When it’s at a point where further increases either
a. take time away from training that amtters
b. hurt performance
I daresay if you found out the actual strength levels of real athletes, they are not nearly as high as you’d think or think they should be in a lot of sports.
And clearly, as Bolt and others are showing, big max strenght levels are simply NOT REQUIRED for maximal performance. Now, maybe this is just specific to them, maybe they get the simulus elsewhere, maybe they are more elastic and less strenght dominant. I don’t know enough about sprinting to comment.
But if you’re going to argue that getting them to a 405 squat would make them better, you’re either stupid or arrogant as hell; possibly both.
And, certainly, it seems that the emphasis on max strength has gone down in recent years.
Consider ice speed skating, in the 80’s, claimed half squats of 2.5XBW for 5 reps were common.
More recently, I’ve watched some of the top US and Candian sprinters train in the weight room. Maybe bodyweight half squats or a touch more.
Changes to facilities (indoor vs. outdoor), equipment (the clap), technique have all caused this.
Simply, outside of the pure power events (Pl, OL, maybe some of the throws), max strength to high levels just isn’t critical.
There is even work by Schmidtbleicher that too much max strength can HURT power.
And while Ben comes up a lot, some things to consider:
- With absolutely NO disrespect to Charlie, unless someone can show me that Ben hit 600 to parallel, I’d take it with a grain of salt. I’ve been in weight rooms nearly 2 decades and this is how it works
[ol]
[li]If someone says they squat full, they squat maybe to parallel
[/li][li]If they say they squat to parallel, they maybe hit a quarter squat
[/li][li]IF they say they quarter squat, you might see their knees bend a bit if you look closely.
[/li][/ol]
Again, no disrespect, just a statement of fact. Maybe Ben really did it, maybe he didn’t. I’ve seen too many claimed big lifts that turned out to be in error (people always think they squat deeper than they really do) to believe anything without video proof anymore.
And given that, when you scale back partial squat numbers to greater depth, the number drop like a stone.
Case in point, a training partner, a bodybuilder, I saw him full squat 405X5 at maybe 210 lbs. He could quarter squat 800. Let’s put a half squat in between that. So from just under double bodyweight to 4Xbodyweight for a quarter squat and maybe triple for a half squat. He was a pasty white guy.
A female trainee of mine who has full squatting 190 can half squat 275+. And we’d have gotten more than that on there if her upper back hadn’t been limiting and/or she hadn’t been such a chicken about the weight on her back.
Point being that the claimed 600 half squat is, at best suspect. Again, no disrespect meant, just a statement of fact.
- As others have pointed out, Ben’s squat was probably related to his sprint ability, not the other way around.
I guess the point being that you can chase numbers in the weight room or recognize that they are, at best, fairly meaningless. So instead of trying to find arguments for why the big squats are needed, maybe you should try listening to people who know better than you that they aren’t.
Lyle