Manbeater

[Shahala]

This one is incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r87D-JyichM

By BBT standards this is terrible form, isn't it? knees forward all the way to bottom, no posterior chain involvement etc..
How come some people can get away with such form? how come she still own a pair of kneecaps?
Is it good genetics? adaptation?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Pretty damn good effort, eh? She's tough. This is the way Olympic weightlifters are taught to back squat, without their hamstrings and bouncing off their knees. But that's an impressive 150k (330) x 10 PR.

[JMT]

Very solid high bar Olympic squats. The only real issue I see is the knees coming in during the concentric. This seems to be pretty common with o-lifters. Any idea why?

FYI - For those who don't know, that is Cara Heads in the video. She has won numerous national championships in weightlifting and represented the US at the 2000 Olympics.

[Mark Rippetoe]

It is common with Olympic lifters because they are taught to squat that way. The reason they are taught to squat that way is because they are not taught to back squat any differently than they front squat, because it is not regarded as important for Olympic lifters to have a strong back squat, and thus not important to do them in a more efficient way that produces greater strength. PR 1-5RM back squats -- to my knowledge, and I have asked repeatedly -- are not and have not been required for many years at the USOTC Olympic weightlifting resident athlete program. I welcome the opportunity to be corrected on this.

[JMT]

Are you saying that o-lifters knees cave in during the back squat concentric because their coaches don't care enough to teach them that this is bad? It seems like that much internal rotation at the knee under heavy load has a non-trivial potential for injury. Is this not a concern?

[juicysweet]

Why is an advanced, elite weightlifter taking a 10RM?

I mean, for performance based reasons, not for the-hell-of-it reasons.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Excellent questions, both, to which I have no answers. Perhaps the folks in charge of Olympic weightlifting in this country could provide them.