Failing in Squats - Safely

marathonic

I've got a power cage and am doing Starting Strength at the moment. I almost failed on the last rep of the last set today - but ended up dropping back down from half-way up and, with the assistance of the 'bounce' at the bottom, pushed out the rep.

My question is, how should I make sure that, if I fail next time, I do so safely?

I keep the safeties at the same level for the squats as I do for the bench - when I go deep, the bar is only a couple of inches above the safeties.

I know I'll probably be best dropping down to the bottom position of the squat but where do I go from there to drop the bar the last few inches safely?

Hanley

1) change the height of the safety bars so that when you hit your normal squat depth there's only a few inches of distance between the bar and the catchers, then sink down a couple of extra inches if you miss and let the rack have it

2) if you're stuck in the bottom, rock onto your heels and look up while falling backwards, the bar'll go to the rack

3) if you're stuck in the bottom, or get half way up and come down again, look towards the floor, tuck your chin and let the bar come forwards on to the rack

I'd favour 1 or 3.

EDIT: and I should also say, don't try to "control" the weight when you're doing any of the above cos you're putting your body in a compromised position, but don't just rag doll either. Make a delierate effort to initiate the movement, and once that's in place, just let your body come along for the ride.

d'Oracle

I always did 3).

And I failed a fair bit. [/emo]

Michael 09

Hanley wrote: »

1) change the height of the safety bars so that when you hit your normal squat depth there's only a few inches of distance between the bar and the catchers, then sink down a couple of extra inches if you miss and let the rack have it

2) if you're stuck in the bottom, rock onto your heels and look up while falling backwards, the bar'll go to the rack

3) if you're stuck in the bottom, or get half way up and come town again, look towards the floor, tuck your chin and let the bar come forwards on to the rack

I'd favour 1 or 3.

Good question and good advice... I'd always wondered this...

Hanley

d'Oracle wrote: »

I always did 3).

And I failed a fair bit. [/emo]

3 is the best option if you don't have a safety rack and spotters, and miss a rep. Chances are you're doing to take a nasty ding on the back of your head since the bar is going all the way to the ground, but it's better than getting smashed in a crumpled heap on the floor.

I've missed via number 3 before on an attempted 140kg x20 rep set. Got to 19, core was fried, tried 20 and my body basically shut down and it was the only way to get out of the rep without causing serious damage. Bloody well nearly knocked myself out in the process, had to lie down for a while after - probably a result of the effort of the subsequent reps too tho.

Oh and I had Ireland's strongest junior and finalist in senior Ireland's strongest man spotting me for it, and it was in one of the old squat racks in TF with low safety bars.

And all that crap still happened - just shows that it's better to know what to do in all situations because you never know what's gonna happen.

d'Oracle

I don't think I have ever back squatted out of a cage, and usually the pins are at the right height to catch. Cept maybe doing my hilarious SPF impressions in the mono lift with little weight.

What I meant was I usually go forward onto the pins rather than dropping it off my back onto the pins.

Brian?

Hanley wrote: »

1)
EDIT: and I should also say, don't try to "control" the weight when you're doing any of the above cos you're putting your body in a compromised position, but don't just rag doll either. Make a delierate effort to initiate the movement, and once that's in place, just let your body come along for the ride.

Sound advice.

I once managed to dump a squat side ways would you believe, ****ed my back up for a month. It was blind panic, no spotters or safetys. I still have no idea how I did it, but I know it will never happen again.

Hanley

d'Oracle wrote: »

I don't think I have ever back squatted out of a cage, and usually the pins are at the right height to catch. Cept maybe doing my hilarious SPF impressions in the mono lift with little weight.

What I meant was I usually go forward onto the pins rather than dropping it off my back onto the pins.

Yah I know. I was saying that in a cage, missing forwards is preferable to missing backwards imo.

Outside of a cage, missing backwards can be a COMPLETE disaster unless you're squatting high bar and are very aware of how to miss safely.

EDIT: that being said, I remember missing a squat backwards at the WDFPF world champs in 2006, think The Drifter was one of the lads who caught me that day. If I'd been on my own or in a cage I'd have just dropped it, but cos there were spotters around I stuck wit the bar and trusted them. Happened cos I rocked up onto my heels on my second attempt.

d'Oracle

Is there a vid?

It'd make a nice partner to that sumo video I saw of yours.

marathonic

Thanks for all the advice, could save a nasty injury in the near future

I must make sure that I have the safeties high enough for squating - until now, I've kept them at the same height as they be for the bench.

The position is perfect for the bench because the bar touches my chest lightly when benching but, if I let it fall, it just presses my chest lightly before hitting the safeties.

I may be able to rise the safeties a notch for the squat.

Hanley

d'Oracle wrote: »

Is there a vid?

It'd make a nice partner to that sumo video I saw of yours.

Ah the good oul days....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tuo3ZsczLw

Now if only I had a vid of the bench that I lost behind and nearly cut my head off with at the 2010 IPO national champs, I'd have catastrophic errors on vid in every lift!!