squat advice

When you begin, form is far more important than weight. I had to put a small weight under my toes to help me keep my heels down & a chair to prevent me from going too far down when I first started.

When you begin, form is far more important than weight. I had to put a small weight under my toes to help me keep my heels down & a chair to prevent me from going too far down when I first started.

Just this - use a chair behind you. Start by sitting in the chair. Lean forward and stand up from the chair without using your arms. Then sit back down into the chair - SLOWLY - again without using your arms. Your hips and glutes will slowly develop to the point where you can get low enough without thinking about it any more.

I always use a guide like this when starting something new. Good luck!

I would definitely start with body weight squats while focusing on proper depth & staying back on your heels. Don't be in a rush to add weight until you're comfortable with your technique. You should go on youtube and search for "Dan John squat" he has an awesome video on correct squatting techniques. It's a fairly long video though. Hope it helps out.

most of the time a lack of being able to squat low and going on your toes in a lack of flexibility in your hips

start stretching by holding onto a pole or something solid based to the ground and sit back in you heels and use elbows to push knees out and stretch those hip flexors...do it daily

also def start with body weight squats. Also squat facing a wall with your toes touching it -- that will teach you to keep your chest up and have a nice straight back and squat sitting without falling forward. you might fall back but that's ok..you'll learn

Yes, work with bodyweight squats until you get correct form.
I'd buy Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe to get very detailed instructions on correct form.

One thing I'd start with (from his book), your feet should be about shoulder width apart, maybe a bit wider, with your toes pointed out about 30 degrees, and then go down. A good stretch is to put your elbows on the insides of your knees, with your palms together, and use that to force your knees out. It's the only way I can get lower.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hips-dont-lie-3-drills-to-nail-hip-hinge.html?mcid=facetraining

Check out this article and video. Get this movement down to help with your squats. Also, as mentioned, a wider stnace will help. Stick with body weight until you get the form down.

Sounds like there is a strong chance that ankle mobility is hindering you, IMHO.

If you have limited dorsiflexion at the ankle (moving you foot towards your shin) it will make squatting to good depth much harder. You need to keep your centre of gravity (or combined CofG of you and the bar) over your base of support - the mid foot. With normal ankle mobility, the dorsiflexion moves your whole body forward relative to your feet, so you can squat deep, with a relatively upright torso. If you don't have this mobility, you will either fall on your butt, or have to find another way to stay in balance, leaning forward will do this, as will lifting the heel, which is why you see these compensations.

I would work on soft tissue of the calf, and ankle joint mobility. I could list drills here, but mobilitywod (google it) will have everything you need if you search on ankle and/or dorsiflexion.

You can't rule out tight hips either, although I don't think they are the root of this problem right now, they will be when you have more ankle mobility, so hit them too, again mobilitywod should have some good stuff.

Hope this helps!

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