Squats scare me

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  • wonderwoman234
    wonderwoman234 Posts: 551 Member
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    When I first started squatting, it felt unnatural and I had a hard time getting to parallel even with just body weight. But that changed very quickly. I started out doing squats with just the bar for a few weeks and in between, my trainer had me doing *kitten* to grass assisted squats holding on to straps on the RDX machine we have at my gym. It really, really helped. I also use a shoulder width stance and my toes are slightly pointed out. Your legs/knees should follow the line of your toes, so don't go crazy pointing them too far.

    I am up to 95 lbs. (not my max, but what I can do for 4 sets/8 reps.) and I think my form is pretty darn good at this point.

    Also, my trainer would recommend that you do your squats FIRST so that you are doing them with fresh legs.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    i'm not 5'10 but i am relatively all leg all leg as well. it's ok if your knees go past your knees since the only way around it with long legs is to be seated so far back that you lose balance. i've been squatting for like 26 years some of those years competing and my knees have always gone past my toes when i get post paralell. i've never had knee issues

    i use a wider stance, not sumo but wider than normal i guess. ankle and calf flexibility are also going to be key for long legged squats

    also i understand what you mean about not being able to go ATG, my hamstrings could be on the back of my calves and i'd still have like 12" of space between my butt and the floor.

    i

    Thank you for this. I've been poking around the interwebz and it looks like the whole "don't let you knees go past your toes!" theory has about as much substantial evidence as "starvation mode." I just don't like to be careless with my joints, since that's one part of the body you REALLY don't want to screw up.

    But this is good! The videos (emphasizing the wider stance and knees out especially) and the stretching (ankle and hip flexibility) really helped. I may be back to squatting the bar, but at least I've got my form down and can feel comfortable and safe about increasing the weight. No more partial squats for this girl.

    i think that advice was written for people with stubby legs or something :laugh:
  • shor0814
    shor0814 Posts: 559 Member
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    In addition to the above videos, here is another that shows a 2 part process for squatting; breaking at the hip then dropping at the knees.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMFHgVN_pcg&list=UUaHx0T1LWrVKWF1XfWWLSuw

    This allows you to concentrate on one movement at a time.

    Once you set your upper body position don't move it, it should stay where it is at through the whole movement and should be right place the bar over the mid-foot as determined by bar location on the back. You can also stand in front of the squat upright, set your upper body and squat down, your face should stay the same distance from the upright.

    The other tip I got was to keep pushing your butt back like you are trying to sit on a chair that keeps moving further back.

    Your knees can go past your toes but it should happen in the first 1/3 of the squat and then stop moving.

    You can test your ankle flexibility by placing 2.5 lb plates below your heels and squatting with low or no weight, if you can get deeper then you need to work on ankle flexibility.

    Keep practicing and make videos of your squat to review between sets.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    OP if you want to get more ATG you can try front squats. i find the weight in from of my body really helps as a counterbalance
  • sheilaq14
    sheilaq14 Posts: 35 Member
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  • juliewatkin
    juliewatkin Posts: 764 Member
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    I'm not as tall as you but I'm a lot of leg. I watch with envy as my short legged co-competitors squat with their stupid little short ranges of motion. Who knew I would one day envy stubby legged women. When I squat I feel like my *kitten* is traveling through time zones. Having said that, I've found what I think works for me. If I sit back into a squat, I get a lot of forward lean and because of the length of my femurs, I have to travel a fair distance to break parallel. What works best for me when raw squatting is slightly wider than shoulder width and breaking at the knees first and dropping down rather than sitting back. Once I get too much forward lean, I tend to 'good morning' out of the hole meaning my hips rise faster than my shoulders.

    Anyone can squat. You only have to watch a world championship to see the wide range of body types. You just have to spend time figuring out what works best for you.
  • fatfudgery
    fatfudgery Posts: 449 Member
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    First of all, don't worry about going ATG unless you're squatting high bar. Just squat low bar, which forces you to bring your torso forward a little more, maximizing hamstrings and glutes activation just by hitting parallel. Rippetoe's book Starting Strength goes into all of this in detail if you want to read about it.

    Now, almost every person I've seen who can't squat at least to parallel is trying to stand with their feet too close for the length of their legs. Widen your stance!

    Also try some ankle stretches to help with the whole falling over at the bottom thing. Kelly Starrett is the man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gwgm3s2EQ0
  • Lemongrab13
    Lemongrab13 Posts: 206 Member
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    This fixed my squat 100% http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/picking-the-squat-thats-rght-for-you
    Before that I couldn't get it. At all :noway:
    I'm 6'3, so that squat form for shorties was not cutting it, bruh.

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