I feel like I'm never going to squat properly. *pics*

When I first started squatting, I did lean forward, the body tends to. It wasn't until I did so many that I was able to do correctly. The power comes from the hip, and your *kitten* LOL... but no joke.

You want the weight to be comfortable on your back and if you do move up in weight it will feel heavy at first, sometimes leave a bruise but it does go away and the muscles in your back grow. Then you get so strong you don't feel any pain with heavy weight on your back. I never used a pad like some people do.

I highly suggest something to sit on, touch, go up, touch, go up. Any weight is better than none to practice. You need weight to build the frame. Naturally your forward lean will leave, it did for me too but using a stick forever won't help that.

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

Getting the hip hinge down is a great step towards having great form for squats.

You can also do a box squat.

You have super long legs and this will absolutely affect how you squat.

Every body is different and it's not a one size fits all approach. There are certain fundamentals that remain the same, but stance, where the knees end up in relation to the toes and toe turnout are based on each person.

Do not increase your weight until you feel comfortable with your form, that is a recipe for injury.

Good luck!

You've had some good advice re: hip mobility, stretching, etc. I'm actually not a fan of elevating the heels. You did say one thing that really jumped out at me and has not been addressed so I'm going to throw it out there now.

You said that the closer together your feet are, the less depth you get. That's a big sign that your foot position is off. Normally, if your feet are angled properly, the closer together your feet are, the more depth, but less power, you have. The trick in squatting is finding that place where you get the most power and still get down far enough. You'll see tons of videos talking about how to angle your feet, but the reality is that every body is different. Your hips won't attach at the same angle as the people in those videos. Or on a forum such as this. Neither will your knees. And even if they did, your years of growing, using, and developing your body will create different angles. Find a foot position where your knee travels directly over your toes. For me, that's actually a bit more open on the left foot than the right. My right foot is about 1 o'clock but my left is closer to 10 o'clock. Play with it. What you'll find is, once you get your angle right for your feet, the hips open up automatically and your weight wants to stay in your heels. You'll be able to drop straight down with your heels closer together, but you'll feel the movement primarily in your quads. As you move your feet out you'll struggle a bit more to get down at first, and the stress of the movement will be less on your quads and more on your glutes and hamstrings. It takes practice. But it's worth the practice because, again, the wider your heels the more power you have.

Bump

I think it might just be that right now, the shoulder mo might not allow for a "true" low bar. I know I can't.

I'd say though, the OP needs to give a few more pics, front, rear, and 3/4. Judging from what I've seen, I think my lifting coach would have my chest more upright in the back squat.

I have some issues with shoulder mobility as well. I still struggle with it on some days. I use resistance bands, pull them apart over head and work them down into a low bar squat position on my back and then try to pull them all the way apart and rotate my shoulders all the way through until the band is behind me and touching my lower back and then rotate through all the way back to overhead. I'll do that ten times with the band fairly loose and then wrap the band one loop tighter around each hand and do it again, repeat until the band is tight enough I can't pull my arms apart past the low bar position and then just go from overhead to low bar ten times.


Don't know if that made any sense at all but I'm having no luck finding the video link a friend gave me demonstrating the stretch.

bump, need to read and re-read! Thanks for great links and info!

45 replies and no response from the OP. Anyway, i'll throw in my 2 cents. You're leaning forward and with a wide stance to keep from tipping backward, because your legs are so long. Interim solution is to do goblet squats or front squats, with a wide stance. Next progression is sumo squats. with a barbell or dumbbells.
If you can't work up to doing back squats, don't stress over it. It's not as functional as the others i mentioned.

By the way, hip mobility seems fine, and shoulder mobility is excellent. Stretching your calves before lifting should help keep the feet from flaring out so far.

I think it might just be that right now, the shoulder mo might not allow for a "true" low bar. I know I can't.

I'd say though, the OP needs to give a few more pics, front, rear, and 3/4. Judging from what I've seen, I think my lifting coach would have my chest more upright in the back squat.

I have some issues with shoulder mobility as well. I still struggle with it on some days. I use resistance bands, pull them apart over head and work them down into a low bar squat position on my back and then try to pull them all the way apart and rotate my shoulders all the way through until the band is behind me and touching my lower back and then rotate through all the way back to overhead. I'll do that ten times with the band fairly loose and then wrap the band one loop tighter around each hand and do it again, repeat until the band is tight enough I can't pull my arms apart past the low bar position and then just go from overhead to low bar ten times.


Don't know if that made any sense at all but I'm having no luck finding the video link a friend gave me demonstrating the stretch.

Hmm, having a hard time visualizing that. I'll hunt through youtube.

AHA! This is basically what you're going for. If you are starting very tight you may only be able to work the band down to shoulder blade or elbow level at first, but it should improve surprisingly quickly as you work on it. I like it because it's a dynamic stretch so it helps warm everything up as you stretch the shoulders out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Annb0cpxwzM

Bump to read later