Dooley Noted: 8/18/2015
I don’t jump for joy on Front Squat Day.
It hurts in several ways.
It leaves me with bruises on my clavicle. My business partner, the great Joe Boffi, hears this and says, “Get bigger delts, Dooley.”
I want to grip the bar with my might, as I am encouraged to leave my fingers loose. Joe Boffi hears this and says, “Stop gripping the bar, Dooley, and get your elbows up.”
I fear for my airway, as the bar approaches my trachea. I feel my throat swell up with fear. It limits my depth and freaks out my mind.
But then, the great Matt Tolstoy and Joe Boffi step in to give me words that changed front squatting forever.
Matt told me to make my breath lift that bar up as I descended. He cued my breathing to push my sternum obliquely upward, as if my sternum was lifting that bar off my trachea.
And it worked.
I felt less phlegm in my throat, and I could get the air in my belly to give my hips more rotational access.
As the squat felt safe, I gained depth, strength, and power in the front squat.
Joe judged the depth improving with each set that focused on my airway. He said, “You needed confidence.”
He was right.
But I needed to breathe in order to have confidence.
If you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.
If you have ever choked or nearly drowned, you know exactly to what I am referring.
We all feel hassled in the same way if we cannot breathe.
And breathing is what separates a live human from a dead one. It’s the commonality shared by the living to which we all can relate.
Breathing matters – particularly on your lifts – to make them feel safe.
If you aren’t getting the depth you need in your squats, your breathing mechanics must be the first thing assessed.
Get assessed. Get corrected.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley