“You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” This quote applies nicely to powerlifting because technique ultimately limits the amount of weight you can lift, and your technique eventually breaks down due to your weakest link. This three-part series will focus on my favorite method for finding and destroying your weakest links: paused reps.
We’ll touch on using paused reps for the each of the powerlifts, but this first installment will focus on the squat and how to use paused reps to eliminate squat-specific weak points.
BENEFITS OF PAUSING
First, let’s lay out the benefits of incorporating pauses into one’s training.
- Time Under Tension: Pausing increases the amount of time the muscles are under tension, which leads to more muscle growth.
- Proprioception: Pauses allow you to feel where you are in space and become aware of your position during different aspects of the lift.
- Bar Speed: Pausing decreases some of the stretch reflex (i.e. bounce at the bottom of the squat or bench), forcing you to develop force quickly. If you can get the bar moving fast after a pause, you’ll smoke weights once you go back to regular reps.
- Confidence: It takes some guts to hold a heavy weight and pause it during a difficult point of the lift. If you practice consistently, you can turn a weakness into a strength by building confidence during your sticking point.
Proprioception is where paused reps perhaps have the most value for a powerlifter. If you can feel where you’re making technique errors, you can fix those errors. If you take one thing away from this article series, let that be it.
RULES FOR PAUSING
When using paused reps, you’ll need to decide WHEN to pause and HOW LONG to pause. Here are a few rules for incorporating pauses:
- Pause for 1-5 seconds (“one one thousand” is one second, don’t cheat yourself!)
- Pause where you struggle to maintain a good position
- Adjust the load appropriately (each second of pausing increases the difficulty of the lift by 10-20 percent depending on the lifter, so err on the lighter side to start)
- Freeze the bar during your pause (no shifting, wobbling, or letting the bar move back down before you un-pause)
Let’s talk about some squat mistakes and how/when to pause your reps to improve your technique.
SQUAT MISTAKE: Falling forward on the way down
Falling forward as you lower down during the squat is fairly common. Whether the lifter purposefully leans forward because that’s how they’ve been taught, or because they’re unable to stay upright despite trying to do so, paused reps are a fantastic way to fix this problem.
When squatters fall forward on the way down, usually one of two things happens. They either:
- Flex too much at the spine (i.e. round the upper back) because they’re unable to maintain thoracic extension (i.e. keep the chest up)
- Flex too much at the hip (i.e. sit back too much) because they’re not opening the knees up to sit straight down
SQUAT FIX #1: Squats w/ Pause Halfway Down
Simply pausing about halfway down as you perform the eccentric phase can give you feedback as to whether you’re initiating the squat incorrectly. If you’re sitting back too much or letting your chest fall, you’ll feel a ton of tension in your lower back as you try to support the bar.
SQUAT FIX #2: Squat to Pins
I love squatting to the safety pins because it tells you a ton about HOW to fix your squat descent. If you squat down and hit the pins in a poor position, your body will have to shift around in order to stand back up properly. If you lean too far forward, the bar will roll forward on the pins before you’re able to stand back up.
SQUAT MISTAKE: Falling forward as you stand up
Even if you get to the bottom of the squat in a good position, it’s tough to stand back up without falling forward. For those who pitch forward once they reverse directions, paused squats can help tremendously.
When squatters fall forward as they stand up, it’s usually because of:
- Loss of tension at the bottom position
- Driving with the lower back instead of pushing through the floor
SQUAT FIX #1: 3-5 second Paused Squats
Simply pausing for longer periods of time at the bottom forces you to maintain tension. You might feel like your head wants to pop off, but if you can hold tight for 3-5 seconds at the bottom, you’ll learn what it means to not loosen up once you reverse directions.
SQUAT FIX #2: Paused Front Squats
Shifting the bar to a front squat position gives you no option but to stand up straight out of the bottom. If you lean forward or drive up with your hips/lower back first, you’ll dump the bar forward and miss the rep.
SQUAT MISTAKE: Knees caving in
When your knees cave in, it puts you in a poor position to produce force. You can’t push through the floor or properly utilize your glutes and quads to move the bar. And if you don’t drive your knees out from the start of the squat, you won’t be able to sit down, which forces you to sit back and may lead to falling forward.
When a squatter’s knees cave in, it’s usually because of:
- Inadequate tension through the hips because they’re not spreading/screwing the feet into the floor
- They stop spreading/screwing feet into the floor once they start standing back up
- The hips lack internal rotation, so the butt tucks under and knees collapse at the bottom of the squat
SQUAT FIX #1: Squats w/ Band Around Knees
Putting a band around the knees forces you to drive your knees out throughout the entire set. If you let up at all, the band will force your knees in. If you try to “break the band” the entire time, you’ll learn what it means to keep tension in your hips/glutes, even at the bottom of the squat. I prefer to do this with goblet squats or bodyweight squats during a warm-up so you’re not fussing around with the band when you have a loaded bar on your back.
SQUAT FIX #2: High Bar Pause Squat
High bar pause squats works nicely for keeping the knees out because most people can squat much lower with a high bar position. The bottom of the squat is where most people let their knees cave in, so getting lower than normal challenges the lifter’s ability to keep the knees out throughout the entire lift.
NEXT UP: BENCH PRESS
If you struggle with any of these three common squat issues, try the paused squat variations listed to clean up your technique. Next time, we’ll cover several bench press errors and how to address them with paused reps.