Form check: back squats high bar

You have good depth - keep that - Try to sit back a little more - You can try box squatting with a box right near parallel - sit back to the box - start the lift with your head & shoulders - try to be a little more gentle when you stop at the bottom of the lift- you knees will thank you -I notice a slight round of your lumbar back - Eastcoast Jim

If you have any powerlifting goals, that descent speed is amazing. I wish I could drop that fast. Check out this video by Chad Wesley Smith, one of the best squatters around
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X_wwJhaN0vU

zachbonner wrote: »

BigLifter10 wrote: »

If you are looking for opinions, there were two things that stood out for me when watching your clip:

1. Seemed to be using a bit of momentum which appeared to make the move look very quick. It didn't look like a smooth, deliberate squat motion.
2. Seemed like you could push through the heels - looked to tip a bit when coming up.

Is your core as tight as it can be? Try to picture being 'lifted' up through the center of your body with a straight, strong iron bar.

My core is not very tight through the whole movement I'm pretty sure, something I try and work on

Looked good !

This content has been removed.

Looks good for the most part.

The thing I'd improve on is not dropping so fast. That can't be healthy for your knees in the long run. I'm also noticing your lumbar is rounding at the bottom - looks like some serious butt wink. It should stay neutral throughout the entire lift. I think that your core is strong enough to keep your lumbar stable if you were to drop a bit more slow and controlled. But because you are just dropping so damn fast, the momentum is overcoming your core strength and your lumbar is going into flexion.

I notice you have good breath control and brace yourself well at the top of the lift. That same strong core you're starting with at the top is the same core you should maintain throughout the entire thing. You will notice that once you keep that core really tight throughout the lift, you will manage to stay more upright throughout the lift which will also keep you from shifting the weight all the way onto your toes.

I saw a few posts telling you to sit back into the squat. I disagree. This is a high bar squat. By sitting back into it, what you are doing is causing your body to lean forward and loading your hips and glutes, which essentially is trying to convert the lift into a low-bar squat. In a high bar squat, you aim to maintain the torso as upright as possible; and you initiate the movement by squatting straight down, as opposed to back and then down.

Zach, I recommend checking out this guy's instagram - https://instagram.com/lifthard8/

He has some clips from his recent trip to China. The same place gold medalist lifters at China have come from, yea that's where this guy got to train and got some pretty sweet clips from. Flip through those and see what you learn.

Some other good videos with some really good high bar squatting -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzT1lY-q-hg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fud3fXvLf5E skip towards the end of the vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xl3fBUpz_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMYKoe8SJaQ

You'll notice what I am telling you about keeping that core and spine tight (pay close attention to how that lumbar stays neutral). Once you fix that everything falls into place. Honestly you have your mechanics down pretty good but once you fix your loose back/core everything will work itself out. That's what I did and it's done wonders for my squat. Also notice none of that sitting back into a low-bar squat. Lumbar neutral, back tight, straight down into the hole.

Looks pretty good all-around. A little butt-wink ain't the end of the world, just get yourself a lacrosse ball and roll your glutes and piriformis out in addition to some other mobility work before you lift. Hell, do it on non-lifting days too.

Dig the speed, I don't have the courage do descend that fast. If you ever want to compete you'll have to learn to pause, but all in all good squatting.

zachbonner wrote: »

Wow thank you very informative

Yea no problem. Also just to be clear when I said "Lumbar neutral, back tight". Your entire spine will be neutral (not just the lumbar), then you just tighten up to maintain that neutral position throughout the entire spine.

I was just emphasizing the lumbar because that seems to be what you are having the most issue with. Plus I find that if you're standing up and tighten your core to keep the lumbar neutral, the rest of the back kind of just falls into proper neutral position anyway.