Good on you for being proactive, best of luck
Thanks man. I want to perform the best I can and not get injured so it means targeting my issues before they get worse down the track.
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Take a bit of weight of next time you makes a video.
If you’re using a weight were the weight is the cause of the bad technique isn’t giving the right picture of you squat.
The first thing you should do is to film you sets from the side.
Make sure the BB is over midfoot all the time, there are apps that can make lines for that. It will vary a bit up and down but the more straight the line the bette.
You’re a high bar squatter so you might have to start your squat with bending the knees first. And as @BOTSLAYER said narrower stance for high bar.
Try moving the feet in a couple centimeters and maybe point the toes more straight forward.
At the workshop I just attended the main takeaway was everybody has a different squat. There is no right or wrong way, we’re all build different, having different mobility, so we have to squat the way our body feels the best.
Two things that stood out as important:
First and most important was a straight/neutral back, and to keep it straight and not overarched/extended.
Second thing was that the knees should follow the toes.
Depending on build: long femur - short torso a more bend over torso angle. Short femur - long torso a more upright squat.
Yes your knee should not cave in, and it’s something you should be working on. A miniband around the knees during the warmup sets makes you aware of where your knees are. You will not die if the knees cave in during a heavy squat, but work on pushing the knees out.
Lower the weight start doing squat with a 3 second pause in the hole, when starting the lift from the hole do NOT start with a bounce.
you could do tempo squats using 505 tempo 5 second down 0 second pause and 5 second up.
Film the lifts and pay attention that alle reps are equal.
When you have the pattern grooved in, put on weight film it when the form breaks analyse it, if the form breaks at 90 - 95% of you 1rm it’s pretty normal. But you should be able to maintain form up to about 90%
Your front squat seemed pretty legit, look at you stance, how you start the squat, and how you keep your torso here see if you can do some carryover here.
Alright. Reason I filmed from the back is because i dont notice hip shift fron the front or side
Alright
Thanks Mort! Il have a talk to coach about this and lowering the weight with some tempo and pauses work.
Interesting, does high bar share some things with the front squat?
imo, you use a too heavy load for training purposes. that is the biggest error, fix that first and then start to work with the minor flaws. for most of us, the hardest lesson to learn.
How is it too heavy? I just do what I’m told lol. The heaviest back squats I’ve done recently is 150kg×3, which would be like 80-85%
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Todays training
Wow really amazing session
Front squat
100×3 110×3 130×1 150kg ×1 PR and felt good! Bit of knee cave though
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzxGNJelRD3/?igshid=a4drzbmcm5ek
(was not programmed) @bonoboschimp this is ironic lol. It is my first time going off program though, I was supposed to do triples but I just couldnt be bothered.
Axle Push press
55kg×5 65×3 75kg×8 Massive pr more in tank. Leg drive lacking though.
Rear delts machine
4×25 5 second pause at peak contraction every 5 reps. Burnt like crazy 15kg
Single leg extension 3×8 20kg
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You could say that a high bar requires a more upright torso, just like the front squat.
Upright because if you lean with the bar held high the bar will move forward.
The more upright the torso the more you’d initiate the lift with the knees and thereby having the knees further in front of the foot.
Have you tried putting the bar a little lower?
I see. Il try initiate with the knees a bit more!
I have, it’s very hard due to my shoulder mobility
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That was not a great lift, it’s a PR yes, but you’re using way to heavy weight for training purpose.
How about keeping two prs one for max weight and one for max weight with “perfect” form. You’re losing it in the bottom, meaning you are weakest in the bottom of the lift. You are compensating by letting the weight shift forward, letting the knees cave in way to much a slight cave in is okay on max effort lifts. But that was a lot.
Use slight pauses in the bottom.
Try to use a narrower stance, and push the knees out so they’ll follow the toes.
If you want a better squat, lighten the weight, focus on form.
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then work on the mobility, have you tried with a wider grip? thumps over the bar instead of full grip
it’s too heavy because it looks too heavy. knee caving, back rounding, obvious left-right-imbalance, all at the same time, that’s not just some minor technical flaws, it’s simple just too heavy, doesn’t matter that you can do multiple reps. it’s not how many reps you can do it’s how many good reps you can do. save the max outs with bad form for competition, if you do it too often when it doesn’t matter you will just get injured and then you might just not get to the competition. just my 2 cents. and i’m very impressed by your progress btw.
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Wait is this for back squat or front squat lol?
Indeed I have
But if my form was better, none of those would occur? I’m confused now. I hardly ever max out, in fact I haven’t done a proper 1rm on anything in months. I’ve tested some heavier weights sure but never a 1rm, today I 1rm on the front squat but I believe I can hit 160kg in a couple of weeks.
I agree
This doesn’t make sense to me. If you can do 20 reps but the form sucks it’s because your form sucks not because the weights too heavy. Obviously the heavier the% the more bad form can be pronounced is that what you’re saying? But then again how is 70-80% too heavy? You get stronger training mainly in the 60-90% range IMO
Also thanks man! Just have to work hard and anything’s possible
This was for the front squat, but it goes for both.
Lighten the weight to a weight you can do for 3 - 5 triples with near perfect form. when you’ve hammered that weight for a month and it feels easy. Put on more weight and see if you form with that weight hasn’t been better, if it’s good, next session a little more weight, keep at it and when you hit a weight were form is clearly breaking down work on that weight.
Don’t use percentages, use video.
if you squat for 20 reps and the form of the 18 first is bad (for such a set i would allow the last two reps to become slightly unstable without raising an eyebrow) then yes then your form sucks and it’s likely (imo) due to practicing with too heavy weights too often (could of course be beginners ignorance but i think we can rule that out in your case).
practicing/lifting with too heavy weights will trigger compensation patterns (= bad form - sometimes really hard to spot with the eye, you gotta feel it) and doing it often will reinforce these patterns in the cns. thus, when you after having reinforced a bad movement pattern in the cns and you reduce the load then the bad pattern won’t just disappear it will be there also for submaximal weights.
70-80% can be too heavy if you haven’t established good form yet. it should be 70-80% of your good form TM.
speaking on how to know if you use good form or not and how to correct bad form. imo, you got to feel it, and that’s also a case for using lesser weights, when it is heavy imo it is hard to feel it, you just struggle to keep alive through the event. To feel the lift is a more efficient and a safer way to spot bad form than to rely on mirror and video and coaching, though these methods also have value.
my own way of practicing good form with squats is a lot of work with barbell only, and also a lot of work with 8x3, 6x4, 5x5 (setxreps) at my 10-12 RM. most reps then i’m able to feel and i think i use reasonable good form, there will usually be a couple of grinders as well.
Hmmm. I dont do my programming btw my coach does so il have to relay to him that I want to do more technique work
Yes but if you’re new to back squatting like me (2months of back squats) then I am learning the movement, so regardless of heavy weights or light weights the form isnt right.
Technically, because my strength constantly goes up, an old 1rm becomes a tm over the weeks
10 weeks ago my front squat 1rm was 120kg, today I hit 150
It is the opposite with me, notice if my forms off when the weight is heavier, if the weight is light I dont feel any discrepancies as much because its lighter. I’d agree that if it is heavier then because it is heavier it is harder to practice technique, so lighter is better. There is testing and building. I dont believe however that you just do lighter sets for technique all the time, how will you get stronger if you are not pushing yourself?? Obviously better technique =more weight lifted but eventually if you’re not chasing more weight for more reps you’re not going to get stronger, its progressive overload
Master heavy weights for better technique on heavier yes?
treat light weights as if they are heavy and in time you will be able to treat heavy weights as if they are light is how i like to think about it.
yes, it is possible to go like that for a while. but every strength increase with poor form will reinforce the poor movement pattern. for how long? maybe it is worth it? a movement pattern is poor not because it makes us lift lesser weight but because eventually it can be considered to cause pain, injury and even disease.
i agree with @mortdk here, tempered by that short before a competition you might want to bump it up and care less about form.
Lol. Except… this is what I have been doing the last 10 weeks. I dont constantly go heavy
This was the last ten week for example (Front squats)
Week 1
3 sets of 6
85kg
Week 2
4 sets of 5
75,80,85,87kg
Week 3
5 sets of 4
80,82,85,87,90
Week 4
2×3
85kg,100kg
Week 5
3×5
115,115,120kg
Week 6
Banded front squats
3×3 55kg
Week 7
5×3 90,100,110,120,125kg
Week 8
2×2 120,140kg
Week 9 clusters
70,80kg 2 sets
5 reps,10 sec rest. 3reps 10 sec rest, 2 reps (No racking bar)
Week 10
Triples
100,110,120,140kg
Did 100×3,110×3,130×1,150kg×1 (off programme) +30kg pb