I was halfway through my workout this morning (doing barbell squats) and found I couldn't lift the barbell over my head on the havier reps to lift it onto my shoulders! Wha? In a blind panic I held it to my knees and squated but it ruined my great set. It was much too easy this way and I didn't even reach a 9.
How do you guys overcome this obstacle of your arms not being as strong as your legs?

Also on the Deadlifts, I think I had proper form but I felt it in my lower back much more than my hamstrings(?)
It was driving my back crazy but not injury related, my back felt fine as soon as I set the weight down. Do any of you notice this? I know it works your back as well but it seems like it should be part of the back exercises in upper body rather than hamstrings (lower body)
Am I crazy?

you've brought up several things to discuss.
1) How are you moving the weight up to set up for squats. If you are lifting only with your arms (like an upright row) and then trying to move it over your head, try instead to lift the weight up like a weightlifting "clean" where you can use your legs too, and then move it to your back (see www.exrx.net for an example of upright row vs. clean movements) . And try to duck under the back rather than lift it over your head (if you can do this safely).
2) you could switch from back squats to front squats (again, exrx has pictures)
3) ultimately, as you add weight, you'll need to take the weight off a squat rack where you duck under the bar instead of trying to lift it up.

How much weight total are you using for your heavy sets of squats? This could allow us to suggest workarounds for squat rack if we know how much weight is being discussed?

DL - remember your arms are just straight hooks that connect you to the bar, and your back is just a continuation to connect to your hips. Don't let your shoulders or your back round or attempt to do any of the work - it should almost be as if a Barbie or Ken Doll is doing this (from the hips up your knees can/do bend of course).

are you doing regular squat down and pick it up deadlifts or are you doing SLDL/Romanian DL/keystone DL? if the latter, try to imagine the Ken doll doing the motion - no back movement, just hips/glutes/hamstrings and possibly knees are bending and straightening.

For the deadlifts. Doing ones where you curve your back and touch the floor is a compound exercise, while strait back is an isolate. If you are doing the curving ones, you might try just doing the strait back ones.

Have you ever done Pilates? One important thing to protecting your lower back is strength in the abdominals. I seem to remember you saying you had good ones. Just remember before you enter the exercise to pull your ab muscles in tight, like you are drawing your belly button in to your back bone. Keep the muscles tight through out the move to protect the lower back. It also really helps to isolate the muscles you want instead of having your back, momentum, or other muscles trying to help with the move.

You might try to lower the weight a little for a while and concentrate on form, doing each move extra slow. This will help concentrate the moves on the muscles you want, and keep you from getting injuries.

To answer your question, I wouldn't even try to overcome this obstacle. If my gym didn't have a squat rack I wouldn't do squats. I can't imagine any way to do squats safely without a squat rack.

I would try doing an alternate exercise like sissy squats.

Arnie

hi ya.. try checking out this website.. when you click on a specific bodypart/exercise you will see a little video showing proper form

Body ExRx

J

thanks for all the extremely helpful information everyone! I'm going to take this into consideration.

I might just try using dumbbells instead for squats. Arnie, may I ask what sissy squats are?

and next time I do deadlifts I'm going to bring out a mirror and see if I'm doing them right. I might have been curving my back even though I was trying to keep it straight and have good form.

Lisa, I think it was only about 40 lbs (plus whatever the bar weighs) that I couldn't get over my head. (You have to remember I just started and I'm still pretty weak!)

Ladybelle, I've tried pilates. I try to remember to keep my abs tight as I learned in tai bo! I'll remember that next time.

deze, thanks for the link!