Form check videos
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So, doesn't look good? Not breaking at the knee early enough? I can do wider stance and get lower but I thought wide stance wasn't so good? I try to get my butt back so I'm using the posterior chain muscles and not so much quad dominance. Good thing I'm gonna see a trainer soon.0
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So, doesn't look good?
well, don't quote ME about it. the great queen of the backsquat struggle. it doesn't look like you're going to damage yourself and foot/hip angle are very personal things. i'm still trying to figure out/diagnose what is actually happening differently for me now that i'm wearing squat shoes, but afaik at the moment it's really coming down to that thing where i rotate my femurs outwards, and for me that has meant turning my feet out. idk why my own feet like to be wider apart, but they do.
tried to upload a clip of my own so you can see how i'm approaching it, but i got 'file not allowed'. may not like the wmv format or whatever this is, so oh well.
i also have to do a set and then immediately check how it looked while the sensory impression is fresh in my mind. my visual brain has literally no idea what my neurological brain is actually trying to tell it about where the different pieces of me are in space and relation to one another. so for me it's become a very incremental trial-and-error kind of process to try correct things.
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I try to do Alan Thrall's stance, like you need to, um, squat in the woods. I do the whole thumb-less grip, try to bend the bar around my body, screw my feet into the floor, try to spread the floor with my feet. So many cues.0
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I try to do Alan Thrall's stance, like you need to, um, squat in the woods.
heh. i guess we all squat differently. what happens if you just drop into the little-kid squat? you know, atg without any weight anywhere and your muscles relaxed? do your feet and legs want to do something different, or do they stay the same?0 -
also, just gonna say: how i squat in the woods depends partly on what i'm squatting to do. and also on whether or not underwear/pants are in play.0
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Overall it looks good except a bit high. It looks like you might have some knee valgus. Wider stance is more comfortable for some people. I use a wide-ish stance a bit outside shoulder width.0
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I'll try a bit wider, thanks for the input @canadianlbs & Fittreelol. I don't seem to get much lower than parallel. Short people problems? I like the shoes but squatting in them is going to take some time to get used to.0
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I'm no expert at all, but it looks good to me? Hopefully someone with a lot more knowledge will come along and comment for you :-)
Also had to use my converter to see what 35kg is in pounds, 77 thats great!0 -
Certainly no expert here - but, ninenines, squat looks good. It looks like you should go lower, based on what I've seen on Alan Thrall. However, he does say that everyone's squat looks different. A view from the front would also be helpful.
Just my few cents worth!0 -
http://youtu.be/wTVz9NDH-QASquats at body weight. Any thoughts? I got some Adidas Powerlifting shoes and squats feel better. Song was random, I swear!
Sumiblue - your arms are awesome! Squat looked good, too.0 -
Thanks @5minty and @lwhayes820 I appreciate you looking! I've also had some good feedback in the Eat, Train, Progress forums.
I was watching lots of Alan Thrall videos over the weekend! And one where he is all for going all the way down *kitten* to grass. I'm of two minds on that. I tend to do both these days, going *kitten* to grass on warm up sets and also with Goblet Squats. I find it much easier to get low and stay balanced with front weighted squats.0 -
@ninenines you're moving the weight towards your toes in the hole and a bit on the way up. That might be due to the shoes, but should be fixed regardless. You also have some pelvic tilt going on. I can't tell exactly when it starts due to the safeties, but you might want to cut depth while you work on that. Doing high bar you should be able to keep your wrists fairly straight.
@Sumiblue Solid squats. You're a smidge higher than parallel, although for general health that might not be a huge deal. Your barpath and bar placement look good overall. Also nice arms! You might try videoing yourself from the front to watch your knees. If they "cave" it's actually internal hip rotation and you will be physically unable to hit depth.0 -
Thanks for the input, gals! I posted a new squat video at Eat Train Progress. Still have bugs to work out.0
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Thanks for the feedback @Fittreelol I'll keep working on it.
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I'm so sad... I concentrated so hard on my squat form that I didn't focus on my rows... I just dropped 20 lbs and still struggled... do you have any videos that are really good at describing a proper Pendlay row?0
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I'm so sad... I concentrated so hard on my squat form that I didn't focus on my rows... I just dropped 20 lbs and still struggled... do you have any videos that are really good at describing a proper Pendlay row?
Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRrIsoDpKg&app=desktop
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Please check my form on Deadlift. I'm aware the neck position is not correct right off the bat. But any and all advice is welcome. I've been going very slow on progressing on DL because I'm afraid of poor form and injuries. Ready to improve!
https://youtu.be/srGzplMAgJ0 0 -
i like your back i'm not an expert, but you might want to try 'setting' your lats before you pull. as usual, i'm going by stuff that i recognize from my own chronic-forgetfulness list. you look like you're having a thing i recognize from the sensation of it: kind of a shoulders-left-behind feeling right after i've committed myself to the rep. it looks like the bar may also be losing touch with your legs once it's clear of your knees, too, but i'm just guessing because that's another sensation i'm familiar with when i make this mistake.
when i remember to engage my lats, it feels like that opens me up right across the front of my chest all the way into the angles of my shoulder joint. or even like it pulls my chest a little bit 'through' the bar. then when i pull it's a sensation like i'm just naturally bringing the entire front of my body forwards - again, 'through' the bar is the way it feels to me. i'm not sure what it feels like when i don't do it . . . i just know that i don't feel like my core is doing nearly as much of the work.1 -
Hi everyone,
Please have a look at this video and offer any tips you may have.
Thanks!
https://youtu.be/M_k77E-BZSg 0 -
samanthaluangphixay wrote: »Hi everyone,
Please have a look at this video and offer any tips you may have.
I'm not an expert but you are above parallel. I finally got a mirror in my workout area and noticed the same thing with my form. I was at 125 pounds squat and had to do a serious deload before I could squat parallel. I am only up to 90 pounds after 2 months. But my legs look great and my form is at parallel. When I put the 90 pounds on it isn't heavy but getting parallel is challenging and I will stay here until perfect and hopefully add more by the end of the week.0 -
i agree about the parallel thing. also agree that big deload is a good idea at least to start with. below parallel is a whole different set of muscles and they might not be able to deal with 130 immediately.
your heels seem to come up/weight forward a bit when you reach your limit. does it feel like that's as low as your body wants to go? those little hints kind of suggest that to me. i thiiiiiiink your knees look like they're wanting to move inwards so that could be another clue. try seeing if the 'screw your feet into the ground' or 'rotate the floor apart with your feet' cues help you to engage your glutes and get your knees/femurs more willing to track outwards as you descend. that might open up more space for you to move in.0 -
Thanks!! I was advised that I could go lower...which is what I am going to work on. I definitely am going to deload and work on that.
When I get into the 'down' position, I feel like if I go any lower, I may not be able to get myself up. If that makes sense. I need to plant my heels down more - may help to get flat shoes for that purpose so I can drive my heels into the ground.
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely be working on it!0 -
you seem to like a fairly closed stance, i.e. feet pointing almost straight ahead. now that i look i'm not sure you have them at the same angle in this vid, actually. i squatted closed for a while, and iirc when i was doing that i had to really 'push the floor apart' with my feet so as to get the force travelling through muscles on the outsides of my legs. otherwise it would be mostly quads, and yeah. soon as my knee angle reached a certain point it was like my quads couldn't help anymore, and i didn't have any posterior muscles engaged to take over from them. so i'd get to a certain point and either lay my torso down on top of my own thighs, or start to fall over backwards. tons of grace
the other thing that might work is to open your feet more. ime that commits you more to your posterior muscles right from the start, and if i do the glute clench as well then it really helps me to keep my knees out and my femurs out of the way of my pelvis as i get lower down.0 -
canadianlbs wrote: »you seem to like a fairly closed stance, i.e. feet pointing almost straight ahead. now that i look i'm not sure you have them at the same angle in this vid, actually. i squatted closed for a while, and iirc when i was doing that i had to really 'push the floor apart' with my feet so as to get the force travelling through muscles on the outsides of my legs. otherwise it would be mostly quads, and yeah. soon as my knee angle reached a certain point it was like my quads couldn't help anymore, and i didn't have any posterior muscles engaged to take over from them. so i'd get to a certain point and either lay my torso down on top of my own thighs, or start to fall over backwards. tons of grace
the other thing that might work is to open your feet more. ime that commits you more to your posterior muscles right from the start, and if i do the glute clench as well then it really helps me to keep my knees out and my femurs out of the way of my pelvis as i get lower down.
I'm about shoulder width apart. How much wider do you think I should be?
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samanthaluangphixay wrote: »canadianlbs wrote: »you seem to like a fairly closed stance, i.e. feet pointing almost straight ahead. now that i look i'm not sure you have them at the same angle in this vid, actually. i squatted closed for a while, and iirc when i was doing that i had to really 'push the floor apart' with my feet so as to get the force travelling through muscles on the outsides of my legs. otherwise it would be mostly quads, and yeah. soon as my knee angle reached a certain point it was like my quads couldn't help anymore, and i didn't have any posterior muscles engaged to take over from them. so i'd get to a certain point and either lay my torso down on top of my own thighs, or start to fall over backwards. tons of grace
the other thing that might work is to open your feet more. ime that commits you more to your posterior muscles right from the start, and if i do the glute clench as well then it really helps me to keep my knees out and my femurs out of the way of my pelvis as i get lower down.
I'm about shoulder width apart. How much wider do you think I should be?
Overall I agree with the stuff @canadianlbs is suggesting. The only thing I would add is that stance width can vary a great deal from person to person depending on hip anatomy.
I'd suggest going wider in about 2" increments and as you get wider, just very slightly increase the degree to which your toes point out. Do a few reps, see how it feels, see how deep you can go in the squat with much less weight. Repeat.
Taking an approach where you experiment a bit might lead you to a better starting position. It WILL take some time to get used to but you'll also know if it's distinctly better for you because you may have greater ease hitting depth if it's a hip anatomy related issue.
What I mean by this is that if you take someone who (because of hip structure) has to squat wide, and you have them squat narrow, they get bone on bone contact and physically can't get to depth. Move them to a wider squat and once they get clearance it's the best thing ever.
I'm not suggesting at all that this is the case for you. Limiting factors on depth could be something entirely different.
But taking this process of incrementally adjusting stance width and toe angle, and objectively reviewing how it felt and how easily you can sink down into the squat, is a good approach to take.0 -
i actually meant leaving your heels where they are if that's comfortable, but turning your toes so they point outwards. like the hands on a clock. for me that helps with getting my glutes into the lift.0
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Okay. I understand. The gym I went to today wasn't my usual gym and they only had a Smith machine so I practiced goblet squats. I opened up my stance a bit and tried to go lower. I wish I had someone with me to videotape so I could show you guys.
Does turning your toes out like a clock help you squeeze your glutes more? @canadianlbs
When I get back to my regular gym tomorrow, I will deload and work on depth. What do you guys suggest I deload to? 80lbs?0 -
I went down to 75-80 and concentrated on depth. I agree with the stance as well. I went further apart and got a good feel for working the right muscles. You will know if the weight is too heavy because you won't be able to get parallel.0
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samanthaluangphixay wrote: »Does turning your toes out like a clock help you squeeze your glutes more? @canadianlbs
gmmfph. i guess so . . .? i think it's more just that the two things belong with each other. if you clench your bum your thigh bones want to rotate outwards anyway. and having your feet at the same angle as those bones is the posture-of-least-resistance. but, no. my bum is talented at being lazy, so i can turn my feet sideways like and i don't think it automatically tightens my glutes.
i try to get into a mindset where the whole thing is coming from my glutes. i'll step back, put my feet where i want them to be/know they're going to end up anyway, but i'll still have slack between my heels on the floor and my hip socket up at the 'top' of that chain. so i still have to pull my leg bones into position and make it so they're 'lined up' with my feet. that's where the glute squeeze comes in. it just naturally rotates your femurs away from each other, which is the alignment i want.
on deload, it's up to you. but when i'm tinkering with form i see it as a separate work stream from the 'strength' work. i just use the bar, because the last thing i want to do is complicate the factors i'm trying to get a handle on by making some of them too stressed to react 'normally'. then if i find something i like, i start adding 10lbs or so at a time, until i reach a weight where i feel like any more will make me lose track of the form that i wnt.
you don't have to LIFT just the bar once you feel ready to do your work sets. just sayin' i don't see trouble-shooting and work as the same thing.0
http://youtu.be/tBu7UZcTp4g
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