Form critique thread, post your videos here.
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Hi Jeremy!
First of all - you are looking so much leaner.
Squats: you are 'fiddling' around a bit before you start. It should be three steps back to set, deep breath, engage core and go (although I am guilty of it myself). You do not look to be setting your core/lats but it is hard to tell wit the T. You look to be a little shy of depth. Bar path and back angle look good.
Pendlays and OHP - nothing really to critique on these - they look solid.0 -
Thanks Sara. I'll pay attention not to screw around and do the three steps thing. I always end up going through the mental checklist and end up fidgeting. More stuff to pay attention to. Thanks.0
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Ok, finally frustrated and brave enough to post a video. 185 lbs for me is a good amount of weight on squat. My 1 RM is 225. DL 1 RM is 390, so I think I must be doing something terribly wrong on squats. Appreciate all help. First time using the box to gauge depth.
http://www.tomhole.com/images/squatform20130922.mov
Standing by for signals. You may fire when ready, Gridley.0 -
Ok, finally frustrated and brave enough to post a video. 185 lbs for me is a good amount of weight on squat. My 1 RM is 225. DL 1 RM is 390, so I think I must be doing something terribly wrong on squats. Appreciate all help. First time using the box to gauge depth.
http://www.tomhole.com/images/squatform20130922.mov
Standing by for signals. You may fire when ready, Gridley.
Where are you failing when you do fail at squats? You didn't seem to have much trouble with that 185.
I didn't see anything overtly wrong but I did note that for the bottom 20% of the movement, you're tucking your butt under and rounding the lower back to get all the way down to the box. Might be a flexibility issue throwing your form off at the bottom? That's all I can think of. Try some hamstring and lower back stretches/mobility work prior to squatting?
I wouldn't feel too badly about your crappy squats, mine suck compared to the rest of my lifts too. Getting to proper depth with proper form and especially using a box, definitely makes it a lot harder than most people do them. The box is challenging because you sort of have to slow down and pause in anticipation of colliding with the box. A lot of people just bounce at the bottom of a squat and even more never even come close to parallel so that's why you tend to see a lot of inflated squat numbers. If you're tall it's even worse, IMO.
We actually have almost the same DL (mine calculates to 388) and I always use a box when squatting (poorly) so I feel your pain. One of the biggest things that helped me was stretching/mobility work and foam rolling. Especially the hammies, but also the glutes, lower back, hip flexors, abductors, etc. It takes me 20 mins of warmup before I even do my first warmup set of squats. But it has helped a lot. The other thing that helped was just doing a progressive loading program (stronglifts at the time) and just committing to it. Lift or die, I decided. Turns out, I was pu$$ying out to a certain degree, squats are just hard as sh1t and are much scarier than deadlifts in my opinion since you're carrying the weight on your shoulders. With a DL you can just drop the bar (or in most cases, it just doesn't move when you fail). I just added 5lbs every workout and I went from 200x5 to 235x5 in no time. Then deloaded and worked back up with Madcow to 255x5 which is where I am now. It's still my worst lift but that's a huge jump in something like 3 months. It just took sucking it up and going for it, and turns out I could in fact do it! When I unrack the weight it feels scary heavy and it's forcing the air out of my lungs. By rep 3 my heart rate is usually 180 and I can't see or hear, but I can still do 2 more reps. My last 2 or 3 reps always involve involuntary vocalizations too such as grunting or some sort of child-like whiny groan. It's embarrassing but I keep going.
Sorry for the ramble. Just throwing that in there because your form looks at least halfway decent, and if you can DL 390 I'm willing to bet you can be a lot stronger at squatting than you think. Food for thought.0 -
I fail coming out of the hole. Just can't get it moving back up. I just starting using the box and will continue to keep depth right. I was going way lower and that made the problem you spotted even worse: rounding the back due to poor flexibility. It's amazing that you picked that out. I have terrible flexibility. I saw that rounding, too and figured it was my tight hammies so I started foam rolling and stretches tonight. Will continue the stretching to improve ROM and see if that helps my squats. Right now, I can't get anywhere close to touching my toes when I do a straight legged bend over.
I appreciate your feedback. Amazes me that you can nail it from one video. Good stuff.
Tom0 -
Ok, finally frustrated and brave enough to post a video. 185 lbs for me is a good amount of weight on squat. My 1 RM is 225. DL 1 RM is 390, so I think I must be doing something terribly wrong on squats. Appreciate all help. First time using the box to gauge depth.
http://www.tomhole.com/images/squatform20130922.mov
Standing by for signals. You may fire when ready, Gridley.
Where are you failing when you do fail at squats? You didn't seem to have much trouble with that 185.
I didn't see anything overtly wrong but I did note that for the bottom 20% of the movement, you're tucking your butt under and rounding the lower back to get all the way down to the box. Might be a flexibility issue throwing your form off at the bottom? That's all I can think of. Try some hamstring and lower back stretches/mobility work prior to squatting?
I wouldn't feel too badly about your crappy squats, mine suck compared to the rest of my lifts too. Getting to proper depth with proper form and especially using a box, definitely makes it a lot harder than most people do them. The box is challenging because you sort of have to slow down and pause in anticipation of colliding with the box. A lot of people just bounce at the bottom of a squat and even more never even come close to parallel so that's why you tend to see a lot of inflated squat numbers. If you're tall it's even worse, IMO.
We actually have almost the same DL (mine calculates to 388) and I always use a box when squatting (poorly) so I feel your pain. One of the biggest things that helped me was stretching/mobility work and foam rolling. Especially the hammies, but also the glutes, lower back, hip flexors, abductors, etc. It takes me 20 mins of warmup before I even do my first warmup set of squats. But it has helped a lot. The other thing that helped was just doing a progressive loading program (stronglifts at the time) and just committing to it. Lift or die, I decided. Turns out, I was pu$$ying out to a certain degree, squats are just hard as sh1t and are much scarier than deadlifts in my opinion since you're carrying the weight on your shoulders. With a DL you can just drop the bar (or in most cases, it just doesn't move when you fail). I just added 5lbs every workout and I went from 200x5 to 235x5 in no time. Then deloaded and worked back up with Madcow to 255x5 which is where I am now. It's still my worst lift but that's a huge jump in something like 3 months. It just took sucking it up and going for it, and turns out I could in fact do it! When I unrack the weight it feels scary heavy and it's forcing the air out of my lungs. By rep 3 my heart rate is usually 180 and I can't see or hear, but I can still do 2 more reps. My last 2 or 3 reps always involve involuntary vocalizations too such as grunting or some sort of child-like whiny groan. It's embarrassing but I keep going.
Sorry for the ramble. Just throwing that in there because your form looks at least halfway decent, and if you can DL 390 I'm willing to bet you can be a lot stronger at squatting than you think. Food for thought.
Yeah man, I hear you on that "scary heavy" thing. My warmups and working sets increment up to one heavy set for the week (5/3/1) and by the time I usually get to the last heavy set, I'm thinking WTF happened this thing is heavy lol. Then I just look forward, take a breath, break at the knees and drop for a rep lol
Tom, the box squats are tough because you loose all of your momentum at the bottom, but they are great for working on form. Tape yourself like you've been doing, and keep at it, even if you need to drop the weight some.
Look up a channel called CanditoTrainingHQ on YouTube. This guy is ****ing excellent, and he has a couple great squat videos.
I did this, dropped the weight, but now when I squat (I use a very light band instead of a box to make sure I'm reaching depth) everyone at my gym now watches me lol and I've even gotten a few thumbs up when I've completed a set lol
It's a public gym, a YMCA, and most of the guys there can't squat for **** anyways.0 -
Some people benefit from it, so I can't argue with the results, however I've found that box squats are most useful for geared lifting. To train raw squatting...I squat raw.0
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I'm just using the box for now to get the depth right. I may switch to a band instead. I'm hoping I can get rid of the box ASAP and just hit the correct depth without any assistance. I'm new to lifting, so it's all learning for me.0
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I fail coming out of the hole. Just can't get it moving back up. I just starting using the box and will continue to keep depth right. I was going way lower and that made the problem you spotted even worse: rounding the back due to poor flexibility. It's amazing that you picked that out. I have terrible flexibility. I saw that rounding, too and figured it was my tight hammies so I started foam rolling and stretches tonight. Will continue the stretching to improve ROM and see if that helps my squats. Right now, I can't get anywhere close to touching my toes when I do a straight legged bend over.
I appreciate your feedback. Amazes me that you can nail it from one video. Good stuff.
Tom
FYI, this is my hamstring stretch that I do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-wiOqYcxoI
After I do 5 "sets" of 7 seconds each, I can touch my palms to the floor with a straight legged bend over.0 -
Will give these a go tonight. Thanks.0
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Some people benefit from it, so I can't argue with the results, however I've found that box squats are most useful for geared lifting. To train raw squatting...I squat raw.
Agree with this, box squatting did nothing for my free squat.
I'd you want to box squat I would make sure you still free squat in some capacity.
You could use the box for your heavy sets and take it away for your rep work for example.
It you only exclusively box squat you will on for a nasty surprise when you go back
To conventional IMO.
Once your form is sorted I would be more inclined to use paused squats to improve your drive out of the bottom.0 -
I'm just using the box for now to get the depth right. I may switch to a band instead. I'm hoping I can get rid of the box ASAP and just hit the correct depth without any assistance. I'm new to lifting, so it's all learning for me.
You don't need to use equipment to qualify to squat raw.
Once again, people have had success with bands and boxes and all kinds of stuff. For those folks, more power to them. For me though, to get better at squatting, I just squatted more. A while back I realized I wasn't hitting depth, so I deloaded until I could hit depth and built back up (and did hundreds and hundreds of bottom position body weight squats).
I repeat, you don't need to use equipment to qualify to squat raw. If you find it supports your lift, by all means go for it, but do so as an accessory, not the main movement. It's not and never will be a necessity.0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:
http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:
http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:
http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!
I don't see anything glaringly wrong at first glance. The camera angle doesn't allow review of your depth, which looks pretty bad but it might just be the angle. It looks like you're pretty high still at the bottom of your squat. Get a vid from the side, and low down (like knee height) to check your depth, IMO.0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!
I don't see anything glaringly wrong at first glance. The camera angle doesn't allow review of your depth, which looks pretty bad but it might just be the angle. It looks like you're pretty high still at the bottom of your squat. Get a vid from the side, and low down (like knee height) to check your depth, IMO.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback!
This video (http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY) shows me at the lighter weight (135 vs 170) but it does show 2 reps from the side, 2 from the back, and 2 from 45 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm hitting depth even on the lighter weight at this point.
If I go much lower than in the video above, I hit the safety bars on the rack, but I'm not entirely sure I'm keeping my back straight enough. I have a feeling if my back was straighter (more up and down rather than leaning forward), I might be able to go lower without hitting the safety bars.0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!
I don't see anything glaringly wrong at first glance. The camera angle doesn't allow review of your depth, which looks pretty bad but it might just be the angle. It looks like you're pretty high still at the bottom of your squat. Get a vid from the side, and low down (like knee height) to check your depth, IMO.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback!
This video (http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY) shows me at the lighter weight (135 vs 170) but it does show 2 reps from the side, 2 from the back, and 2 from 45 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm hitting depth even on the lighter weight at this point.
If I go much lower than in the video above, I hit the safety bars on the rack, but I'm not entirely sure I'm keeping my back straight enough. I have a feeling if my back was straighter (more up and down rather than leaning forward), I might be able to go lower without hitting the safety bars.
I somehow missed that one. It's close but not quite parallel I'd say. Generally I like to see the hip crease get below the top of the knee.
Leaning over with low bar squatting is normal. You want the bar to be centered over your mid-foot which you look very close to doing. Sometimes you kinda lean forward briefly (especially when you change directions) but it's not horrible. If you want to squat with a more upright posture then you'd want to move the bar to a high bar position (or even a front squat). Too bad those safety bars aren't adjustable. Any power racks in the gym with customizable bars?0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!
I don't see anything glaringly wrong at first glance. The camera angle doesn't allow review of your depth, which looks pretty bad but it might just be the angle. It looks like you're pretty high still at the bottom of your squat. Get a vid from the side, and low down (like knee height) to check your depth, IMO.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback!
This video (http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY) shows me at the lighter weight (135 vs 170) but it does show 2 reps from the side, 2 from the back, and 2 from 45 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm hitting depth even on the lighter weight at this point.
If I go much lower than in the video above, I hit the safety bars on the rack, but I'm not entirely sure I'm keeping my back straight enough. I have a feeling if my back was straighter (more up and down rather than leaning forward), I might be able to go lower without hitting the safety bars.
I somehow missed that one. It's close but not quite parallel I'd say. Generally I like to see the hip crease get below the top of the knee.
Leaning over with low bar squatting is normal. You want the bar to be centered over your mid-foot which you look very close to doing. Sometimes you kinda lean forward briefly (especially when you change directions) but it's not horrible. If you want to squat with a more upright posture then you'd want to move the bar to a high bar position (or even a front squat). Too bad those safety bars aren't adjustable. Any power racks in the gym with customizable bars?
I can go a bit lower in the squats without hitting the safety bars, I just end up just shy of touching the top of them, but that might just be enough to hit proper depth.
Leaning over is normal? The trainers at the gym keep telling me I'm doing them wrong, which is why I wanted to do the videos to post on here. I can work on the learning forward when I'm changing direction, since that tends to turn into me almost doing good mornings when I get to the higher weights.
Ok that's good to know about the high bar and front squats.I want to get my form right with the low bar, but every so often I switch up the type of squats I'm doing and incorporate high bar and front squats too.
No, I don't have access to any power racks with customizable bars unfortunately, I asked the manager and a trainer if they were and they both told me no. I'm also 5'3", and I think taller people might not have the same problem.
They do have steps that they use for their step class that bring me up about 3-4 inches. I had to use these when I did high bar because I couldn't even get close to ATG without it. I could use one of those for now, I'm just worried about the maximum weight they can take, especially considering I'm still lifting relatively light weights right now.0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!
I don't see anything glaringly wrong at first glance. The camera angle doesn't allow review of your depth, which looks pretty bad but it might just be the angle. It looks like you're pretty high still at the bottom of your squat. Get a vid from the side, and low down (like knee height) to check your depth, IMO.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback!
This video (http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY) shows me at the lighter weight (135 vs 170) but it does show 2 reps from the side, 2 from the back, and 2 from 45 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm hitting depth even on the lighter weight at this point.
If I go much lower than in the video above, I hit the safety bars on the rack, but I'm not entirely sure I'm keeping my back straight enough. I have a feeling if my back was straighter (more up and down rather than leaning forward), I might be able to go lower without hitting the safety bars.
I somehow missed that one. It's close but not quite parallel I'd say. Generally I like to see the hip crease get below the top of the knee.
Leaning over with low bar squatting is normal. You want the bar to be centered over your mid-foot which you look very close to doing. Sometimes you kinda lean forward briefly (especially when you change directions) but it's not horrible. If you want to squat with a more upright posture then you'd want to move the bar to a high bar position (or even a front squat). Too bad those safety bars aren't adjustable. Any power racks in the gym with customizable bars?
I can go a bit lower in the squats without hitting the safety bars, I just end up just shy of touching the top of them, but that might just be enough to hit proper depth.
Leaning over is normal? The trainers at the gym keep telling me I'm doing them wrong, which is why I wanted to do the videos to post on here. I can work on the learning forward when I'm changing direction, since that tends to turn into me almost doing good mornings when I get to the higher weights.
Ok that's good to know about the high bar and front squats.I want to get my form right with the low bar, but every so often I switch up the type of squats I'm doing and incorporate high bar and front squats too.
No, I don't have access to any power racks with customizable bars unfortunately, I asked the manager and a trainer if they were and they both told me no. I'm also 5'3", and I think taller people might not have the same problem.
They do have steps that they use for their step class that bring me up about 3-4 inches. I had to use these when I did high bar because I couldn't even get close to ATG without it. I could use one of those for now, I'm just worried about the maximum weight they can take, especially considering I'm still lifting relatively light weights right now.
Yes, leaning over is normal when doing low bar. Here's a diagram from Starting Strength (right-click and View Image to see the whole thing)
The caption pretty much says it all. You want the bar over the middle of your foot which requires pretty significant leaning when doing low bar. In the diagram the back is almost at a 45 degree angle.
Another pic from SS, with a real person (illustrating depth landmark but similar idea as above). Again, right-click View Image.
Now here's your squat:
Pretty damn close. You might be ever so slightly forward, by about an inch maybe. Yes, definitely watch when you change directions to prevent from doing a good morning, it seems to be a common problem with women (usually strong legs/hips which results them moving first at the bottom of a squat).
As far as depth goes, if they've got 45lb plates you can put them face down on the ground and stand on the flat surface. Should give you another 1.5-2" (or more depending on the brand). Just a thought.0 -
Hi All,
I posted in here a while back and got some excellent feedback on my squat form. I've just done more videos, and I'd love some more feedback on them.
Old Video-1 set of 5 @ 145 pounds, March 2013:http://youtu.be/T-pnnrCs1rU
This was my 5 RM at the time.
New Video-1 set of 6 @ 135 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY
This is a challenging weight for me, but lower than my 5 RM.
New Video 2-1 set of 5 @ 170 pounds, September 2013:http://youtu.be/6dhU117ZwZM
This is my current 5 RM.
Last time, the main feedback I got was I was trying to do low bar squats with the bar positioned too high on my neck, so I wanted to see if there was any improvement for that, and if any other form issues have come up (I suspect there are, but I want to see what others have to say).
Thanks in advance!
I don't see anything glaringly wrong at first glance. The camera angle doesn't allow review of your depth, which looks pretty bad but it might just be the angle. It looks like you're pretty high still at the bottom of your squat. Get a vid from the side, and low down (like knee height) to check your depth, IMO.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback!
This video (http://youtu.be/ZgkbaT7mnSY) shows me at the lighter weight (135 vs 170) but it does show 2 reps from the side, 2 from the back, and 2 from 45 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm hitting depth even on the lighter weight at this point.
If I go much lower than in the video above, I hit the safety bars on the rack, but I'm not entirely sure I'm keeping my back straight enough. I have a feeling if my back was straighter (more up and down rather than leaning forward), I might be able to go lower without hitting the safety bars.
I somehow missed that one. It's close but not quite parallel I'd say. Generally I like to see the hip crease get below the top of the knee.
Leaning over with low bar squatting is normal. You want the bar to be centered over your mid-foot which you look very close to doing. Sometimes you kinda lean forward briefly (especially when you change directions) but it's not horrible. If you want to squat with a more upright posture then you'd want to move the bar to a high bar position (or even a front squat). Too bad those safety bars aren't adjustable. Any power racks in the gym with customizable bars?
I can go a bit lower in the squats without hitting the safety bars, I just end up just shy of touching the top of them, but that might just be enough to hit proper depth.
Leaning over is normal? The trainers at the gym keep telling me I'm doing them wrong, which is why I wanted to do the videos to post on here. I can work on the learning forward when I'm changing direction, since that tends to turn into me almost doing good mornings when I get to the higher weights.
Ok that's good to know about the high bar and front squats.I want to get my form right with the low bar, but every so often I switch up the type of squats I'm doing and incorporate high bar and front squats too.
No, I don't have access to any power racks with customizable bars unfortunately, I asked the manager and a trainer if they were and they both told me no. I'm also 5'3", and I think taller people might not have the same problem.
They do have steps that they use for their step class that bring me up about 3-4 inches. I had to use these when I did high bar because I couldn't even get close to ATG without it. I could use one of those for now, I'm just worried about the maximum weight they can take, especially considering I'm still lifting relatively light weights right now.
Yes, leaning over is normal when doing low bar. Here's a diagram from Starting Strength (right-click and View Image to see the whole thing)
The caption pretty much says it all. You want the bar over the middle of your foot which requires pretty significant leaning when doing low bar. In the diagram the back is almost at a 45 degree angle.
Another pic from SS, with a real person (illustrating depth landmark but similar idea as above). Again, right-click View Image.
Now here's your squat:
Pretty damn close. You might be ever so slightly forward, by about an inch maybe. Yes, definitely watch when you change directions to prevent from doing a good morning, it seems to be a common problem with women (usually strong legs/hips which results them moving first at the bottom of a squat).
As far as depth goes, if they've got 45lb plates you can put them face down on the ground and stand on the flat surface. Should give you another 1.5-2" (or more depending on the brand). Just a thought.
Thanks so much for the pictures, that really helps a lot. They do have extra plates, so I'm going to try that instead of the step, and hopefully that will help me hit my depth. Thanks again!0 -
OK, my first post into this thread - a bit nervous for some reason. Maybe its the fact that I look weak and scrawny :laugh: .
I should note that this was my last set of squats (of 7 sets). I wanted to do it at the end as I thought my form was pretty solid but could feel it start to break down as I fatigued and wanted to capture that.
I think the depth is ok, but that I was pushing the weight a little too far forward and having to muscle it up with my quads a little more than I should be.
Any observations are appreciated. Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71b0x91mhZY 0
