53 Squatters in the FB Group and a few more following from the Apex blog. Awesome!
It was pretty neat to walk around Open Gym today and see everyone knocking out Squat holds for time. And all the people testing their Front and Back Squat, which I assume is in response to the challenge. Not to mention people were asking questions, talking about squatting and generally exploring human movement. Added Bonus!
Hopefully all the participation continues and we can all help motivate each other throughout the 30 days. We'll need it. Speaking of days...
Day One is upon us and I've been going 3-minute intervals. I've got 24 in the books and am planning on knocking out the rest during commercials tonight.
My squat feels pretty similar to the way it did during the early days of my first go-around with this challenge. Definitely not comfortable. I'm not going to lie, it's going to be a battle. The first 5 days were a real struggle in my first attempt, but I did start seeing (and feeling) some improvement in the first week. Keep plugging away it will get easier.
I just remembered that Apex member Nicole O'Neill also has experience with the Ido Portal version of the Squat Challenge. I think you can probably tell by the looks of her pre-challenge squat picture submission today. Her knees are out, chest is high, back is straight, hands are above her eyes. Looks real comfortabe. Maybe Nikki might be a good resource as we all start to question how we are "supposed" to be feeling during these squats.
Another impressive Open Gym squat came from Corinne Dougherty who "wow-ed" with the depth of her squat. We actually thought her backside might be touching the ground. Nice one Corrine!
Question of the day comes from Julia Barndt (again), who asked whether we needed to stand up out of the squat? I think we are going to allow a roll-out during the first week but not after that. Here was my answer to Julia's question.
My feeling is this, the action of squatting isn't really improving strength, right? It's more of an exercise in mobility. However, I think what may actually help with strength gains is getting in the habit of standing out of a really deep squat. I mean, after doing a long hold, you guys felt how difficult it is to stand up. I think that's when you have to get organized, show good form and focus on rising under control out of the hold. Huge benefits from that, in my opinion.
Keep posting your pre-challenge pics and FS/BS max results and I will cook up some sort of excel sheet with everyone's numbers.
Happy Squatting as you finish up today's requirements. It's really cool to see all the participation in this "experiment." You guys are the best! -Lou
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53 Squatters in the FB Group and a few more following from the Apex blog. Awesome!
It was pretty neat to walk around Open Gym today and see everyone knocking out Squat holds for time. And all the people testing their Front and Back Squat, which I assume is in response to the challenge. Not to mention people were asking questions, talking about squatting and generally exploring human movement. Added Bonus!
Hopefully all the participation continues and we can all help motivate each other throughout the 30 days. We'll need it.
Speaking of days...
Day One is upon us and I've been going 3-minute intervals. I've got 24 in the books and am planning on knocking out the rest during commercials tonight.
My squat feels pretty similar to the way it did during the early days of my first go-around with this challenge. Definitely not comfortable.
I'm not going to lie, it's going to be a battle. The first 5 days were a real struggle in my first attempt, but I did start seeing (and feeling) some improvement in the first week. Keep plugging away it will get easier.
I just remembered that Apex member Nicole O'Neill also has experience with the Ido Portal version of the Squat Challenge. I think you can probably tell by the looks of her pre-challenge squat picture submission today. Her knees are out, chest is high, back is straight, hands are above her eyes. Looks real comfortabe. Maybe Nikki might be a good resource as we all start to question how we are "supposed" to be feeling during these squats.
Another impressive Open Gym squat came from Corinne Dougherty who "wow-ed" with the depth of her squat. We actually thought her backside might be touching the ground. Nice one Corrine!
Question of the day comes from Julia Barndt (again), who asked whether we needed to stand up out of the squat?
I think we are going to allow a roll-out during the first week but not after that. Here was my answer to Julia's question.
My feeling is this, the action of squatting isn't really improving strength, right? It's more of an exercise in mobility.
However, I think what may actually help with strength gains is getting in the habit of standing out of a really deep squat.
I mean, after doing a long hold, you guys felt how difficult it is to stand up. I think that's when you have to get organized, show good form and focus on rising under control out of the hold. Huge benefits from that, in my opinion.
Keep posting your pre-challenge pics and FS/BS max results and I will cook up some sort of excel sheet with everyone's numbers.
Happy Squatting as you finish up today's requirements. It's really cool to see all the participation in this "experiment." You guys are the best!
-Lou
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