I never got the whole arch thing. Arching your back is cheating.
Edit: I apologize. I was taught to do it without arching from my kinesiologist. I didn't mean to offend anyone. Thank you for the links to the articles on the subject. I appreciate it.
this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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It's not cheating, it's a healthier, more stable lifting form that activates more muscle groups. I don't compete anyways, I just want to get the most out of my gym days and this is how my personal trainer and competitive powerlift taught me.
I don't agree. Arching your back is technique. Using your biomechanics to achieve a more efficient lift. This is like claiming utilizing the bounce out of the bottom of a squat is cheating.
I used to do a lot of lifting. It's very easy to get the technique wrong, making it more likely to get a back injury. Arching can work out, but it's a great way to get hurt. Same with bouncing out of a squat.
Bro what are you talking about, you used to lift?
You're talking about possibly multiple different squat types. A full depth squat you'll naturally want to use the bounce, that means you've done the exercise correctly, it's entirely natural.
A full depth squat with no bounce would be called a pause squat, you are purposefully controlling the bounce so you train a different part of the movement, you use these with regular squats.
A box squat or parallel squat does not use the full range of motion, you either stop at your thighs being parallel to the ground or you use a box or a chair for a queue.
If you have someone discovered something that every expert hasn't, you should write a book!
The thing about full squats is that when you go below parallel, you put more stain on the tendons in your knees than your muscles. There's greater potential to hurt yourself.
Arched back is an issue when squatting or dead lifting or other movements with significant vertical load on the back. Not the case with bench pressing. Bouncing out of a squat is also perfectly safe.
I think it's worth saying that they are advanced techniques that have a decent potential for injury. Inexperienced people should avoid them entirely. Even experienced lifters should have someone trained watching them as a spotter. Remember, your back needs to be arched for the entire set. Anything else is likely to cause injury.
I very much disagree about bouncing out of a squat. Maybe while warming up or with light weight it's ok, but with heavy weights, the safest technique is a steady and smooth motion while staring at the top of the rack to force a straight back.
Oh the staring bit is a good idea. I didn't know that.
Yep! It's a trick my coach taught me in highschool, it works great and keeps it simple