Ed Schock: Olympic Weightlifting Squat Power

Olympic weightlifters barbell squat as deep as possible to increase clean and snatch recovery power. Note near vertical shins, wide stance and upright torso. This is “all leg” squatting. Exemplary technique.

Ed Schock’s quiet strength left Marty Gallagher with a lasting lesson about free weights, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and the value of ultra-deep barbell squats. Schock did not train like a powerlifter, yet when he entered powerlifting competitions, his Olympic-style squat depth, leg power, clean recovery strength, and deadlift carryover made him brutally effective. This is a story about what happens when full range-of-motion weightlifting builds strength from the bottom up.

From Olympic Weightlifting Back to Powerlifting

In the late 1970s, I got serious about powerlifting. In 1972 I quit Olympic weightlifting when they banned the overhead press, my best lift. I fell off the scene and immersed myself in the Chinese internal martial arts. Eventually I figured out the internalist world was not my world and I bailed. I wanted to start “real” training again.

I looked around for good place to train and had the good fortune to cross paths with some hardcore martial artists, real fighters, the Hill brothers, Phil and Ron and Tommy Fox. We trained at the funky Silver Spring YMCA. I got these hardcore hitters’ attention by how quickly I shaped up.

I had a lot of muscle memory and I got serious from the git go: it took me about six weeks to morph from skinny-fat internal martial artist into a muscled-up freak rep squatting 450 on an Olympic weightlifting bar. We had some great training sessions and I fell in with them socially. These boys partied hard, long and often, which suited my rock and roll lifestyle just fine.

Hugh Cassidy and the Strength Guild

A life changing event occurred when I happened to see a blurb in the “coming events” section of the Weekender edition of the Washington Post. It read, “World champion Hugh Cassidy will teach a free strength lecture at Greenbelt recreation center, Saturday at 10 pm.” I happened to see this and I happened to be in good enough shape to not embarrass myself, so I went. I loved and understood Hugh’s professorial, often obtuse strength reasonings.

I was flattered when afterwards he greeted me warmly, for Hugh, and told me how he “dug my squat style,” which he remembered from my teenage lifting days. Graciously, he invited me to come train with him and his crew in rural Bowie, Maryland. It was a 50-minute commute that I happily made twice a week. Going to Cassidy’s lair was like joining a strength guild or taking on an apprenticeship. He introduced me to a completely unique approach to strength training: short, simple, brutal. Within six months I was competing in powerlifting competitions.

I did okay as a 198-pound lifter, but at 5-10, I was really too tall and thin to compete against the short, compact, thick, mini-monsters that inhabited the class. A really good middle-heavyweight stood 5-6 or less. My leverages improved when I pushed up to the 220-pound class. Our area, Washington/Baltimore, was a hotbed for powerlifting. There were meets being run all the time. Hugh thought competing, often, was a good thing. Competition revealed who rose to the challenge and who wilted under the pressure. He viewed competition as the “report card” on our training efforts.

Ed Schock: Olympic Weightlifting Champion and Powerlifting Outlier

One local guy that impressed the hell out of me was a unique Olympic weightlifting champ named Ed Schock. Ed stood 5-9 and he too was a too-tall 198-er. Ed had a not-so-secret weapon: outsized legs; he was leg heavy with long, powerful quads. I would guess his thighs were 29-inches with 18-inch calves and big glutes. He had a nice upper body, a short torso with long arms. His torso was tight, taut and muscled, but it looked like it belonged on a different lower body. He had blond hair, longish, Beatlesque with a Germanic face. He was a smart young man with a career: a government lawyer, sharp, cool, reserved, and quiet.

Ed would enter powerlifting competitions without training for them. He would do his Olympic weightlifting at elite level, perform lots and lots of cleans and snatches, lots of heavy jerks and lots of Olympic weightlifting style squatting. How do Olympic weightlifters squat? Or front squat? All the way down, as deep as humanly possible.

The elite Olympic weightlifter has to be able to recover with a massive poundage after catching a clean or a snatch in the bottommost position. Imagine Ed Schock catching a 400-pound clean rock-bottom. Now he must come erect from a dead-stop with a 400-pound front squat from the lowest possible point with the worst possible leverage. High squatting, parallel squatting, does not help an Olympic lifter who needs “bottom-up” strength.

Deep Squats, Raw Power, and Powerlifting Competition

Ed would enter power competitions, cut his squat depth to a few inches below parallel, a partial squat for him, and regularly and routinely squat 600, raw, as raw as possible. Ed wore no squat suit or knee wraps; he wore a flimsy Olympic weightlifting belt. Meanwhile his local competition would be wearing squat suits, knee wraps, gigantic lifting belts, and having their faces slapped as they bellowed onstage to set a new personal best with a 485 lb. squat.

Ed wore the identical lifting outfit he wore when Olympic weightlifting: white York weightlifting shoes, a worn cotton singlet, a white York T-shirt, and a pathetic little weightlifting belt that did nothing other than keep his low back warm. He would read books between attempts. I once caught him yawning right before walking onstage to crush a 600-pound squat. I never saw him miss a lift or get a red light. Despite having relatively smallish arms, he still bench-pressed 300-pound, not bad for someone that purposefully did no bench presses: thick pecs and cannonball delts make snatching next to impossible.

Often, because he was competing against men that wore bench shirts that added 40% to their un-shirted capacity, he would have 198-pound competitors post 400 to 450-pound bench presses. He was often behind going into the deadlift. No matter. Ed routinely deadlifted 700 in a lift he rarely practiced. His 700-pound deadlift was attributable to his powerhouse legs and 400-pound clean. A good deadlift for a local or regional level 198-pound lifter is 550. A great deadlift is 600, triple bodyweight. A 700-pull is like having an atomic bomb in your gym bag. Ed routinely outpulled the locals by 100-150 pounds. And all done in the most lowkey offhand fashion.

What Ed Schock Taught Marty About Squat Depth

He convinced me, without saying a word, as to the value of ultra-deep squat mastery. First off, ass-on-heels style squatting gave him gigantic legs; secondly, when he competed, he got to reduce his range-of-motion. Powerlifting squats are shallower, and therefore easier, than his training squats, where he bottomed out in order to increase clean and snatch recovery power. His 600-pound raw squat helped his awesome deadlift.

Ed was a conventional style deadlifter that broke the bar from the floor with his powerhouse legs. When the bar hit his knees, his 400-pound erector muscles kicked in: he fired the hip-hinge, kept in reserve to this point. He never failed to lockout a titanic poundage. Naturally Ed used a double overhand hook-grip. He didn’t just squat and dead 600 and 700 once, he did it over and over for years.

Ed’s casual strength made a big impression on me. He gave me the lightbulb moment: everyone in power-dom was building their squats from the top down, Schock and the Olympic weightlifters were building their squats from the bottom up. When you squat like Schock, lifting in competitions is easy by comparison. While the rest of the powerlifting world struggles to get their squats down to legal depth and have a difficult time matching their training squats, those that squat Olympic lifter style and use full range-of-motion in training invariably see their squats skyrocket in competition.

Phil Scarito and the Bottom-Up Squat Lesson

One quick tale: Phil Scarito had zero weightlifting, powerlifting or bodybuilding experience. Though he was a great athlete, he had never lifted weights. After nine months of once-a-week training, he entered his first power competition. Weighing 145 he squatted 350 raw, no wraps or belt. He bench-pressed 225 and deadlifted 400. I would call him “Up!” in the squats. I would kneel next to a side judge and when he dipped below parallel, I would yell. He commented, “It felt like cheating to only squat down that far.” His best ass-on-heels training squat was 275 for 3. Meanwhile his competitors were missing squats right and left due to insufficient depth.

The lessons Ed Schock taught me? If you squat at all, get on the super-deep bandwagon. That’s where the muscle and power reside.

Equipment Notes for Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting Squats

Ed Schock’s lesson was not about equipment replacing effort. It was about how deep, technically correct squatting with a barbell can build the kind of leg power that carries over into Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, the deadlift, and total-body resistance training. A lifter building around this approach needs a dependable bar, enough loading options, and support gear chosen for the lift, not for show.

For Olympic-style barbell work, lifters can compare Olympic weightlifting bars and the Body-Solid Chrome Olympic Power Bar when selecting a bar for squats, pulls, presses, and general strength work. For fixed barbell or accessory work in a home gym, school weight room, commercial facility, first responder gym, or military fitness room, options include the IRON COMPANY urethane barbell set and pro-style fixed barbell sets.

Support gear depends on the lifter and the training goal. Powerlifters who use wraps can compare weightlifting straps, wraps and sleeves, Schiek elastic weightlifting knee wraps, and Schiek cross-training knee sleeves. For belt-supported squatting or pulling, options include weightlifting belts, the Schiek heavy duty contoured powerlifting belt, and the IRON COMPANY all leather powerlifting belt.

Training Note

This is strength training commentary, not medical advice or a universal programming prescription. Ultra-deep squats, Olympic-style front squats, heavy pulls, hook-grip deadlifts, heavy singles and raw powerlifting attempts require technical control, appropriate loading, sensible progression, proper equipment, and competent coaching when needed. The useful lesson is not reckless depth or reckless poundage; the lesson is to build strength through controlled full range-of-motion before expecting it to show up under a heavier bar.

*Pictured squatting is Hugh Cassidy. We could not find an image of Ed Schock.

Ed Schock Olympic Weightlifting FAQ

Who was Ed Schock?

Ed Schock was an Olympic weightlifting champion who impressed Marty Gallagher by entering powerlifting competitions without training specifically for them. His deep Olympic-style squats, powerful legs, clean strength, and calm competitive demeanor made him a formidable local powerlifting competitor.

Why did Ed Schock squat so deep?

Olympic weightlifters squat deep because they must recover from cleans and snatches caught in the bottom position. Ed Schock’s ass-on-heels squat training built bottom-up strength that made competition-depth powerlifting squats feel easier by comparison.

How did Olympic weightlifting help Ed Schock in powerlifting?

His Olympic weightlifting built huge leg power, full range-of-motion squat strength, powerful erectors, and a strong pull from the floor. Those qualities carried over into raw squats and a conventional deadlift that outpaced many powerlifters who trained those lifts directly.

What was Marty Gallagher’s biggest lesson from Ed Schock?

The biggest lesson was that many powerlifters build the squat from the top down, while Olympic weightlifters build the squat from the bottom up. Marty saw that full-depth squat mastery could create more muscle, power, and competitive confidence.

Did Ed Schock use powerlifting gear?

According to Marty’s account, Ed Schock entered powerlifting competitions wearing the same basic outfit he wore for Olympic weightlifting. He wore no squat suit or knee wraps and used only a small Olympic-style belt.

What equipment supports this style of deep squat training?

A practical setup includes a quality Olympic weightlifting bar or power bar, appropriate plates, a rack or squat station, and support gear such as knee sleeves, knee wraps, or a weightlifting belt if the lifter uses them. The equipment should support controlled full range-of-motion, not replace technique.

About the Author

As an athlete Marty Gallagher is a national and world champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was a world champion team coach in 1991 and coached Black's Gym to five national team titles. He's also coached some of the strongest men on the planet including Kirk Karwoski when he completed his world record 1,003 lb. squat. Today he teaches the US Secret Service and Tier 1 Spec Ops on how to maximize their strength in minimal time. As a writer since 1978 he’s written for Powerlifting USA, Milo, Flex Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Prime Fitness, Washington Post, Dragon Door and now IRON COMPANY. He’s also the author of numerous books including Purposeful Primitive, Strong Medicine, Ed Coan’s book “Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method" and numerous others. Read the Marty Gallagher biography here.