Hello @Jenxbowers.
Overall you have an excellent squat for a beginner...or compared to most people I've seen squat at a commercial gym. Things to keep doing: mini squat to unrack bar, maintain depth (your hitting parallel which a lot of people don't have the mobility for initially), and keep that great spinal alignment.

First thing would be to stay inside the safeties! You obviously don't need them now, but will at some point so it's best to set-up in a consistent way. Unrack and take two small steps back.

Two other main things. 1.Your bar path is coming forward a bit (should always remain over mid foot aka just in front of the ankle) which means your heels are coming up a touch. 2. It looks like you're performing a low bar squat with the bar in high bar position, or in other words you have a lot of torso lean for someone with your particular anthropometrics; longer torso, shorter fermurs, longer tibia.

Rip's graphic we love so much:



The forward bar path and the torso lean are inter-related. It all might be occurring because you're looking at yourself in the mirror. So stop! Easier said than done right? In commercial gyms I try to set-up so I'm looking away from the mirror, but there are a lot of situations where that isn't possible. In that case I focus on something behind me I see in the mirror. A clock, light fixture, whatever. You might want to consider switching to low bar if this squat is feeling good to you. Sometimes tight calves cause issues as well, but that tends to be for folks who come forward near the end who are trying to get a bit of extra ROM. It looks like you start coming forward fairly early, but it's almost always a good idea to stretch them anyway.

It's also a good idea to video from the back to watch what knees and hips are doing. I usually put my phone in a shoe on a plyo box to record. It's a perfect tripod!

Fittreelol wrote: »

Hello @Jenxbowers.
Overall you have an excellent squat for a beginner...or compared to most people I've seen squat at a commercial gym. Things to keep doing: mini squat to unrack bar, maintain depth (your hitting parallel which a lot of people don't have the mobility for initially), and keep that great spinal alignment.

First thing would be to stay inside the safeties! You obviously don't need them now, but will at some point so it's best to set-up in a consistent way. Unrack and take two small steps back.

Two other main things. 1.Your bar path is coming forward a bit (should always remain over mid foot aka just in front of the ankle) which means your heels are coming up a touch. 2. It looks like you're performing a low bar squat with the bar in high bar position, or in other words you have a lot of torso lean for someone with your particular anthropometrics; longer torso, shorter fermurs, longer tibia.

Rip's graphic we love so much:



The forward bar path and the torso lean are inter-related. It all might be occurring because you're looking at yourself in the mirror. So stop! Easier said than done right? In commercial gyms I try to set-up so I'm looking away from the mirror, but there are a lot of situations where that isn't possible. In that case I focus on something behind me I see in the mirror. A clock, light fixture, whatever. You might want to consider switching to low bar if this squat is feeling good to you. Sometimes tight calves cause issues as well, but that tends to be for folks who come forward near the end who are trying to get a bit of extra ROM. It looks like you start coming forward fairly early, but it's almost always a good idea to stretch them anyway.

It's also a good idea to video from the back to watch what knees and hips are doing. I usually put my phone in a shoe on a plyo box to record. It's a perfect tripod!

I can't thank you enough for all this help! I really appreciate it!

I agree about the leaning, it looks like I'm letting the bar crush me but it didn't actually feel like that. So I will try to keep my heels planted better for sure, and no mirror!

I googled a little about the long torso/short femur thing. What an interesting concept. I guess I should consider myself lucky, and try to figure out what bar position I like. I find it kinda difficult to cradle the bar on my shoulder muscles, maybe because I don't seem to have any yet, lol. So to be honest, I don't have any set plan for where to put the bar, it just goes wherever I can put it.

jenxbowers wrote: »

I agree about the leaning, it looks like I'm letting the bar crush me but it didn't actually feel like that. So I will try to keep my heels planted better for sure, and no mirror!

something that's helped me in the past about that is to be more conscious of taking the breathe-and-brace breath and making it a belly breath instead of a chest breath. i can't always 'get' that 'into the belly' thing to happen, but it does stop me from over-leaning when i do. if you breathe in a way taht turns your whole torso into a soda can that's been shaken, it's a loooot harder to tip too far forward like that.

i can't do high bar at all, so grain of salt. but i think that for high-bar in particular, people talk about setting your lats too, to pull your elbows down a little and add even more spinal stability. i was admiring your symmetrical arm position and the fact that your arm angle pretty much mirrors your back the whole time. so doing a lat set might bring your elbows down and your back angle might follow that.

squatting without the lean really feels like you're sitting down into your squat, as opposed to back. glute squeeze does help with that too, because feeling that sensation gives your brain something to sit down into. i.e. your own hamstrings and bum muscles.