squat form check - be brutally honest

Replies

  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    Im not an expert by any means but i think you need to go lighter, your form looks off to me. To much foward and knees look to be caving some.
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  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    From what I can see too much movement on your set up. You should be able to set in three steps. One back, other leg in place, & then first leg in place. Conserve you energy for the lift. Shouldn't need to look down, practice this with a empty bar. You are leaning forward on decent, and not getting deep enough in the hole. Looking like your hamstrings might need some mobility work. I would also switch to a low bar with thumbless grip.
  • bigbuffbarry
    bigbuffbarry Posts: 38 Member
    nah, brah form looks fine. As long as there is no knee pain I'd continue where your at. Watch strongmen comps and powerlifting, when they are doing what is heavy for them, they also tremble and strain. Good lifts!
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    edited October 2014
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    From what I can see too much movement on your set up. You should be able to set in three steps. One back, other leg in place, & then first leg in place. Conserve you energy for the lift. Shouldn't need to look down, practice this with a empty bar. You are leaning forward on decent, and not getting deep enough in the hole. Looking like your hamstrings might need some mobility work. I would also switch to a low bar with thumbless grip.

    I also noticed the bar path is a bit far forward. As a high bar squatter, you'd ideally want more of an upright torso. If you pause the lift when you're right around parallel, the bar path is actually in front of your foot (As already pointed out, due to falling forward on the descent). You're able to over come it right now, but as you continue to increase the weight on the bar it'll become more and more difficult to come out of the bottom and you'll start to "good morning" it up and it'll be a grind.

    I can't tell from the angle how far apart your feet are either, but generally high bar is closer stance. From the angle it looks like more of a low bar stance (I could be mistaken).

    That said, if you're intent on sticking with high bar... try to keep a more upright torso with the bar path being in line with your mid foot. You have a high bar set up with a low bar squat style going on right now.
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  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTjW-DyU1c6qcd-L57Cj-4CEr1d-p0j_hJBRGpAPZ6PjccUPlyR

    As a point of reference
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    I'd say you really need to step back with that weight. Try a few form checks with an empty bar, then with 135# on.

    You're rocking and shaking bad enough to make me wonder if the gym is on the san andreas fault. Definitely agree that you're leaning too far forward, and with the knee movement, I'd be curious to see what your knees are doing from the front. My guess is that they are collapsing in a lot.

    Regarding low bar, practice your shoulder dislocs to get your shoulders stretched out if you can't open up enough yet for a low bar.
  • kCalCrusher
    kCalCrusher Posts: 54 Member
    Keep your weight on your heel
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2014
    LolBroScience wrote: »

    That said, if you're intent on sticking with high bar... try to keep a more upright torso with the bar path being in line with your mid foot. You have a high bar set up with a low bar squat style going on right now.

    Agree^^^
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  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    I found these two videos very helpful.

    3 step setup
    http://youtu.be/GtPN-ftmxG8

    Deep squat form.
    http://youtu.be/zoZWgTrZLd8
  • 212019156
    212019156 Posts: 341 Member
    Are you trying to do high bar or low bar squats?
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  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    edited October 2014
    Lack of posterior recruitment in glutes and hams (my guess). Id bet that your *kitten* doesnt feel much from doing squats. And you probably dont feel a stretch reflex in the hole. You lean forward to lay the weight on your quads more. I had this issue. I did RDLs, hip thrusts, box squats, donkey kicks, etc to bring up my glutes and hams. I also revamped my squat pushing my knees out further and really thinking about loading my hams and using my *kitten*. It was a pain but it helped my numbers. If you're always leaning forward and using your quads you'll never be lifting near your real potential. Also, switching to low bar will really help you to hit the posterior better.

    ETA: This most commonly will be accompanied by a lack of ankle mobility. You cant bring your knees forward far enough so you have so compensate by leaning forward to bring the weight back in line with teh midfoot. Upon eiting the hole is when youll move forawds an inch or so from the midfoot.

    When I got fed up I just went back to SS 5x5 with my squat and I started with the bar. If ya dont fix the forward lean youll eventually hit a weight where you're just stuck due to the increasing leverages of the forward lean in the hole.

    Suggestions:

    If you find that this resonates with you than I'd suggest accessory exercises to bring up glute and ham strength. Do all you can for ankle mobility as well. On squatting days you can do some warm up sets of SLDL, RDL, etc to wake up hams. Do some ankle/calf stretching as well to increase mobility prior to lifting.

    The achilles tendon is pretty hefty, itll take a while to gain a lot of ROM, but, it should transfer well to your lifts.
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  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
    If you are in the upper 25% of your lift, I don't see anything too wrong with that form. If it's a warm up set, then you can work on the things mentioned.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    edited October 2014
    I wasn't saying that was the answer, that's just what I did. Dont mess with your other lifts if they're fine and don't assume I'm correct. I initially tried to remedy the situation with a wider stance but inevitably I decided that wasn't how I wanted to proceed.

    The reason you may want to drop the weight significantly is because if you keep it high you'll almost surely break your form to use your dominant muscles (quads) and your form will fall back apart. I didn't mention it, but, I did throw in some low volume heavy work on machines to keep my quad strength up while working on my form and bringing up my posterior chain.

    Is it hard to do a body weight squat *kitten* to grass (i mean as deep as possible beyond parallel) without rounding your back and putting your hand out?

    Does a pistol squat seem like it would be impossible?

    If you answered yes to those than your ankle mobility almost surely needs work. Stretching and self administered physical therapy sucks, but, it doesnt suck nearly as bad as making no progress.
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  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    What is that weight? That's your max for 3? so your max for 1 should be what, 7-11% heavier?
  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
    If you saw the video it says 220lbs
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  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    edited October 2014
    dbmata wrote: »
    What is that weight? That's your max for 3? so your max for 1 should be what, 7-11% heavier?
    JeffseekingV wrote: »
    If you saw the video it says 220lbs


    Your continued jabs at each other are quite comical. When are yall going to step into the octagon?
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    edited October 2014
    lulwut?

    Asking the weight is a jab?

    GO HOME BROSCI YOU'RE DRUNK.
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    edited October 2014
    dbmata wrote: »
    lulwut?

    Asking the weight is a jab?

    GO HOME BROSCI YOU'RE DRUNK.

    No, Jeff's response to you.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Oh, he's right though. I didn't read the text, just the movement, and I watch vids on mute. I didn't even see his response.

    I'm sure he and I will have a drink next time I'm in Seattle and laugh about it over cosmos and appletinis. lol.
  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
    You can have your cosmos, I prefer Gin or Scotch
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Then I hope you are well acquainted with The Macallan in Ballard.
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    edited October 2014
    I don't think the weight is a problem per say, and I think it's better he did this with a heavier load because greater loads bring out the problems in one's squat. We may not have seen these if he just had the bar or something light. Obviously for training he'll want to use more appropriate loads.

    A lot of good feedback already.

    - The J-Hooks need to be lower, you're not in a good position right at the setup.
    - Weight definitely shifts forward
    - Try and keep your elbows under the bar.
    - Obviously you're not hitting depth / parallel
    - It seems like your hip flexibility could be poor
    - Quadriceps seem to be a little overactive
    - Improve strength in your glutes and hamstrings, something as simple as 3 sets of 15 back extensions could help you with this. Of course squatting to depth with a more manageable load will help you to engage your hamstrings more and activate your glutes more on the concentric.
    - During your warm-up do a set of 10 glute bridges to help activate your glutes


    I would watch "So You Think You Can Squat"; it's a great video series on squat form. Rippletoe has some good videos as well.

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