Just checking if my form is shit cause I was getting some funny looks in the gym today.
Cheers.
you were getting funny looks because you go balls deep
That is what I was aiming for (going balls deep) not the funny looks. If people keep looking at me wierd, I’ll give them an excuse next time and squat naked and take a dump before I stand back up.
Do you reckon the form is ok?
they look pretty good. you got crazy flexibility to be able to do those barefoot.
i cringed a little with the first one because of the rate of your descent. was expecting you to lose your lumbar arch - but you didn’t. still… controlled lower - power it up out the hole. jealous of your flexibility.
Perfect. Obviously you could see that to. Mobility is awesome.
As caveman said everyone was staring at you because you went so bloody deep
cheers for the feed back.
Honestly though, I couldn’t see it. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and overthinker when it comes to how I do things, so I see crappy things others wont neccesarily notice. in gyms. It’s the bain of my life!
I much prefer front squatting as its much more comfortable, and I can move more weight with them. but Ive been told my upperback rounds out slightly when I do it, so Ive stopped doing front squats. Although they leave me feeling alot better
Is a bit of thoracic rounding normal on front squats?
(See what I mean about the overthinking! lol)
You should check this out, might help you out.
What are you doing for your mobility and flexibility ? It’s crazy, I’m jealous !
[quote]RMO wrote:
You should check this out, might help you out.
What are you doing for your mobility and flexibility ? It’s crazy, I’m jealous ![/quote]
Thanks for that link! made me see what im doing wrong in front squats. I let my elbows drop when im in the bottom, and let my body relax a bit too much. so it makes my upper back round a bit.
cheers. to get a deep squat I just did lots of mobility practice.
starting out I did…
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Pike calf stretch - you can feel this right up the back of your leg aswell if your quite immobile (do it like a mobility drill not a stretch)
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T-spine mobility
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LOTS and LOTS of goblet squats (don’t go heavy, get down into the whole and just move about - Although I might just use goblet squats for strength untill I need to up the weight as they are so comfy)
Goblet Squat - YouTube this is the key.
Dan John: Goblet Squat - YouTube This bloke is the man
- cossack squats (do them unloaded with hands on the floor for support and dont push through any pain, just gradualy increase ROM)
then just practice third world squats all the time (whenever is appropriate!)
thats what worked for me, but if you do only one thing, do the goblet squat everyday, then taper off till you can do it with just your bodyweight. When you can do decent third world squats you wont struggle with weighted squats (the only thing I struggle with squats now is weight cause im weak as shit!)
cossacks are great, i use them in my warm up
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
cossacks are great, i use them in my warm up[/quote]
I love them too. Makes my hips feel loose. I might see what they feel like weighted
It looks great to me. Chest up and sitting back, no rounding whatsoever. It’s taken me a awhile to go below parallel on back squats, but like you said activation, stretching and mobility warmups prior to squatting is key. And practice too, more you do it better you’re going to get. I have a leg imbalance where one leg caves in or “Valgus” happens and was able to remedy it and bring it up to par but still work in progress.
Yeah people look at me too when i go ATG at the gym, I’m used to it, who cares. Going ATG, I couldn’t go too heavy at the start since it’s harder than going above parallel but the weight has since progressed over time. Front squat is a breeze for depth but you know what, I prefer back squat and rarely do front squats anymore.
i started some new mobility exercises recently which include “landmines” to prevent hip tuck which i get ocaissionally and thoracic movements for squat. Somehow my upper body/core needs to be fully engaged as well.
I think the rate of your descent will also be partly responsible for the looks. Fast movement is attention capturing. Also… Not terribly many people can get away with dive bombing their squats (once they get heavy anyway) without blowing their spine and / or their knees.
(I suspect you probably only did that because the weight was so light. Still - controlled descent, explode up out the hole)
[quote]bluerock wrote:
It looks great to me. Chest up and sitting back, no rounding whatsoever. It’s taken me a awhile to go below parallel on back squats, but like you said activation, stretching and mobility warmups prior to squatting is key. And practice too, more you do it better you’re going to get. I have a leg imbalance where one leg caves in or “Valgus” happens and was able to remedy it and bring it up to par but still work in progress.
Yeah people look at me too when i go ATG at the gym, I’m used to it, who cares. Going ATG, I couldn’t go too heavy at the start since it’s harder than going above parallel but the weight has since progressed over time. Front squat is a breeze for depth but you know what, I prefer back squat and rarely do front squats anymore.
i started some new mobility exercises recently which include “landmines” to prevent hip tuck which i get ocaissionally and thoracic movements for squat. Somehow my upper body/core needs to be fully engaged as well. [/quote]
Its strange but I find partial squats harder now than full squats.
What are these “Landmines” you speak of? I’m intrigued
[quote]alexus wrote:
I think the rate of your descent will also be partly responsible for the looks. Fast movement is attention capturing. Also… Not terribly many people can get away with dive bombing their squats (once they get heavy anyway) without blowing their spine and / or their knees.
(I suspect you probably only did that because the weight was so light. Still - controlled descent, explode up out the hole)[/quote]
Yes you are very right there. At the gym I use more weight than I do at home. At home I just grease the groove whenever I’m bored.
I did a set of heavier squats without controlling my descent and could feel it straining a bit, so I slowed down the descent and it feels great and gives my core a much better workout.
I also learned the same lesson about controling the descent doing some cleans. I think I have cleans down pretty good now. I was practicing them earlier and noticed I was getting the bar up and dropping down to fast when I caught it (almost jolting in the squat position when it crashed down onto me!). I Slowed it down and I have added weight to my clean and snatch aswell! 
Thanks for the advice.
Not meant as a call out or anything, but we can’t really judge your form on a set this light. It look great with 105 pounds, but are you sure it looks the same with 225? 315? 405? 495? It’s not the same thing. Not even close.
If you want good advice, get a vid of a set no lighter than a 5RM, preferably 3RM or heavier.
You get just a little “butt wink” in the hole. Not dangerous now, but just something to keep in mind when the weights get heavier.
Great flexibility
[quote]kakno wrote:
Not meant as a call out or anything, but we can’t really judge your form on a set this light. It look great with 105 pounds, but are you sure it looks the same with 225? 315? 405? 495? It’s not the same thing. Not even close.
If you want good advice, get a vid of a set no lighter than a 5RM, preferably 3RM or heavier.
You get just a little “butt wink” in the hole. Not dangerous now, but just something to keep in mind when the weights get heavier.
Great flexibility[/quote]
Thanks for the input mate, not taking it as a call out 
I posted it so i can see if there is any problems with it.
I’m not wanting to sound snarky, but yes it would certainly look alot different if I had 225 or more on the bar, cause I cant squat that yet! I’m working with relatively light weights on all my lifts at the moment, and working up slowly, so when i do get to 225 it should still look like that.
about the butt wink. I read somewhere about pelvic nutation and that theres a difference between buttwink and nutation? obviosly butt wink is inflexibility of the hips causing lumbar rounding, and nutation is the natural pelvic rythm.
but still, I’ll keep hammering the hip mobility to make sure if there is a little butt wink, it wont be there for long.
olympic weightlifters do drop into a tight bottom position on their cleans and snatches - but they can squat significantly more weight than they are cleaning and snatching. i’ve heard that while it is good to drop fast, hit a tight bottom position, ride the bounce (stretch reflex) out the hole - one is asking for injury approaching ones squats like that.
if you want some feedback on your cleaning and snatching there are some really knowledgeable people on the oly lifting forum.
i can powerclean more than i can squat (front squats are very weak for me) and i have trouble with the bar crashing down on me for cleans, too. my coach noticed that i wasn’t dropping into a tight bottom position so much as a relaxed one. his solution is for me to practice some catching them higher (around parallel - where i have a tight position and where the bar doesn’t crash down as much) and for me to practice powercleaning and really hammer my squats to bring up my leg strength.
i guess i’m just wanting to make clear that i’m not advocating a slow descent under the bar for olympic lifting - just for squatting.
your form on your squats certainly looks good enough for you to add some weight to the bar!
[quote]pgtips wrote:
I’m not wanting to sound snarky, but yes it would certainly look alot different if I had 225 or more on the bar, cause I cant squat that yet! I’m working with relatively light weights on all my lifts at the moment, and working up slowly, so when i do get to 225 it should still look like that.
about the butt wink. I read somewhere about pelvic nutation and that theres a difference between buttwink and nutation? obviosly butt wink is inflexibility of the hips causing lumbar rounding, and nutation is the natural pelvic rythm.
but still, I’ll keep hammering the hip mobility to make sure if there is a little butt wink, it wont be there for long.[/quote]
Great!
No idea. Just analyze your form with heavy weights too.