Hey all, just looking for a squat form check.
[EDIT] New angle. Last single of the day @ 345. Not happy with my form, need some tips for staying more upright.
Things I noticed myself:
- Slow (because of previous reps/I need to do more rep/speed work)
- Bar path not optimal
- Hips probably came up before chest
My stance is really narrow here (shoulder width) because I’m experimenting. I don’t seem to lose any power between wide/narrow stance, but my torso shifts further forward.
there’s no way anyone can help with your form based on that video. I do have a couple pointers based on what I could see.
-
take 2 or 3 steps back, and keep your feet planted. don’t adjust so much. I take 2 confident steps, and squat.
-
Don’t wait so long with the bar on your back. Do all your mental prep before you unrack the bar. You’re just wasting energy here.
Okay, I’ll try to get a better angle another time.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
there’s no way anyone can help with your form based on that video. I do have a couple pointers based on what I could see.
-
take 2 or 3 steps back, and keep your feet planted. don’t adjust so much. I take 2 confident steps, and squat.
-
Don’t wait so long with the bar on your back. Do all your mental prep before you unrack the bar. You’re just wasting energy here.[/quote]
x2 on this, you need to find a better angle and stop wiggling so much. With each adjustment you are throwing your self off balance and then the energy you waste trying to recover from each adjustment is going to negatively effect you especially when your going for a heavy single that is near max.
[quote]Re.po wrote:
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
there’s no way anyone can help with your form based on that video. I do have a couple pointers based on what I could see.
-
take 2 or 3 steps back, and keep your feet planted. don’t adjust so much. I take 2 confident steps, and squat.
-
Don’t wait so long with the bar on your back. Do all your mental prep before you unrack the bar. You’re just wasting energy here.[/quote]
x2 on this, you need to find a better angle and stop wiggling so much. With each adjustment you are throwing your self off balance and then the energy you waste trying to recover from each adjustment is going to negatively effect you especially when your going for a heavy single that is near max. [/quote]
Sound advice. Use to be a wiggler jiggler myself. I think sometimes it feels like it calms you down and gets you ready. However, now that I don’t do it (wiggling and jiggling), I realize extra movement with weight on your back is exactly as the others have said, an energy sucker.
Gah, I need to put my knees out better.
Tough angle as stated above but there’s one very glaring form error here.
START the way you want to FINISH.
Unrack the weight, step back and assume your “finish position”
-
Knees Locked before descend. You will not get the squat command if you don’t lock your knees
(all the jiggling is party because your not standing strong with the weight) -
Torso upright and tight. You were folding from the start
I do see your hips rising before the bar almost as soon as you start the ascent. Does this happen on lighter weights too?
When you squat low bar it can become a struggle to keep that from happening so if your sticking with that bar position focus on pushing your neck/upper back into the bar (keep shoulders packed when you do it), big chest, and move shoulders up before the hips. The last one is impossible literally but if you think of it that way it can help stop your hips from rising first.
With a low bar, you’ll need to get your back strong so you can maintain the proper angle. Personally, I’ve found building my quads up helps keep my shoulders and hips rising at the same time in the hole. But I have a pretty different squat style so I’m not absolutely sure.
My favorite exercises for helping to teach an upright back are front squats and olympic squats.
If you want to take a more extreme approach to fixing the problem, you might want to abandon your current squat style all together and try a style that looks almost more like an olympic squat. That would mean high bar, WL shoes, and don’t sit back much but sit down. You’ll need strong quads and develop some decent mobility in your hip flexors and ankles to pull it off. Even if you don’t like this style for max lifting you can still incorporate it to help fix your current problem. If you don’t wanna invest in Oly shoes, use a block of wood or some plates to put your heels on.
[quote]HARA wrote:
Tough angle as stated above but there’s one very glaring form error here.
START the way you want to FINISH.
Unrack the weight, step back and assume your “finish position”
-
Knees Locked before descend. You will not get the squat command if you don’t lock your knees
(all the jiggling is party because your not standing strong with the weight) -
Torso upright and tight. You were folding from the start[/quote]
Thanks for the critique. I’ve been trying to fold less, working on thoracic spine strength.
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
I do see your hips rising before the bar almost as soon as you start the ascent. Does this happen on lighter weights too?
When you squat low bar it can become a struggle to keep that from happening so if your sticking with that bar position focus on pushing your neck/upper back into the bar (keep shoulders packed when you do it), big chest, and move shoulders up before the hips. The last one is impossible literally but if you think of it that way it can help stop your hips from rising first.
With a low bar, you’ll need to get your back strong so you can maintain the proper angle. Personally, I’ve found building my quads up helps keep my shoulders and hips rising at the same time in the hole. But I have a pretty different squat style so I’m not absolutely sure.
My favorite exercises for helping to teach an upright back are front squats and olympic squats.
If you want to take a more extreme approach to fixing the problem, you might want to abandon your current squat style all together and try a style that looks almost more like an olympic squat. That would mean high bar, WL shoes, and don’t sit back much but sit down. You’ll need strong quads and develop some decent mobility in your hip flexors and ankles to pull it off. Even if you don’t like this style for max lifting you can still incorporate it to help fix your current problem. If you don’t wanna invest in Oly shoes, use a block of wood or some plates to put your heels on. [/quote]
So, it doesn’t happen really with lighter weights (I can feel the grove better under 90%), but I don’t know at which weight exactly it starts to happen. I was experimenting recently with a narrower style of squat (still with a lower bar, because it’s more comfortable for me now), and I feel like my torso may have been more upright. Next time I squat, I’ll do it narrower and take video. I do work quite a bit on back strength, and I try to focus on staying tight throughout - I think it’s mostly my mid-back, because my traps are pretty strong and my lower back is quite strong as well. I should probably do more rowing throughout the week, though, than I currently do. I think the head back cue might help me as well, but I keep forgetting to think that in the hole when I’m over 90%.
I have gotten away from front squats, and now I will probably re-incorporate them, because I need the core work too.
I have WL shoes, and I used to squat high-bar, but I really liked the way PL squats felt when I switched to them and they allowed me to use more weight (which led to greater gains). It’s been a bitch trying to find the form that is best for me, though, while still progressing and adding weight.
Thank you for the critique, I definitely have added some ideas to my list of things to do. When I squat again in a couple days, I’ll try to narrow my stance a bit and see it it helps. I’m gonna throw front squats into my rotation, and so some more back/quad/standing ab work.
You could just focus on sitting down more and not back as much too instead of going narrower. Just whatever’s more comfortable and lets you squat more in the long run.
What I like so much about front squats is that if you do what you did in the video, it’s almost a promise you won’t complete the lift because you’ll dump the bar.