Can't properly do a squat?

Koshkaxo · July 2012

Hello all, I just bought a (non oly) bar and 20 lb of weights for it. I wanted to start with a low weight to see if lifting is for me, as well as to practice correct form.

I think I can correctly do the other lifts but Im having a really hard time doing squats. My feet are shoulder width apart, maybe slightly more, toes out slightly, with the bar alined above my feet. When I go to lower myself, I always lean forward a lot. I think my spine stays straight even if I do lean forward. If I keep myself vertical, I cant even go down to a 90 degree angle, let alone the full range of motion. Another question I have is if it is okay for my knees to go out past my toes if they are the same direction that my toes point? Or should my knees never go past my toes?

Ive tried watching youtube videos but I see conflicting form opinions on basically every video... I dont know what to think haha

Does anyone else have similar problems or have a solution to overcome my forward lean? Thanks so much! :flowerforyou:

ruststar · July 2012

Can you sit down in a chair without using a chair? That's a squat. I wouldn't add any weight until you can do the movement with just your body weight. Practice that "sitting in a chair" movement until you can easily do it with no weight, then add hand weights until you get to 20 pounds in each hand. Only then are you ready for the bar.

One thing I found really helpful was sitting in a deep squat position to get my legs stretched and able to go deeper. This video, though menat to be funny, was actually really helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y76UbfBr5vo&feature=related.

Only after doing that for a little while was I able to break parallel and get my squats to the full range of motion. I don't think it's necessary to go ATG (*kitten*-to-grass), but once i started breaking parallel my strength really improved and my knees - always problematic - felt so much better.

Koshkaxo · July 2012

Thanks for the reply but none of my form questions were addressed? I just spent 10 mins standing and sitting in an actual chair and tried to do the same without. My toes dont go past my knees when I actually sit but I do lean forward. My toes and knees both point directly forward as well, so should I not be turning out my feet to do one? Sorry Im just so confused, its a lot of seemingly unnatural body movements for me, especially to stay completely vertical.

Ill watch that video when I get home from work and lay off the bar until I can get this done correctly

kazzari · July 2012

You are supposed to lean forward...it is impossible and not a goal to stay vertical. Your foot width sounds good, you might even go a little wider, and knees at 30 degrees, which is a little more than "slightly" . Your knees can go slightly past your toes, your knees won't explode. As you squat focus on pushing your butt back ,really pushing your knees out, looking down at the ground in front of you. Spreading your knees really helps with depth.

I highly recommend Starting Strength and the Starting Strength DVD. There is just no better resource for learning proper squat technique for this program.

Qarol · July 2012

Squats took me ages to "master" and I use quotes cuz my form may never be perfect. I did a ton of bodyweight squats and goblet squats (you can google for videos on goblet squats). The stance that works for me is a bit wider than shoulders, feet pointed out ~30 degrees. My husband, on the other hand, needs a narrower stance with toes pointed straight forward. We're both positioning the bar low as opposed to high.

Your knees can go past your toes, but you want to keep your knees over your toes. The bar should stay in line with your feet all the way down and all the way up, so yes you're going to lean forward a bit, just not too far.

But really, if your form is off, there's nothing that's gonna fix it except a lot of practice at low weight. I wouldn't start adding heavy weight until your form is good enough. You just don't want to risk injury. At least, that's my advice. I'm no expert. I just know I've spent months working on squats b/c at first, my form was just BAD.

And lastly, if you can, bring a video camera. The mirror is awful for checking your form. It can mess you up. If you can get someone to film you or set a camera on a chair or something, and watch it after, that's really ideal.

Koshkaxo · July 2012

The main reason I thoight I had to stay vertical is because my boyfriend started going to a trainer. I asked him for some pointers and when I did a squat he told me I was way too far ahead and to stay upright. He showed me a few and of his and he does actually stay almost completely vertical. Hes in much much better shape than me though.

I work out at home now, the only gym in my area is swarming with bros (not exagerating to say there are +15 guys at any given time in a very small weight area.) I dont have a squat rack yet, since Im just dipping my feet in the water, so to speak haha.

I also dont own a full legnth mirror, Ive been using my large tv screen to see my reflection! Lol oop :embarassed: But my laptop has a cam so I will try that suggestion of recording and viewing my form.

Thanks again, Ill try and update this post once I practice a bit more!

kensky · July 2012

I'm seconding Q's and k's posts. I found Rippetoe's (Starting Strength) instruction really helpful. If you search youtube for Rippetoe then you will find scads of snippets that should be pretty helpful. I will also talk up goblet squats again. I love them for working up to a good form while still getting the benefits of The Squat. Dan John is a big advocate of them too and he should have more intelligent explanation about them if you google/youtube more about it!

Oh! A helpful coaching cue that Rippetoe gives is to think of the bar path as being vertical not your actual squatting body going straight up and down. I still think of that and it helps me.

kazzari · July 2012

The main reason I thoight I had to stay vertical is because my boyfriend started going to a trainer. I asked him for some pointers and when I did a squat he told me I was way too far ahead and to stay upright. He showed me a few and of his and he does actually stay almost completely vertical. Hes in much much better shape than me though.

I work out at home now, the only gym in my area is swarming with bros (not exagerating to say there are +15 guys at any given time in a very small weight area.) I dont have a squat rack yet, since Im just dipping my feet in the water, so to speak haha.

I also don't own a full length mirror, Ive been using my large tv screen to see my reflection! Lol oop :embarassed: But my laptop has a cam so I will try that suggestion of recording and viewing my form.

Thanks again, Ill try and update this post once I practice a bit more!

I have seen some young guys with a lot of flexibility squatting with a very narrow stance, going quite deep and staying quite vertical. That is just their particular body mechanics. Women tend to have a more forward lean and the degree of the lean is not a big concern unless your back is actually parallel to the ground. The trainer probably didn't have much experience with teaching women to squat, possibly. Focussing on the bar moving vertically should be your goal.

You don't need a mirror...it is not advisable to squat in front of a mirror, actually. It is better to get a feel for what the proper form and depth feels like...have your bf take a video or just watch you...and focus on how that feels. I also believe in goblet squats if you've not done any squatting. This will help get a feel for squat depth. Keep in mind that this will put you in a front squat position, which will always be more vertical than a back squat.

Koshkaxo · July 2012

Goblet squats, Rippetoe, Dan Jon and my webcam! Cant wait to go home and do some research and practice. Only 5 more hours to go

ruststar · July 2012

Thanks for the reply but none of my form questions were addressed? I just spent 10 mins standing and sitting in an actual chair and tried to do the same without. My toes dont go past my knees when I actually sit but I do lean forward. My toes and knees both point directly forward as well, so should I not be turning out my feet to do one? Sorry Im just so confused, its a lot of seemingly unnatural body movements for me, especially to stay completely vertical.

Ill watch that video when I get home from work and lay off the bar until I can get this done correctly

That's because you don't need to stay vertical - the movement of sitting in a chair requires you to lean forward as well, which is why it's the best analogy I could think of to show that a squat is a perfectly natural movement. I always have my feet angled out a bit as well because it feel more comfortable. You got some other great responses so I hope something was helpful.

juliebeannn · July 2012

you're supposed to lean forward a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ

Koshkaxo · July 2012

Hello Everyone!

I watched a few videos you suggested. I found the Intro to Squat VERY helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Today I attempted squats again (yesterday was an arm day lol) annnd I set up my webcam to watch my form. I did 3 sets of 10, as my bar had no weights and 5 didnt seem like enough work. I will do the 5 x 5 when I add more weights. Does this sound reasonable? Anyways, my first set I had the bar travelling in a " / " path maybe as far as 35 degrees :noway: ... Definitely not correct, but by my third set it was more like a 20 degree path. (Hopefully the degree reference makes sense?) I also tried the suggestion of pointing my toes out farther, and I found it gave me more stability when lowering.

Im definitely going to keep practising, and hopefully it wont take me too long to achieve a vertical path with the bar.

stormieweather · July 2012

I was having trouble with this, almost falling over on my face due to leaning foward.

I had a guy offer me some advice at the gym, when I was doing the same thing. He gave me two 2 1/2 pound weights and told me to put them under my heels when I squatted. He explained that this would cause me to lean back a bit instead of forward (to compensate for the height under my heels).

It worked beautifully.

Stronglifts 5x5 for Women

Can't properly do a squat?

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