Thanks. I never really pay too much attention to how I lower the bar. Other than just trying to keep tight with a good back angle. (ie.. no rounded back)

For the record, I try to lightly scrape my shins. Whether I actually do this is another story.

For the past month I have been working on my squat form (it was really horrible, I had a bad time with leaning too far forward). I was just curious as to what others thought of my form now. I took videos of my first set and my last set.

First set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Kxe6hVJYA

Last set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPUwQCG9gp8

Thanks for any feedback! wink 60 pounds isn't hard for me, but I wanted to get opinions before I moved on adding more weight to the bar.

I would need to see it heavier and with a front or back view as well. Nothing glaringly wrong, though it was hard for me to tell if you hit depth.

How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.

Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.

Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI

How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.

Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.

Your shins are pushing the bar forward--that's what I meant. This means that your back angle is not correct, most likely, and needs to be more horizontal in the starting position. You could try pointing your feet out more, which will give the bar some more clearance. But your legs aren't as short as you think, and your knees are bent too much in most reps (both on the way down and on the way up).

Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI

Will need a front or back view to confirm, but I'd bet a dollar if you widened your stance 1-3 inches you'd be able to hit depth more easily. Try bottom position body weight squats to work on flexibility. Take a long pause in the hole when you do it.

I'll work on another camera angle. I'm attempting to do one week of regular stance squats, wide stance the next week and narrow the following week. Is it okay to not go deeper with regular and narrow? My feet were about shoulder-width apart with my toes pointed out.

If you're going to vary stances, do it at bodyweight until you're comfortable with them and hit full depth. If you can't, stick with bodyweight and work on flexibility until you can.

Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.

looks fine but you would be better to keep your head in a neutral position instead of looking right up like you do, this will help with the back rounding also.

If you watch some of the form check videos from supertraining Mark Bell emphasises this point all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/supertraining06/search?query=coaches+eye+form

Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.

looks fine but you would be better to keep your head in a neutral position instead of looking right up like you do, this will help with the back rounding also.

If you watch some of the form check videos from supertraining Mark Bell emphasises this point all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/supertraining06/search?query=coaches+eye+form

Thanks, I'll try that next time. I tend to look up on DL and squats a lot. I'll see if it makes a difference.

That roll is very likely the most dangerous part of your lift.

The looking up thing is true as it tends to hyperextend your low back and can strain those muscles, but I'd focus on correcting the roll no matter what first.