For those that do pin squats

[flpl88]

Do you do them as a max effort lift or an accessory after squatting?

Going to implement these in my routine in the upcoming months and just trying to gather other opinions/takes on it

 

[PillarofBalance]

I've done them once and didn't care for them. They were done as an accessory lift

 

[BrotherIron]

I'm not a fan of them. I personally like paused squats a helluva lot more. Use a 3-5 sec pause for triples. I find they have a greater carryover to increasing my back squat.

They were also done as an assisting lift.

 

[flpl88]

My weakness is out of the hole, box squats never did a damn thing for me. I'm tall and have long legs, once I break about 4 inches past I blast up like it's nothing. Just trying to work on a weak point

 

[BrotherIron]

My weakness is out of the hole, box squats never did a damn thing for me. I'm tall and have long legs, once I break about 4 inches past I blast up like it's nothing. Just trying to work on a weak point

My advice is try paused squats.

I tried Anderson Squats and Box Squats and neither did much for me in terms of increasing my back squat. I found paused squats to have the greatest carry over. I'm tall as well (6'2). Give these a try and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[flpl88]

Thanks Iron. What rep rage / percentage of 1RM did you generally stick to?

 

[BrotherIron]

I like to stay in the 65-70% for triples.

 

[PillarofBalance]

My weakness is out of the hole, box squats never did a damn thing for me. I'm tall and have long legs, once I break about 4 inches past I blast up like it's nothing. Just trying to work on a weak point

I would suggest heavy glute bridges, hamstring curls and stiff legged deads for that. Also you may have a bit of a technical issue. Before you begin the squat, you need to be spreading the floor as hard as possible. This activates the hips. Keep it that way and as you come down into the hole you'll feel wound up like a slingshot and get a better rebound up and out.

 

[BrotherIron]

SLDL on a platform or Snatch Grip RDL's are also good assisting lifts.

 

[RussianBear]

I don't like them.
Without the eccentric half of the lift first it just feels weird and unnatural. Plus it wreaks havoc on the ACL, getting underneath it and such.

 

[cpinaire]

I'm a big fan of pin or rack squats. I set the pins at parallel and crawl under the bar. Set your feet ahead of the bar so that you're not bending at the waist but the knees. I love doing it for a max effort lift. I got a modest 655 Tuesday when I did it. I feel safer doing rack squats than a regular squats or box squats, which I do a ton of. You just crawl under the bar and go, no walking the bar out.

 

[uphillclimb]

I like to stay in the 65-70% for triples.

I would suggest heavy glute bridges, hamstring curls and stiff legged deads for that. Also you may have a bit of a technical issue. Before you begin the squat, you need to be spreading the floor as hard as possible. This activates the hips. Keep it that way and as you come down into the hole you'll feel wound up like a slingshot and get a better rebound up and out.

By listening to these two guys above religiously, I saw a 120lb increase in my 1RM in 9 months....no bullshit. I'm sidelined because I didn't train smarter with my deloading but paused squats and SLDL made a HUGE difference for me.

Not sure if you drop aka free fall squat or have a slow descent but getting out of the hole became as easy as the closeout once I dialed in my lower back hips but most importantly my form by spreading the floor as POB mentions above. I have a slow descent and then I shoot up like a wound up matchbox car.

Hips and lower back strengthening became my key to plowing through walls. That and I was running 2.5g/week of gear lol.