I hate squats with a fiery passion. Bane of my existence. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get to parallel without falling over. I have to put an insane amount of height under my heels just to get close.
I have been stretching my ankles for a few months to see if it was a range of motion issue, but my squats are not improving.
I also tried putting the weight further down on my back, but that just seems to be doing more to hurt my scapulae than help my squat.
When I squat without the bar, I have to stand on my tip-toes to get to parallel.
I am a one trick pony, but it’s a REALLY good trick, so allow me to share it with you.
Were I in your situation, I’d use an actual box squat. I’d specifically set the box just slightly above the height where my technique falls apart on the squat. From there, I’d train the box squat at that height for a few weeks and get comfortable with it. Once that is done, I’d slightly increase the range of motion by lowering the box height and repeat the process.
I’d continue this until I can eventually squat to the correct depth.
Have you tried a slightly wider stance with relatively flat shoes? Squat a little back as opposed to straight down, which looks like you do.
Try to mimic the full range of motion without the bar. You might have to hold onto something for your balance. you will feel how your hips drop to depth. I would do this as my first warmup set when squatting.
My ankles can flex further than that, but when ny heels are at a height where I would be flexing them more, I still feel my squat is off-balance so I put more height under my heels to see if it would help
Honestly you need to get your feet down. Way too unstable.
Air squat until you get comfortable and then just the bar until your comfy. @T3hPwnisher also gave you a great piece of advice. Work on a box squat and then transition back.
From my experience doing a “Powerlifter” style squat, ankle flexibility is not a constraint. I descended to “3 white light” depth with my knees never extending past my toes. In fact, I wore high top Chuck Taylors for ankle support to minimize the possibility of ankle strain walking out and back in the weight.
