Squat form check

Carlos_421

I've never posted a form check video just because my form has always felt good and when I first started squatting (working sets of 3x8x135) the trainor at the gym said my form looked good.

But now that I'm lifting a lot heavier than I was back then I figured I should make sure that's still the case.
So I took these videos and I gotta say...I don't think it looks near as good as it felt.
What do you guys think?

1st WarmUp set - 135x8 (full disclosure: I think the "catch" in my first rep was due to "performing for the camera")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf8tuE3-lfQ[/vid]


Final working set - 275x2 (out of 3 working sets)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YBEx8jqUkM[/vid]

Carlos_421

bump

_incogNEATo_

Definitely not a professional here on form but I can tell you what I see and how it compares to my squat:

I see that with lighter weight, your bar path is pretty straight. When the weight gets heavier, the bar falls forward a bit at the bottom. Naturally, with heavier weight, there will be some form breakdown. One suggestion for this would be to try and focus on keeping for chest and head up*. Another tip, to ensure you're not leaning forward too much would be to stay conscious of keeping your heels planted.

Depth looks nice with lighter weight and could go a little deeper with heavier weight. I fix this by narrowing my stance a little. It's longer for the weight to travel, but my hips won't go that low when I'm wider. That's a flexibility issue on my part that I need to work on (I struggle with squat depth at all weight at the moment).

*I'm not an expert on the differences between highbar and lowbar squats. With lowbar, I think there is more pivot at the waist so that may be what you're going for. Hopefully, somebody else can come along with some more advice.

jimmmer

Just to echo @_incogNEATo_ You cut depth with the heavier weights. You look like you're setting up high-bar, but your squat form has a more classic low-bar flavour to it.

A couple of things could be at play with the depth - you may be lacking the confidence to go into the hole since you seem to do a better job with the lighter weight. However, to counter this, it maybe that you lack tightness on the heavier set and therefore you're pitching too far forward to comfortably hit that lower position. When you get your air, are you actively engaging your lats and obliques? This can help keep you tighter and more upright.

Conversely you may want to pick a lower bar position and try to keep your current squat mechanics and just hit parallel.

Some people lean pretty far forward and have no problem putting up high numbers (Layne Norton comes to mind) so you just have to find what feels right to you, at the end of the day. It maybe that you've found a mid-way squat between high and low bar and that's what works for you. Whatever, I'd try actively engaging the lats and getting the chest up as much as possible to ensure tightness through the squat and good depth...

Carlos_421

Thanks @jimmmer and @incogneato !!
I think I may try low bar on a set and also try just focusing on tightening up and keeping my chest forward and see what works better for me.
I'll also video my first working set to make sure the depth wasn't just due to exhaustion.

As for my back though, does everything look ok there? It doesn't look as straight to me as it feels during the movement but I'm not sure if it's still ok.

jimmmer

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Thanks @jimmmer and @incogneato !!
I think I may try low bar on a set and also try just focusing on tightening up and keeping my chest forward and see what works better for me.
I'll also video my first working set to make sure the depth wasn't just due to exhaustion.

As for my back though, does everything look ok there? It doesn't look as straight to me as it feels during the movement but I'm not sure if it's still ok.

It's hard to see from a combo of the angle and your clothing, but there may be some rounding going on there as well as the pitching forward. Tightness in the lats and upper back and focusing on keeping the chest up will definitely help there.

There's a youtube vid somewhere where Chris Duffin walks Silent Mike through the set-up and bracing for the squat. It's basically a 5 point checklist that you follow that gives you maximum bracing/tightness - well worth a watch (it's about 30-40 mins long if I remember correctly)

giantrobot_powerlifting

Yeah I pretty much agree with @jimmmer and @_incogNEATo_ . Keep that chest up as you sit back down in the hole and as you push back up to lockout. Another cue that might help is to push your heels into the floor as you extend back up while you push your chest up. Keep back tight from pre-squat set up to when you lockout your knees at the top. If you feel yourself loosen a bit walking back, lock your knees and tighten your lats/back then begin your squat. That's helps me immensely.

And don't try to overthink it!

Carlos_421

jimmmer wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Thanks @jimmmer and @incogneato !!
I think I may try low bar on a set and also try just focusing on tightening up and keeping my chest forward and see what works better for me.
I'll also video my first working set to make sure the depth wasn't just due to exhaustion.

As for my back though, does everything look ok there? It doesn't look as straight to me as it feels during the movement but I'm not sure if it's still ok.

It's hard to see from a combo of the angle and your clothing, but there may be some rounding going on there as well as the pitching forward. Tightness in the lats and upper back and focusing on keeping the chest up will definitely help there.

There's a youtube vid somewhere where Chris Duffin walks Silent Mike through the set-up and bracing for the squat. It's basically a 5 point checklist that you follow that gives you maximum bracing/tightness - well worth a watch (it's about 30-40 mins long if I remember correctly)

I'll check that out! Thanks!

Carlos_421

nakedraygun wrote: »

Yeah I pretty much agree with @jimmmer and @_incogNEATo_ . Keep that chest up as you sit back down in the hole and as you push back up to lockout. Another cue that might help is to push your heels into the floor as you extend back up while you push your chest up. Keep back tight from pre-squat set up to when you lockout your knees at the top. If you feel yourself loosen a bit walking back, lock your knees and tighten your lats/back then begin your squat. That's helps me immensely.

And don't try to overthink it!

Thanks man!

Carlos_421

nakedraygun wrote: »

Yeah I pretty much agree with @jimmmer and @_incogNEATo_ . Keep that chest up as you sit back down in the hole and as you push back up to lockout. Another cue that might help is to push your heels into the floor as you extend back up while you push your chest up. Keep back tight from pre-squat set up to when you lockout your knees at the top. If you feel yourself loosen a bit walking back, lock your knees and tighten your lats/back then begin your squat. That's helps me immensely.

And don't try to overthink it!

Improvement?

First warmup:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kij2XxqmkDY[/vid]


Last working set:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bhuzNP2F3cE[/vid]

giantrobot_powerlifting

You rocked your warm-up. I don't see anything to be concerned with.

Your top set first rep looked really good. Second rep had some breakdown, chest caved, but at weights closer to your max that is bound to happen some. When your chest caves is when you really have to concentrate and pushing that chest up. The only other caveat, could be your depth, but if your not competing then not a concern. You look like you come to parallel without breaking it.

Otherwise, you like tight, in control and much improved!

Carlos_421

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

giantrobot_powerlifting

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

Depth is a very emotional issue to some... The never-ending discussions of how deep.... *groan*

If you don't intended to come compete, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle and compete, then you will need to break parallel for a legal attempt (hips lower than the knee) --and we're talking an inch or two maybe more... At least from what I see. Someone else may have a different take on what they see. To do that, you will probably need to drop the weight some. I know I did.

Carlos_421

nakedraygun wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

Depth is a very emotional issue to some... The never-ending discussions of how deep.... *groan*

If you don't intended to come compete, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle and compete, then you will need to break parallel for a legal attempt (hips lower than the knee) --and we're talking an inch or two maybe more... At least from what I see. Someone else may have a different take on what they see. To do that, you will probably need to drop the weight some. I know I did.

Gotcha.
My goals are simple: get stronger and bigger, in that order.

If I'm going deep enough for that then I won't stress about it but it'll probably still nag me a little until I know I'm at least breaking parallel on my heavier sets.
I'm definitely not worried about getting super low though.

jmule24

nakedraygun wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

Depth is a very emotional issue to some... The never-ending discussions of how deep.... *groan*

If you don't intended to come compete, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle and compete, then you will need to break parallel for a legal attempt (hips lower than the knee) --and we're talking an inch or two maybe more... At least from what I see. Someone else may have a different take on what they see. To do that, you will probably need to drop the weight some. I know I did.

Co-sign.

jimmmer

jmule24 wrote: »

nakedraygun wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

Depth is a very emotional issue to some... The never-ending discussions of how deep.... *groan*

If you don't intended to come compete, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle and compete, then you will need to break parallel for a legal attempt (hips lower than the knee) --and we're talking an inch or two maybe more... At least from what I see. Someone else may have a different take on what they see. To do that, you will probably need to drop the weight some. I know I did.

Co-sign.

Agreed. Perfectly put.

I want to add to @nakedraygun post. I think the reason you lose it slightly on the 2nd rep is that you don't replicate your bracing strategy from the 1st rep.

You unrack and I can see you elbows rotate forwards as you engage your upper back/lat musculature. Everything's tight and switched on at this point. You do the rep, chest stays up and then you proceed straight to the second rep without re-doing the pre-flight stuff from the 1st rep - result? Upper back/lat musculature is not properly engaged and your chest caves.

Good news: is that you got the requisite tightness 1st time, so you just need to replicate it on subsequent reps.

I basically treat each rep like a single. I run through my pre-flight breathe and brace checklist at the top of each rep before descending for the next rep. That's basically all you need to get every rep looking the same.

Carlos_421

jimmmer wrote: »

jmule24 wrote: »

nakedraygun wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

Depth is a very emotional issue to some... The never-ending discussions of how deep.... *groan*

If you don't intended to come compete, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle and compete, then you will need to break parallel for a legal attempt (hips lower than the knee) --and we're talking an inch or two maybe more... At least from what I see. Someone else may have a different take on what they see. To do that, you will probably need to drop the weight some. I know I did.

Co-sign.

Agreed. Perfectly put.

I want to add to @nakedraygun post. I think the reason you lose it slightly on the 2nd rep is that you don't replicate your bracing strategy from the 1st rep.

You unrack and I can see you elbows rotate forwards as you engage your upper back/lat musculature. Everything's tight and switched on at this point. You do the rep, chest stays up and then you proceed straight to the second rep without re-doing the pre-flight stuff from the 1st rep - result? Upper back/lat musculature is not properly engaged and your chest caves.

Good news: is that you got the requisite tightness 1st time, so you just need to replicate it on subsequent reps.

I basically treat each rep like a single. I run through my pre-flight breathe and brace checklist at the top of each rep before descending for the next rep. That's basically all you need to get every rep looking the same.

Thanks! And I think you're right.

jimmmer

Carlos_421 wrote: »

jimmmer wrote: »

jmule24 wrote: »

nakedraygun wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Awesome! Thanks man!

That in mind, at this point I think I work on depth before I worry about any more weight.

Thanks a ton!

Depth is a very emotional issue to some... The never-ending discussions of how deep.... *groan*

If you don't intended to come compete, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle, then your present depth is fine.

If you want to build muscle and compete, then you will need to break parallel for a legal attempt (hips lower than the knee) --and we're talking an inch or two maybe more... At least from what I see. Someone else may have a different take on what they see. To do that, you will probably need to drop the weight some. I know I did.

Co-sign.

Agreed. Perfectly put.

I want to add to @nakedraygun post. I think the reason you lose it slightly on the 2nd rep is that you don't replicate your bracing strategy from the 1st rep.

You unrack and I can see you elbows rotate forwards as you engage your upper back/lat musculature. Everything's tight and switched on at this point. You do the rep, chest stays up and then you proceed straight to the second rep without re-doing the pre-flight stuff from the 1st rep - result? Upper back/lat musculature is not properly engaged and your chest caves.

Good news: is that you got the requisite tightness 1st time, so you just need to replicate it on subsequent reps.

I basically treat each rep like a single. I run through my pre-flight breathe and brace checklist at the top of each rep before descending for the next rep. That's basically all you need to get every rep looking the same.

Thanks! And I think you're right.

No problem! The great thing about this is you only have to repeat what you already know how to do and you'll have it in the bag...

The squat's a great example of a lift that a small technical tweak can yield a big improvement. For me: that lift is the bench... I get one thing wrong and it all goes to hell in a handbasket in an instant. Working on not making that happen currently - the struggle is real!