Pls help with squat form!

butterfli7o

I thought I had gotten my form down pretty well, then started to over-think it and in the process I believe I may have messed myself up completely trying to remember 20 different things while squatting. I finally took a video of myself and I know it's not right. Can you please critique? Excuse how I look, I'm in my garage at 5:30 in the morning and I'm wearing what I slept in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSFdzZnOo0Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

auddii

I completely know what you mean about thinking about way too many things when you squat. I ended up deloading, and focusing on one thing at a time and doing that one thing right for a week or two before thinking about something else. Then hopefully the first thing you worked on has become habit, and you're less likely to mess it up.

You're definitely not going down far enough; you're not getting to parallel. Also (hard to tell from the angle) your knees might be dropping inward a little. The path of the bar looks pretty good; vertical and over the mid foot, and you're not dropping your chest too much, which is also good. I'm still pretty new to lifting, so hopefully someone else can give better critique.

ETA: Speaking of better critique, the Eat, Train, Progress group just started a sticky for critiquing lifting form, and there are a ton of people in that group that know what they are talking about.

butterfli7o

Thank you!

dutchjazz

Hi. I'm definitely no expert, but I agree that you are not going low enough. Also, you need use yours hips when coming up. My advice is to youtube Mark Rippetoe and squats, especially the video on the hip thrust. He is apparently the "go-to" guy. I studied his videos over and over (can't tell you how many times I watched them) because I was so afraid of hurting my knees. He also has videos on deadlifts and bench pressing. You'll probably have to deload some while correcting your form.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

I agree with advice in both the other posts. I can't help but wonder if it would help to narrow your stance a bit? The angle of your video was a tiny bit awkward but I kept thinking that your toes looked pointed really far out?

Definitely google Rippetoe vid's and study those. There was one I watched where he kept patting the guys lower back like HARD pats to really drive home that you drive with your hips on the squat. That has always stuck with me. Watch some vid's, deload, and you'll be good to go

DaniH826

Yep, I know that video.

From the heels, through the hips, and on up ... make that bar travel vertical.

You would think squatting is just squatting ... nope, not so much. It's a fricken science!

I've noticed that my knees tend to wanna go in a little as I go up in weight. I'm going to have to revisit form during warmups ... again. Never ends, seems like.

P.S. I agree with you not going down far enough, and also your heels tend to lift up when they should be planted on the floor.

Here's that vid Vegas was talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ

Amazing1985RSD

In my experience, you can actually get a better idea of what you're doing when you see yourself on video than when you are doing the actual move. If you know what the perfect squat looks like, then you can point out little things here and there with your form just by watching yourself on the camera. Sometimes even very noticeable things.

I noticed too that you may have lost your balance a little bit causing you to move forward. Which is why your heels were lifting up as Dani pointed out. One suggestion I have for this is to try the suicide grip when squatting. Meaning you don't wrap your thumb around the bar. If you have the bar in the proper low bar position, you should be able to comfortably push the bar forward with the heels of your palms. This may be hard to do whilst wearing gloves. I'd say save them for a day when you have horrible cuts on your hands and desperately need to train.

Hope that helps.

-Vince

victoriannsays

I agree with the others, you def need to get much lower in that squat. Deload and work your way back up to 117.

Just a suggestion, but I also lift in my garage.. and I bring in my full body mirror in with me so I am always conscious of my form.

Are you warming up?