Knees out + (what?)

[RMelyon]

First "heavy" set on wk5d1 of The Bridge, 340x4@9. I'm 6' 245#.

What cures the "knee sweep" on reps 3-4 as I tire? Looking for suggestions/cues other than "knees out" and "set your knees 1/3rd of the way down."



Thx

[Sumo]

Screwing the feet into the floor tends to work pretty well for most people, or splitting the floor in half. If you're doing it right you should feel a lot of pressure on the outside of your feet. That being said, I'd be carefull if you're wearing oly shoes and use this cue, you run the risk of rolling your ankle if the shoes are not wide enough - minimal risk but it's there. In order to effectively cue this you might need to play with your stance width and toe position as well, if your toes are pointed out too much you won't be able to generate much pressure when you trie to screw the feet etc.

Third option is to simply not worry about it, instead of fighting it just leave it alone and don't give it thought. Slightly counter-intuitive but it does work for some.

[Cody]

Narrowing your stance will minimize this if it were a purely technique dependant issue. But it's not.

Notice your hips pop back the more your knees come in. You're shifting the load off of your quads and onto mostly your low back since the legs extend at the knee joint without proportionately contributing to your movement of the bar. There's a chance we would also see some degree of lumbar extension from the side when that happens to maintain balance.

The fix for that is stronger quads. Leg presses and belt squats are good heavy lifts for bringing up the quads that can replace some squat volume if your program needs that. Leg extensions (do some curls too) and heavy lunges are great low-fatigue options that you could "tac on" to your current program with no changes if necessary.

So: narrow stance up and get bigger quads.

[RMelyon]

Thanks both. I'll try these out and maybe replace some squat volume with leg presses while I'm at the commercial gym and have access

Anyone have ideas of a good load selection ratio from squat:leg press? Im thinking at least 1.5x squat working weight on the leg press, and figure it out from there (if no one chimes in)

[mgil]

Narrowing your stance will minimize this if it were a purely technique dependant issue. But it's not.

Notice your hips pop back the more your knees come in. You're shifting the load off of your quads and onto mostly your low back since the legs extend at the knee joint without proportionately contributing to your movement of the bar. There's a chance we would also see some degree of lumbar extension from the side when that happens to maintain balance.

The fix for that is stronger quads. Leg presses and belt squats are good heavy lifts for bringing up the quads that can replace some squat volume if your program needs that. Leg extensions (do some curls too) and heavy lunges are great low-fatigue options that you could "tac on" to your current program with no changes if necessary.

So: narrow stance up and get bigger quads.

Good points.

OP, if you are afraid of the machines, front squats may help also.

[mbasic]

Thanks both. I'll try these out and maybe replace some squat volume with leg presses while I'm at the commercial gym and have access

Anyone have ideas of a good load selection ratio from squat:leg press? Im thinking at least 1.5x squat working weight on the leg press, and figure it out from there (if no one chimes in)

no way to even ball park ratio/starting weights here.

will vary wildly with the type of legpress machine;

and how how place your feet/legs on the push plate;

how deep you leg press;

and the individual lifter's body mechanics/segment lengths;

you'll just have to titrate up and play with it to figure out.

[RMelyon]

perfect. thanks again boys