Squatters, I need some opinions!

damorzacon

I started Strong Lifts last week. On my first sets of squats I could feel myself shifting the weight from my heels to the balls of my feet while coming up. This is bad form of course, but it also isolated my quads and I wasn't able to work the posterior chain. I figured I had some movement in my back and made some adjustments, one of which was going from a powerlifting style to olympic style to keep my torso more upright.

Cut to today and I'm doing my squats and I'm not feeling as much shifting and I'm a little unstable. I'll chalk it up to changing my form and being relatively new to squatting.

The question I have is that I'm still feeling more work in my quads that anything else. Is this normal? Could it be just because I had been isolating them inadvertently and I feel it more because they have been worked more?

I know it's hard to diagnose an issue without seeing my form but any thoughts are welcome. I'm still learning so I'm assuming there's some part that I've got wrong.

Thanks!

Edit: It's been about 30 minutes since I left the gym and I'm beginning to feel like I've worked the PC, so I think the changes helped. Opinions are still very much welcome!

KINGoftheBUFF

I have been doing Heavy Squats for more than 20 years.....I train athletes and competitors as well as compete regularly myself. I can offer from my own experience that squats truely are the king of all exercises, and I consider them a whole body exercise rather than a leg. When done correctly, the whole body is worked.
The Olympic Squat does keep your body in a more upright position and I believe is easier on your back and works your quads significantly harder than the Powerlifting Stance. However it can be argued is harder on the knees than the tradition squat (Powerlifting Squat).
The Powerlifting Squat when done properly works your back, quads, glutes and hamstrings (Your posterier chain is heavily involved) and I believe is safer on the knees.
I cannot see your form, however, if you feel it primarily in your quads and not your PC than I would guess two things. First you are probably not sitting back into your squat. You need to sit back as if sitting in a deep chair, this prevents your knees from traviling forward and engages your glutes. Second, and almost everyone I work with does this at first, you don't squat deep enough. If you do a partial squat, you are only using you quads. Decrease the weight and sit back and low, you will then feel the muscles work. Stance is also important, wider engages more muscles, close forces your quads to do more work. Low box squatting when taught properly is a good way to perfect form.
I hope this helps, as without seeing, I could only present some common mistakes.

damorzacon

I did open up my stance and angled my feet out more and that did seem to help and I know I was going well past parallel using the olympic squat this morning.

What you're decribing with the powerlifting squat sounds like it could be my issue. I thought that I was getting past parallel but my quads were working hard, so I don't think I was.

I've heard that box squats are a good tool for beginners. Do you think a flat bench placed behind me would work as well?

Thanks for the information, it was very helpful. I know it's hard to say what the exact issue is without seeing my movement, but I think you found my issue anyway. Thanks!

KINGoftheBUFF

The flat bench would be a good start, but is usually to tall for most to hit parallel. I Personally squat on a 14 inch box and I'm 6 foot tall. 12 - 14 inches works well for most. Keep everything tight and don't bounce on the box. You can gently tap and go, or do the full sit. I have found this a perfect too for teaching. You will always hit the proper dept, and your weight will increase in the long run. Sitting also teaches the proper body positioning.

And yes, with the Olympic Squat it is easier to go past parallel. Thats the nature of that squat, however the challenge there is to prevent the knees from traveling over the toes.

iWaffle

I did open up my stance and angled my feet out more and that did seem to help

That's what I was going to suggest. That does help bring in your glutes more but I always felt that squats challenged my quads more than anything. I sit down as low as possible but once I'm back up past parallel my quads are doing a big bulk of the work. Throw in some Romanian dead lifts after squats to really challenge the hamstring more if you still feel up to the challenge. That's my counterpart to squats to emphasize the back of the legs more.

ilovedeadlifts

I think you probably need to widen your stance and sit back a bit more.

If you're squatting for the purpose of being strong, you'll probably benefit from a wider than shoulder width stance more so than an olympic stance, and so will your knees.

I prefer box squatting anytime I'm trying to teach someone how to squat, I feel like it teaches you to sit back and really use your hamstrings in the movement.

damorzacon

The flat bench would be a good start, but is usually to tall for most to hit parallel.

That's all I really have access to right now...I could try pulling some of the stairs out of the aerobics room. Not sure how they'll feel about that.

Throw in some Romanian dead lifts after squats to really challenge the hamstring more if you still feel up to the challenge. That's my counterpart to squats to emphasize the back of the legs more.

Good call. I'll throw those into my rotation.

I think you probably need to widen your stance and sit back a bit more.

I've been trying to stay with shoulder width cuz that's all I've been reading but I'll try wider than shoulder for sure.

Hendrix7

Some good advice in this thread.

Best way to squat is the way which feels best for you and allows you to maintain the best form. this is down to all manner of things such as mobility, length of limbs etc.

Personally I find the high bar olympic type squat a much more natural movement, I simply add in extra hamstring/glute work elsewhere to compensate (good mornings and hip thrusts).

Happy squatting!