Advice from a Curlbro
During the squat portion of my workout today, I was approached by a middle-aged, pot-bellied, machine-using man I had seen around the weight room several times before. He asked if he could give me some advice, saying, “You do a lot of squats; I see you working your legs a lot.”
Now, my response should have been to ask if he was qualified to give me advice. But I didn’t, I just went along with it.
He said I shouldn’t squat so low. I, amused, asked why he thought that. He said that squatting to full depth will stress my back.
I did my “ooookay” look/nod, and said thanks, but I believe in full range of motion, and my back is plenty damn strong.
He then said that I should come up on my toes when coming up from a squat. Because this puts all the emphasis on the quads (and yeah, it does! but I also care about my hamstrings, and knees, and calves, and ass!).
Soooo… I should squat JUST to parallel, or higher, and then come up on my toes?
I replied that a proper squat should drive from the hips, heels pressing down. That I am a powerlifter and I know what I’m doing. And that I am not terribly interested in “working my legs,” as he seemed to thing, but only getting strong as fuck.
Then I continued my lifts while occasionally glancing over at Mr. Curlbro doing machine stuff, using no more than half ROM.
I do believe I’ll use the “Are you QUALIFIED to give me advice?” bit next time someone offers.
