Please evaluate squat form

snoopy7501

Doing squats last week, I got a funny pain in my lower back that has me worried. So yesterday, my first time back at the gym since then (due to illness), I took this video of myself to check my form. I'm wondering if I'm not keeping my back straight enough at the bottom of my squat, and that I might be on my way to hurting myself by doing so. Please view this video and tell me what you think. Thank you!

http://youtu.be/fUlS5y2hyCc

cafebandito

Hey there Snoopy,

I'm not an expert on form, but to me it looks like you're using your back more than your legs/hips on the second half when you come up from the squat. This could definitely be the cause of the back pain you felt last week.

Definitely check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yha2XAc2qu8

The kid in the video isn't doing it 100% correctly (his movement isn't as smooth as a perfect squat would be), but it should help you have a better idea.

MoveTheMountain

Hi Snoop,

My two cents: first off, nice job, and it looks like you pushed up the weight pretty easily. Here's my constructive feedback:

1. It looks like you wiggled a lot through the hips and butt on that first rep - that's not good. You don't want any side-to-side motion at all; it creates shearing forces on your spine that you really don't need.

2. Curvature of your back looks a little too extreme - lordosis in your lower back puts excess stress on the discs and vertabrae that they don't need. Try to straighten your back a little more, ie, take a little bit of that excess curve out of your lower back.

But again, overall, nice going and keep it up!

Spokez70

I saw this yesterday and found it very helpful

http://train.elitefts.com/instructional/so-you-think-you-can-squat-parts-1-5/