Squats...

While they are good contrary to popular belief squats aren't the end all be all of exercises to build your posterior. Lunges are great -- walking lunges are great, lunges with the back foot on the bench. Curtsey squats are good, step-ups, donkey kicks, bridges, cable kicks(probably not the right term but you attach the cuff to your ankle and lift your leg up behind you), the abductor machine works the outside of your bum (you can also do this with the cable. Attach the ankle attachment and lift leg out) . . . there's a lot of different exercises that you can do that will work the bum. You don't "have" to do squats. A good website that I use is exrx.net. You can select a body part and not only does it give you the different exercises and equipment to use for it but it also has a clip of how to do it.

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Start with just bodyweight squats or the bar until you get your form/flexibility down and increase weight from there. You don't want to injure yourself.

alisonmarie85 wrote: »

@not_satisfied I feel it in my knees and quads mostly. I have in the past tried looking up at the ceiling and that helps a bit. Body weight squats I find even worse @JenAndSome for leaning forward. I guess I could hold a broom or something until I get my form down.

I've also tried squatting TOWARDS a wall as dumb as that sounds... therefore if I lean forward my head would hit the wall LOL.

I have this same problem, and have started doing front squats. They keep you upright and i feel them more in The but and hams.

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depending on the squat form you are doing leaning forward could be completely correct. Check out Youtube, you may be doing a low bar squat, which has you lean much more forward than high bar, and is the correct way to do it.

I like using the TRX for squats--having the straps makes it feel 'safe' to keep an more upright posture and get my butt low without losing my balance.

yopeeps025 wrote: »

video for form check?

It sounds like she is pushing through the binge at the knees too early and never really activating the hams and but to hinge at the hips.

I'm willing to bet she had a back injury in the past that made her favor her quads so as not to further injure herself, and she never learned to deactivate her posterior chain.

Op you may want to look up body weight activation exercises. These need to be done with no weight because till you learn to move again your quads will always take over when a heavy load is involved.

erickirb wrote: »

depending on the squat form you are doing leaning forward could be completely correct. Check out Youtube, you may be doing a low bar squat, which has you lean much more forward than high bar, and is the correct way to do it.

Very much this.

If you fast forward to the 11 minute mark on the video I posted above, you'll see side shots of both high bar and low bar so you can see the difference in the lean.

goddessofawesome wrote: »

While they are good contrary to popular belief squats aren't the end all be all of exercises to build your posterior. Lunges are great -- walking lunges are great, lunges with the back foot on the bench.

There is probably no single better exercise you can do for overall strength and function, but to this poster's comments; I will say that not everybody should do squats right out of the gate. It sounds like you have some flexibility issues and possibly a lack of hamstring, glute, and core development. With that being said, it might not be appropriate for you to jump right into squats and you might want to spend four weeks to strengthen the areas I just mentioned.

It's not possible for me to give you a really sound recommendation without seeing you squat. Generally speaking...

- Before lifting: Foam Rolling and Active stretching of hip flexors, hamstrings, calves and latissimus, adductors
- After lifting & Non-Lifting days: Static stretching (30-sec minimum hold) on the same areas mentioned above
- For four weeks try something like...
*4/2/1 tempo = (4-sec eccentric / 2-sec hold / 1-sec concentric)
*YouTube if you're not familiar with an exercise*

*balance & core (1-3 sets, 8-12 reps 4/2/1 tempo *except for planks, no rest between exercises, 90sec's after all 4)
a. single-leg romanian deadlift (body-weight only)
b. glute bridge
c. front planks (30-sec holds)
d. side planks (30-sec holds)

*strength & stabilization (12-20 reps / 4/2/1 tempo, no rest between exercises, 30-90 sec rest after all 4)
a. Reverse Lunges with Front Balance: do a reverse lunge and when you come back up, bring the alternate leg up in-front of you and hold for 2-sec's.
b. Side-step up with Balance
c. DB bench on stability ball
d. DB row on stability ball
**If you want to do some bicep curls, lat raises or something that's fine to add, just follow the above parameters.

Again, this is very generalized because I can't actually see what's going on with you. I'm sure your squat form is part of the issue but also based on what you're saying I would say that it extends beyond form in that your prime movers aren't being activated correctly due to either flexibility and / or lack of strength which is causing your knee extensors to do more than they're supposed to in the squat.

edit: If you're able to, then post a video of...
1. Overhead squat (bodyweight only) - front & side view
2. Single-leg squat (bodyweight only) - front & side view

When you are lifting, are you on your toes or heels. You should be able to wiggle your toes while squatting. That alone will put the center of gravity more to the rear and takes pressure off your knees. Never squat with most of your weight on your toes. Also ensure that your stance is at least slightly wider then your sholders with your toes pointig outward a bit. Also make sure you squat deep enough (hip should go slightly below your knees when all the way down) By squatting shallow you will be over stressing your quads and knees and not work the glutes and hams. Remember this is one of the most effective compound moves you can do as it activates all your major muscless in your body. If you are still unable to do this then try a wider stance. Wider stance will transfer more of the work on the inside part of your quads and hams thus reducing stress from your knees.

Yup, the walking or weighted lunges are good. We did those this morning and I could really feel them where you are supposed to!