SQUAT help!!!

How far are your legs apart? Are your toes pointed out? Do you push your knees in line with your toes? (But not past them)

Ive learned squats from my trainer.

1. Make sure your legs are even with your shoulders.

2. When squating be sure that you are not holding your breath.

3. (This is my personal preference) Start out putting your hands on your hips and keeping your back as straight as possible.

4. Make sure to use your abs as well this helps with form and balance.

5. Squat down slowly until your legs are at a perfect 90 degree angle.

6. Take your time do not go fast you want to make sure that you are in good form and your triggering your muscles.

**EXTRA NOTE** to help you determine that you are going down far enough try doing it in front of a mirror.
You can also get something like a weight bench and do your squats just enough where your butt hits the bench (DO NOT SIT ON IT) lol its just a marker. Once you get your form down add the weights. Oh and also make sure you put your body weight evenly throughout your feet (i.e.: dont have all your weight on your heels or the balls of your feet).

Hope this helps.

:bigsmile:

Okay, so feet shoulder-width apart, toes forward, boobies out, back straight, get as low as you can.... BUT....

Use the box? Really? In the book - they use the Box Squats as a harder variation....

And should I be using the weights or not?

You start out with 15 reps. How hard are reps 13, 14, and 15? Are you barely getting them done (probably at the right weight) or can you do 5 more (add some more)? Get a weight bench or a chair and squat till your butt hits it and make sure your knees don't extend past the invisible line with your toes. If you're doing all that, you're probably good. If you're still worried, get a gym staff member to come watch you for 10 minutes.

Yes, try bench or chair. Don't be afraid of the "man section", try the squat rack. More than likely you will feel like a bad *kitten* :bigsmile:

Okay - so after my run last night I decided to try to work on my form. I am all KINDS of crazy lookin. My feet were WAY too wide, I bend at the waist entirely too much. My heels come off the ground instead of my toes. I need a lot of work. I still cant get my legs parallel, but I am a hell of a lot closer than I was at the gym on Tuesday. I still need to fine-tune a bit (okay, a lot), but I have to wait until I get to the gym tonight, so I can try it out with the barbell. I was wondering if maybe I should start with the Smith Machine, so the bar will be a bit more stable while I work on my form... thoughts?

No part of your foot should come off the ground during a squat. Also, I would just chase parallel and not make it the qualifier of whether or not you use a barbell. If the 45lb. oly bar is too much weight for you to start with, you could see if your gym has the lighter women's oly bars.

Never use a smith machine. It doesn't do any justice to imitating the real movement.

forget about parallel to the floor ,to really work u got to go lower ,as low as u can.
as for the big boys , they love a lady near them ,why else are we putting on muscle.
also dont be afraid to ask one of them for advice 99% of us would be glad to show u.

NROLFW doesn't distinguish between the two- high bar or low bar. Never mentions ATG (lol), just says close to parallel as possible, so between your two discriptions, I am guessing low. I am realizing the more I get into this that I have absolutely NO idea what I am doing. :noway:

Don't get bogged down too much in all the details. I'm just one of the fanatical newbies who likes to read everything. But if it tells you to place the bar on your rear deltoids (i.e. make a shelf for the bar by squeezing your shoulder blades together) that's low-bar. High-bar is placed on the traps; though I'll be honest I never do high-bar because it hurt my neck when I've tried it.

"make a shelf for the bar by squeezing your shoulder blades together"

i do this when doing the high-bar. doesnt hurt the neck since its resting on the muscle

NROLFW doesn't distinguish between the two- high bar or low bar. Never mentions ATG (lol), just says close to parallel as possible, so between your two discriptions, I am guessing low. I am realizing the more I get into this that I have absolutely NO idea what I am doing. :noway:

Don't get bogged down too much in all the details. I'm just one of the fanatical newbies who likes to read everything. But if it tells you to place the bar on your rear deltoids (i.e. make a shelf for the bar by squeezing your shoulder blades together) that's low-bar. High-bar is placed on the traps; though I'll be honest I never do high-bar because it hurt my neck when I've tried it.

"make a shelf for the bar by squeezing your shoulder blades together"

i do this when doing the high-bar. doesnt hurt the neck since its resting on the muscle

Maybe I'm missing something with high-bar then. But during high-bar I wouldn't thing it would actually be sitting on the shelf; it would be sitting on the upper traps would it not?

yup, rests on the upper trap muscles. but by squeezing the shoulder blades together, it does create a "shelf" for the bar to rest on. basically my grip is as close together as i can get on the bar.

I find I can go deeper (with better form) doing a Goblet Squat with a kettlebell than I can with a barbell.

I used goblet squats to find my comfortable leg positioning and proper turn-out on my feet. Because I can sit in the bottom position holding a kettlebell, I am able to make minor adjustments, hold the stretch, and find that place where my heels are driven into the ground and not the balls of my feet.

Getting the goblet squat right made it much easier when I went back to the barbell. I started back with an unweighted bar and then worked on slowly dropping down to my goblet squat depth. Because I was well practiced at that depth, I could stay at the bottom of the squat until I found that correct center of gravity and foot placement so I could drive my heels into the ground and come up with good form.

The goblet squat isn't easier or harder in my opinion, it just helped me get into the idea of being between my legs, not over them. So when I applied that to the barbell, I felt much more comfortable with my deep squat.

Goblet squats may be a bit more difficult at comparable weights, I don't recommend trying to start out with a 45 pound KB even if you're accustomed to putting weight on a barbell. It's likely your hands won't hold as much as your traps can support. I started with a 25 pound KB and when I moved back to the bar, I was using 35-40.

forget about parallel to the floor ,to really work u got to go lower ,as low as u can.
as for the big boys , they love a lady near them ,why else are we putting on muscle.
also dont be afraid to ask one of them for advice 99% of us would be glad to show u.

I agree. Full range of motion. Why only do partial range. If you have good form, you aren't gonna blow your knees. In fact it is good for you knees to actually go through the full range of their motion or as you age you knee flexibility will be eventually be limited. You should take all joints through their full range of motion often.

When I was first starting out, I had a bucket placed where my butt would end up if I kept going and sat down. Knowing there was something there to catch me if I got down and couldn't get up, was helpful. After practicing this in front of a mirror for a while (in my garage, holding a broom) I felt confident enough to put weight on a real bar. I've found that going lower than parallel actually makes it easier as you can just push up with your glutes and thighs instead of trying to control your butt height with your knees. I have arthritis in both knees so have to be very careful to not stress them too much. So far, I'm up to #70 and having no problems.

When I lifted in high school something we would use to help learn how far down to go was a bungie cord straped aross the bars you can put on either side to catch the bar if it falls. we would put the bars level with our knees (or there abouts) and then try to touch it with our bum then go back up. this would help the person lifting feel where they needed to be to get down all the way. But it is much more important that your knees are in line with your toes than for you to be getting super low. s