Yesterday I smith machine squatted from the top.
This was the first time I’d done so in, well it’s probably nearing two years.
However, roughly every other day for the past 3-5 weeks I’ve done bottom position squats in the smith machine.
Whether in a rack, or using a smith machine – bottom position squats work.
That challenge of feeling 10-20% heavier, as it’s without the stretch reflex, it ends up building your squat quite well.
It’s brute force, and when you actually get to have the negative and it’s following stretch reflex…it feels like cheating.
I started doing the bottom position squats as I know it’s me, I’m at pf, and this is a way to make it more challenging.
Tending towards low reps, in the best spirit of the thing you pause on the pins at the bottom for a few counts each rep when not doing singles.
You don’t have to do this however, I’ve repped out before with just the first few reps paused like that.
It needn’t be low reps either, one could do progressive range of motion with higher reps to really diesel yourself up.
Whatever you do, starting squats from the bottom at least on an occasional but regular rotation in is going to move your strength up.
Persistence & Tenacity