they're training entails?  Let's go through the motions of how their training progresses.  When they're  a stark, raw beginner, they're squatting moderately heavy/ heavy twice a week, and probably pretty light for one more day on top of that.  They'll then progress to at least four days of squatting per week, increasing both their volume and weight.  Pretty soon they'll be hitting at least 80% of their 1 rep max every one of their training days.  Once their body adapts, they'll increase the frequency of their training sessions.  A good amateur will be training about 6 days a week, with one double session thrown in there, in which they'll squat in BOTH sessions.  After that?  You guessed it, they'll add one more day.  At first they'll only squat light on this 7th day, but after a while this workout will build up to around the same level as their other ones.  They'll be hitting at least 85-95% of their max almost every day, for doubles and triples.  But this isn't even close to the end.  Oh no.  A professional, world class weightlifter will squat every day, two to three sessions, in which they'll max out multiple times on singles, doubles, triples, 5's, and sometimes even 10's.  On top of that, they'll be using weights that regularly exceed 500 lbs.  And that's just for squats.  Did I mention they do the same thing with snatches and clean/jerks?  Yeah, your leg day doesn't seem so hard anymore, does it?

Now THAT's some depth!

A common powerlifting workout schedule may not be as squat oriented as Olympic style weightlifting, but they're still working legs multiple times a week with far more intensity than you can really fathom.  They usually have one to two days entirely devoted to the heaviest squats they can muster, and usually one day devoted completely to deadlifting (again, at maximal loads).  These guys are the strongest of the strong when it comes to moving heavy stuff around, and they're doing reps with weight I couldn't move in any way, shape or form.  Do that multiple times a week, then complain about those lunges you used to do.

Bottom line, you'll build strength squatting heavy and squatting often.  You may think it goes against conventional knowledge of muscle recovery, but that's exactly the point.  You force your body to adapt to heavier weights, because you're lifting them so often.  Even me, the skinny kid from Vermont, has put about 100 lbs on his squat so far with the Olympic lifting technique, and it's only been about 6 months of serious training.  And that's self coached.  There's a reason the greatest Olympic athletes were squatting over 500 lbs by the time they were 19.  I think John Broz, one of America's finest weightlifting coaches, puts it best:

"If your family was captured and you were told you needed to put 100 pounds onto your max squat within two months or your family would be executed, would you squat once per week? Something tells me that you'd start squatting every day. Other countries have this mindset. America does not."

Now I don't mean to take anything away from serious bodybuilders.  Judging by the size of their legs, they know how to train to get what they want.  But that's just it.  They want size, definition, vascularity.  Strength comes in behind those.  Again, that's fine if that's your goal, but it certainly isn't mine.  I'd rather squat super heavy weight with big legs than medium/light weight with GIANT legs.

One more issue I have with a bodybuilder style leg workout, is the depth of the squats.  What the HECK are you guys thinking?  I regularly see these big fools get under a bar with WAYYY too much weight, groan as they barely manage to lift it onto their back (or neck if they're REALLY inexperienced), hunch right over and squat a full 4 inches.  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  You're killing your knees, getting no real leg workout, and most likely destroying your lower back.  To get strength, you need to squat deep.  To squat deep, you need flexibility.  Look at any Olympic lifter, or even power lifter, they have ridiculous hip flexibility and can maintain a tight back even into the deepest of squats.  They're building solid legs.  Why aren't you?

NOT DEEP ENOUGH!!!!!

Anyway, there's my little rant.  To anyone around me, don't complain about leg days.  I may be a skinny kid with pretty skinny legs, but I'm still squatting 6 days a week, with double sessions every other day.  I don't find anything difficult about your stupid lunges, quarter squats, or leg presses.  And next time I see you straining to push 500lbs on the hack sled a full two inches, don't be surprised if you hear me chuckle just a little bit.

If you're looking for strength, squat heavy, squat deep, squat often, and don't cry about it.  GOOD LUCK!

The Short Term Key

Short term goals are some of my best friends, and through writing this article I hope they become some of yours as well.  These little goals are not only easy to think about, but are easily achievable!  That's right, they're goals that you have a very good chance of achieving quite quickly.  Ahhh, doesn't that sound nice?  Accomplishment.  Love that feeling.

And conveniently, they're probably the best stepping stone to that long term goal looming dramatically over your noggin, constantly in your thoughts, keeping you awake at night (muahahahaha....).

But seriously, consider the short term goal your sword, to slay that giant beast.  The bat, to knock down that wavering pinata.  The axe, to hack at that massively daunting oak.  You get the idea.

First, let's define what a short term goal means in OUR situations (at the gym, of course).  They can easily be applied to lifting weights, cardio, flexibility training, even diet!  And the best part is, they keep you on track, keep you coming back for more day in and day out.  And probably their most important job is to keep you feeling good, accomplished, and satisfied.  Let's find out how to start setting some short term goals, shall we?

What can you do now?  This statement is purposely quite general.  What are your current strengths, skills, flexibility, calorie/nutrient consumption, etc.  How do you stack up?  Maybe you bench 190lbs for 4 reps.  Maybe you can jump on a 36" box 5 times in 8 seconds.  Maybe you eat 2500 calories a day and want to lose 3 lbs.  You're only going to know where you stand if you make an effort to record these type of things!  Write them down!  Put them on a note in your ipod (I have one on my iphone entitled "Current PR's"!  Make a voice recording!  I don't care which, just make sure you record your abilities, because if you don't I can almost guarantee you won't make progress (or nearly as much as you could.)

How do you feel?  This one's a little bit harder to fathom, but not too hard to grasp if you really put some thought into it.  After you did those 4 reps of 190lbs on the bench press, how did you feel?  Were they extraordinarily easy?  If that's the case, why the heck did you stop?  Were they super duper hard?  Was it your MAX? How about that diet?  If you're eating 2400 calories, how full do you feel throughout the day?  Are you starving?  Bloated?  Tired?  MAKE NOTES OF THESE THINGS AS WELL.  These feelings are important in order to set short term goals effectively.

What's your long term goal?  Remember what I said in my New Year's resolution article?  Set a long term goal that's challenging.  Make yourself work, reach, exert near maximum effort as often as you can while avoiding injury.  How do you plan to impress your friends (and more importantly, yourself), if you don't have to power yourself to a higher, fantastic level?  Be ambitious.  Record a goal for yourself that you can be seriously proud of when you complete.  Write it down, and PUT IT WHERE YOU CAN CONSTANTLY SEE IT.  You need constant reminders to be successful.  It's human nature.


Now, set your first short term goal! You've got all the factors in place to be able to set your first short term goal.  Now keep in mind, there's still an art to this.  Don't make it an immediate short term goal.  At the earliest, make it for tomorrow.  For the beginner, I'd suggest either weekly, or bi-weekly goals.  Monthly is a little lengthy, and gets to be vague.  Let's look at the examples above, and set some goals for those people:

If you bench 190lbs for 4 reps now, how about 195lbs for 4 reps next week?  Easy enough to do, eat right and get proper recovery, and you'll be there in no time.

Do you run for 10 minutes now at 7.0 miles an hour?  Aim for an extra minute next week, at maybe 7.2 miles per hour.  Or better yet, add another thirty seconds every two or three days.  Maybe only 15 seconds!  How easy is that?

How about the diet one.  If you consume 2400 calories now, and feel hungry, replace 200 calories of a guilty  "snack" food (like Tostitos) with 100 calories of some sort of bean salad, or a handful of peanuts.  Simple!

And the great part about short term goals is that they ADD UP QUICKLY.  It's easy to look at a short term goal and scoff, thinking the whole time about "so what if I squat 5 lbs more than last week."  It's 5 little pounds!  But if you could do that all year (which would be extremely difficult, but isn't unachievable,) you'd be squatting over 250lbs more than you did at the beginning of the year!  WOW!

But what if you fail?  Don't sweat it!  If we all hit every one of our goals every single time, we'd all be Olympic champions!  Recover, recuperate, regroup, re-motivate, and try again in a day, or two, or a week.  Don't lollygag, but don't rush into it.  It's really like walking a tight rope.  Push yourself, but on a consistent and realistic basis.

Finally, let's cover the topic you're all probably considering.  What if you don't set any short term goals?  Well, everybody works their own way, but you have no idea how many people I see go into the gym and do the same exercises every day, doing the same number of push-ups, same number of squats with the same weight, and same amount of time on the treadmill.  They don't have goals, they just want to say they go to the gym, and convince themselves that's all that matters.  Blahhh...boring...and believe me they won't get far.

How about those who have the big goal in mind, but no little ones?  Well, I've heard a lot of people say they want to bench 350, but don't go about getting there with any sort of routine or consistency.  They're dumb about it.  And what happens?  They get sidetracked, tired, burned out, and inevitably...FAIL.  Sure, there are exceptions, but in my opinion those exceptions are few and far between.

So that's the scoop.  Short term goals are what bring the big, crazy goals into perspective.  They're stepping stones across the huge waving river (there I go with the analogies again...).  Set them, and start seeing that sweet, sweet progress.  

Keep setting goals.  Keep breaking records.  You'll be surprised at how far you'll get.  Good Luck!

Brain Training For Muscle Gains

So, all you gym rats, all you muscle heads, you heavy hitters, big time lifters, and meat-heads, what do you think happens when you get stronger? What has actually changed in your body that has allowed you to lift more weight than previously?  Well, the obvious answer is that you've gained muscle mass, greater muscle density, or in other words, you've increased the amount of usable muscle fiber in your body.  But what if I told you that you, without ever lifting a single weight, have more muscle fiber in your body than you really know what to do with?

Well, maybe that's not exactly true, there is a limit to the "stock" amount of muscle fiber you have.  But without any sort of training, much of your muscle fiber will be wasted and doomed to inactivity.  You'll be unable to lift to your potential.  In fact, you may remember in my recent article regarding gorillas (yes, gorillas, quite fascinating actually, read it here: ), I mentioned that the human body with no training whatsoever is only able to use about 20% of the muscle fiber it has.  That's not much now, is it?  Four out of every five muscle fibers are unusable without any sort of training.    That means you have a lot more potential than you could believe.  The good news is, when you lift weights, you not only break down muscle fiber (and inevitably build it back up again), you create stronger connections between your brain and muscles, and can more actively engage greater numbers of muscle fibers to work for you and lift that incredibly heavy barbell.  

Let's explore this brain-muscle connection a little further, and maybe optimize the gains you can obtain through "brain training."  The actual name of this brain system is called the Central Nervous System, or CNS.  Ever heard of it?  In actuality your CNS determines how your body reacts to stimulus, how quickly it reacts, with how much power and intensity, and with the greatest efficiency possible.  As you increase training intensity, weight, reps, etc., you build a stronger connection between your CNS and you muscle fibers. 

 In general, heavier loads are more taxing on your CNS, and require a more powerful contribution from your brain. In fact, the greatest way to stimulate your brain to build stronger muscle connections is through high weight, low rep applications.  Big surprise, I'm going to bring up weightlifting again!  Olympic weightlifters are masters at using every muscle fiber they've got with the greatest possible efficiency.  They can optimize the contribution of their CNS, and while the truth of this statement hasn't been confirmed, very often you'll hear members of the infamous Chinese weightlifting team claiming they can use more than 90% of their muscle fiber.  That's 70% more than the average human being!  Here's a good explanation of CNS training that might optimize brain-muscle connection development:

"Bompa's philosophy (Bompa 2005) with regards to weight training to improve explosive power is that repetitions are the key training variable. He recommends a low number of repetitions (1 to 3), with loadings in excess of 90% of 1RM (1 rep max), in order to develop strength that will boost speed and power and optimise the contribution of the CNS, with a recovery of 6 minutes between sets. These loadings create a higher level of excitation and receptor/effector communication, more motor unit recruitment and greater neural stimulation. These loadings and recoveries are also recommended on the basis of their contribution to maximum power and strength expression, and also because they do not produce a large increase in muscle mass, which could be detrimental to an athlete's power to weight ratio."

But why stop at weightlifters?  It's obvious that any high level athlete has a highly developed CNS in regards to their sport.  They know exactly how to use the muscles they need in order to get the job done to the highest possible efficiency.  They are strong, fast, lean, and powerful.  Most likely they've also been training for quite a long time in order to develop such remarkable connections.  There's obviously something to be said about practice.  The more often an activity is performed, especially with intensity and good form, the greater development will occur in your brain.  

Hopefully it's quite obvious by now that your brain plays a big roll in your training.  And just like your muscles, you can overtrain your CNS to the point where it becomes impossible to work out.  It's not quite the same feeling as an extremely sore muscle, or stiff joints.  From personal experience, I believe it's a much worse feeling, and far more frustrating.  An overtrained CNS will leave you completely drained, blurry eyed, and unable to lift even a fraction of what you normally could.  It'll be like energy just won't come your way no matter what you do.  If you don't want to overtrain your CNS, avoid:

-Extremely heavy loads each and every day

-Working to failure on a constant basis

-Extremely high intensity workouts too often throughout the week

Nobody's saying you can't push yourself.  But do it smartly, and if you're not used to heavy loads, work up to them.  Not everybody is able to squat 90% of their max day in and day out, you need to work up to that level.  Just like your muscles, your CNS will gain endurance and strength, and you'll be able to lift heavier and work harder more and more often.

If you do overtax yourself, even accidentally, don't despair, it usually happens to most everyone at one point or another.  You have to know your limits, and sometimes the only way to find them is to surpass them.  Just take a day off from the gym (A REAL DAY OFF, NOT A LIGHT WORKOUT DAY), get plenty of sleep, eat well (eat to refuel, complex carbs and lean proteins), and really let all those nutrients soak up into your body as you give it a much needed break.

Realize that when you get stronger, you're not just packing on meat.  You're getting smarter with the iron, and more able to use every muscle fiber you've got.  Crazy stuff right?

Use that brain, push yourself, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

References:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/cns.htm

This is a Knol I wrote a while ago, and was quite proud of it.  I suggest learning the overhead squat if you are able, as it will do you a World of good.

The Ultimate Movement

Exploring the Benefits of the Overhead Squat

In truth, there is no one "greatest" exercise to perform. Not for strength, endurance, flexibility, nor any other subset of the fitness world. However, there are a few that can produce great results in most of these fields. This article will discuss one of my personal favorites: The Overhead Squat, and why exactly it can transform someone into a very strong, flexible, powerful individual.

Contents

• Ben Smith demonstrating the overhead squat

The overhead squat, by nature, is a scary sounding exercise.  It can be even more daunting to watch, as someone who's never seen/tried one before will find it very hard to understand how one can hold such huge amounts of weight over their head, then descend beneath it into the deepest, most straining of squats, and rise back from the depths to full standing height, miraculously unharmed, shoulders and legs fully intact.

Ben Smith demonstrating the overhead squat

Without doubt, this exercise is difficult.  It is strenuous, and requires vast amounts of strength, stability, and flexibility.  And with higher weights, the term "vast" becomes more and more of an understatement.  But even at very low weights, this movement remains one of the greatest full body exercises one could ever do in their routine.  It engages muscles everywhere, and therefore will build complete, full body strength.  To figure out one movement can do so much, let's examine the overhead squat piece by piece.

It should be mentioned first that any type of weighted squat will do wonders for building remarkable strength.  Why is this?  Well, squats require the activation of a huge amount of muscle fiber in order to complete even one with good form.  You may think of squats being synonymous with leg workouts, and while this is initially a correct instinct (a good squat will activate the hamstrings, glutes, and quadricep muscles), they activate many more muscles as well.  In fact, to be stable in a deep ATG (ass to grass...pardon my french...) squat requires an extremely strong core.  Core in general means muscles in, you guessed it, the MIDDLE of the body.  This includes abdominal muscles, upper legs, lower back, and obliques.  More formally, it is defined as the entire spine, pelvic girdle, and hip joints.  This is a remarkable 29 muscles at least!  That's a LOT of muscle fiber.  And the best part of all this?  All that huge amount of muscle fiber is actually USEFUL.  The muscles you're activating while squatting are some of the most used in the majority of other strength related exercises.  So when you squat, you build real, usable strength, everywhere.  

A second, equally important reason as to why squats are so important may be of interest to those guys looking to get bigger and more muscular quickly.  Because squats activate the largest muscles your body possesses, as you squat you release a large amount of testosterone, which will cause your body to go into, put simply, "muscle building mode." You'll pack on lean mass relatively quickly (obviously not that quickly, building lean muscle take a LOT of time), and the strength gains will be as close to immediate as you can get.  Ladies, don't be scared by the word testosterone, squats will only help you, as will all weightlifting.  In fact, adding any muscle mass will increase your metabolism and help you shed unwanted pounds.  And you will NOT bulk up.  I don't care who says you will, they are wrong.  Go look at any female Olympic weightlifter in the lighter classes.  They're throwing 300lbs above their head, and they're still lean, mean, sexy machines.  

On an aside, SQUAT DEEP.  Parallel squats are what hurt your knees, as they take the brunt of the force as you go from descending to ascending.  As you go below parallel, that same force is transferred to your hips and hamstrings, which are bigger muscles that can definitely take the strain.

Well there's the squatting portion of the exercise.  And talk to anyone who know's squatting, it's not easy.  People spend years developing good squat form (not to deter anyone from trying, I suggest it to anyone and everyone looking to put on a little muscle).  But with the overhead squat, squatting is really only half the battle.  The other portion is obviously making sure that the huge weight above your head, doesn't come crashing down from it's precarious perch above your head.  This requires even MORE strength.  A lot more.  

To hold the weight overhead, there's generally a specific grip used.  It's called the "snatch" grip, and is named after the Olympic lift (the snatch) where athletes bring the weight from the ground to overhead in one fluid motion, catching it in...you guessed it...a full overhead squat.  There's a reason those athletes are considered the strongest in the world.  The snatch grip itself means to hold the bar with one's hands very spread apart, nearly at the collars of the bar.  

  This requires less shoulder flexibility to remain upright and "tight" in the bottom of the squat.  The narrower the grip, the more shoulder flexibility is required to go ATG.  This is because as you descend, your shoulders must rotate backwards in order to keep the bar aligned over your heels, and in turn keep your entire body balanced.  Drift too far forward or backwards, and you'll be forced to dump the bar.  What this basically describes is an extremely tight isometric exercise for your entire upper back, core, shoulders, and chest.  One must keep their traps squeezed together and their arms locked out throughout the entire motion.  This, without doubt, becomes very fatiguing VERY quickly.  Little tiny bits of bar movement suddenly require huge efforts to fight and contradict.  And after a few sets, it's almost a guarantee you'll be sore the next day where you haven't ever felt sore before, because most likely you've never worked stabilizing muscles to such a high degree.

    To even do one overhead squat, with any sort of weight, is an accomplishment.  No one should claim it's not, because it'd be safe to say the large majority of gym-goers have ever ventured from their routines enough to try one.  The flexibility requirements of overhead squatting is large.  One must have very flexible hips, knees, hamstrings, calves, quads, shoulders, chest, and spine.  Luckily the overhead squat itself is not inherently possible without such flexibities, so the risk of strain or dislocation decreases.  One who isn't flexible enough, will be forced to drop the bar before any sort of bodily damage can occur. 

     In order to increase flexibility for such an exercise, many stretches should be done on a daily basis (perhaps this is a good time to say that this article is merely meant to describe the benefits of overhead squatting, and should not be considered a guide to either the exercise itself or the supporting exercises or stretches.)  And not only will stretches help your overhead squat, the overhead squat itself is an amazing full body stretch, and therefore will only help you to become stronger and more flexible in the long run.

So is it the Ultimate Exercise?  Is overhead squatting the greatest, most beneficial movement one could do in the gym?  Again, certainly not exclusively.  But the benefits associated with the exercise are immeasurably large, and definitely place this exercise near the top of the list.

Talk to Marcin Dolega, champion 105kg class Polish weightlifter, about the benefits of overhead squatting.  That's a full Olympic snatch^^^....and is about 400lbs.

Performance Weekly #1: Whey vs Casein Protein

So, being a gym rat myself, I've decided to post at least one (it'll probably end up being way more than that) performance/strength/muscle building article per week.  I have always been a huge supporter of any sort of exercise, and believe it can do wonders for absolutely anybody.  Ten minutes a day out walking your dog is better than another ten minutes on the couch.  That will always be true.

I for one though, like to push it hard.  Being an Olympic style weightlifter, I am in the gym for at least an hour a day, sometimes twice a day, squatting, snatching, clean and jerking (you know, that sport you maybe have accidentally flipped to one day while the Olympics were on?)  pressing, and in general pushing my muscles to the absolute limit day in and day out.  And many of you are right there with me, whether you be a runner, biker, bodybuilder, swimmer, maybe even a Polo player (though I think the horse does most of the work there.)  You all work your muscles hard, sweat harder, and sleep soundly at night.

We all know the concept of working out.  You go to the gym, lift a few weights, and get stronger, right?  Well there's a lot more to it than that, but in general, yes.  However, if your goal is to get stronger, faster, you could be drastically hampering your progress if you're not supplementing your body correctly.  See, when you lift weights until exhaustion (when you feel the burn), what you're actually doing is forcing your muscles to work in an anaerobic state.  This means they're running off lactic acid instead of oxygen.  This chemical process works, however lactic acid is destructive to your muscles, and begins to break them down.  After your workout, your muscles use available sources of protein, carbohydrates, and various other nutrients to begin rebuilding the damaged fibers, and this time will try to build them a little bigger and denser than they were before, in an attempt to avoid such destruction.

However to do all this, you need supplementation.  One of the most common supplements on the market today to help with your strength goals is the humble protein shake, which you've probably seen in the form of Whey Protein Powder.

Whey is a staple in the fitness industry.  Those that don't know much about lifting still seem to know that they can buy a cheap tub of Whey protein at Walmart, mix some with water, drink it after their workout, and believe they have done their bodies a favor.  And they have!  But when you drink one of these shakes, what are you actually giving your body?  Why is Whey protein so helpful?  Well first things first.  Whey protein itself is a by-product of cheese production.  It is an extremely dense protein source, packed with all sorts of delicious nutrients, amino-acids, and other things your body needs when it's crying for food right after a workout.  Most protein you'll buy at the store is flavored (I like chocolate), and has a lot of other vitamins and related supplements that are beneficial to building muscle pre-mixed into it.  There's also a good source of simple carbohydrates, which will spike your insulin right after a workout, encouraging your body to absorb the protein AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.  These carbs will also help refuel your muscle glycogen levels.  So in all, if you're one who does any sort of physical fitness activity, I would suggest incorporating whey protein into your post workout nutrition.  You'll be building lean muscle mass that will help you feel stronger, perform better, and will actually increase your metabolism to help burn off unwanted fat.  You'll be a lean, mean, performace machine.  A win-win situation for sure!

Side Note:  After a workout is pretty much the only time you want to voluntarily spike your insulin levels.  

So that's all fine and dandy, and now we have a great protein source to rebuild muscles after our intense gym session.  But we've got another problem.  If quick, powerful muscle gains are desired, we've got to realize that the body doesn't only rebuild muscle right after our workout.  Oh no, our body is constantly working on those destroyed muscle fibers, and it takes it's sweet time.  In fact it's most favorite time to work is at night, when we're asleep.  After two hours of deep sleep, our body begins to release Human Growth Hormone (HGH) to build those tired muscles back up to use the next morning.  But there's the problem.  What aren't we doing at night, which our body NEEDS us to do in order to have the raw materials necessary to build muscle back up?  EATING!!!!  We're practically starving ourselves all night!  That's not a good formula for muscle growth.  If only there was a quick, easy way to circumvent this problem.

Enter Casein Protein.  Unlike Whey, which is not optimal for night time growth because of it's extremely fast absorption rate, Casein absorbs into your muscles slowly, essentially feeding them all night long. Casein protein is often found in dairy products as well.  Basically, it is a slow acting alternative to Whey, so when taken right before bed it feeds your body all night as it slowly used by your body.  You can buy tubs of Casein protein powder, just like whey, but if you're not quite as serious about muscle building I would suggest trying this simple alternative:  Before bed, take a tablespoon of natural peanut butter (the fats in peanut butter have the same effect of slowing nutrient absorption) along with half a cup of cottage cheese, a food rich in Casein Protein.  Take these less than half an hour before you hit the hay, and watch your muscles grow. 

Another side note:  Just as whey protein is optimal before bed because it absorbs too fast, Casein isn't optimal post workout because it absorbs too slowly.  After your workout you want to cram nutrients into your muscles at light speed.

If you want to know more about the subtleties of both these protein sources, I suggest reading some articles over at www.bodybuilding.com.  They've got some top notch experts who write fitness related articles every day, and they've got all the science behind it.  I'm just trying to keep up with them =].

Last side note:  If desired, the absorption of Whey protein powder can be slowed by mixing it with non-skim milk, or almond milk, or with a tablespoon or two of PB due to the same nutrient slowing effects of the fat in either the milk or PB.

So now you know about Protein.  Get out there, lift hard, and feed your body right.