It’s still way below parallel, and you’re still dive bombing the descent. If you can lift more by going extra deep (due to more of a stretch reflex) then that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but they way you drop into the hole doesn’t look like you are maintaining tension in anything. There are some people who can squat big weights like that, but they aren’t the sort of people who would be posting form check videos on an internet forum. Slow down and control the weight the whole way down, that alone might limit your depth too.
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Ya I might just stop messing with it and just try to stay tighter and stop bombing them. Maybe start finding more guys that squat this way and watch them a little
So a few weeks later I have found a lower bar position and hip movement that finally feels right. This new way feels way more stable and controlled except 1 thing really sucks. The weight of the bar on my back like really hurts… For example I feel like I have like 10 reps left in me but I have to rack it after 3 reps because it really gets unbearable. Not going to give up I just hope this gets better though
Also my abs feel wayy tighter in this low bar idk what to think of that yet
You probably just have to get used to it, but a video would help.
I can’t say I’ve ever unracked a bar and it hurt.
Here are a couple videos 1 back 1 side view. Looks normal to me but maybe I’m missing something.
The bar is about 3 inches lower than I used to have it. Feels more efficient all around except the digging into my back/delts/traps hurts like hell
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-7ObYg3-F/?igshid=fudyiomwri0l
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-6xRqgvFd/?igshid=io1ubue9mgby
To my (admittedly nonexpert) eye, it looks like you have some serious butt wink going on. As someone who has undergone a microdiscectomy for a herniated disc, I would encourage you to stop that ASAP. Herniated discs really, really, REALLY suck. As others may have suggested already, if you need to, start over with an unloaded bar and learn to squat with a solid lumbar spine and more reasonable depth, then gradually load back up. I admire you for not doing half-ass quarter squats and trying to pass them off as real squats, but going so deep that you are going into very noticeable lumbar flexion is asking for trouble.
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You are rounding your back so that you can squat deeper. Stop doing that unless you want a back injury. Keep you back neutral, or slightly extended, and go as deep as you can without letting it change position.
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Your not setting your back properly. Try to bend the bar. Your also fidgety, constantly tweaking your feet and head position. Pick a point in front of you and don’t look away until your done. Where your looking up and then down your body follows.
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Hey man, looking at the 5x5 video, you look like you’re in a hurry to get the reps and get the bar off your back. Dialing back the weight is the right move. Your stance looks fine to me, but it looks like your knees are sliding forward and you’re not holding much, if any, of the weight in your hips and back.
Drop the weight to an empty bar and focus on a controlled descent (exactly like what Chris and the others said), and focus on using your legs, hips, and back together to support and move the weight. I don’t know that you need to widen your stance, and would advise against it if it hurts your hips. Use video to see that you’re staying tight and not slamming out of the hole. My guess is that you should see significant muscle/strength improvement in your posterior chain if you do this right and hold yourself accountable.
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A herniated disk is my worst fear! The weird thing is I actually never feel pain in my back or anywhere really so I never thought I had a problem until some people mentioned it.
It’s weird don’t intentionally try to push lower but I actually feel pretty comfortable at the bottom line this… Recently tried to stop right before the low back drops in, and it gassed me out and I felt pain in my hips after the workout.
I just don’t know anymore. I have been squatting this way for years because I didn’t have internet or good books to learn this stuff when I first started. I have been working on this for weeks now and just feel like I’m getting nowhere. Trying different stuff and still nothing feels right. This is really starting to suck.
Maybe I should try elevated heals?
I’m not trying to make excuses or anything but I have to be honest this really sucks. I have been doing this squat for like 4 years now so this is much more difficult than I thought would be. I’m just trying to stay positive though
I really appreciate everyone’s input and patience. I didn’t expect this many responses.
I tried widening the stance but I think I am going to stick with a narrower one at this point. I’m not even worried about raising depth anymore either just want to be safe and not bend my lower back.
At this point moving forward I want to stop trying to change a bunch of stuff for now and maybe try to just work on the “butt wink” I might try two things for that 1.elevated heals and 2. Mobility
But I still agree with what you guys are saying about slower decent and dropping the weight lower. Im still working on those parts foresure. I just don’t want to keep switching stances and bar positions it got kind of painful in the hips and knees and back elbows lol (pretty much all my joints hurt when i tried low bar /hamstring/ posterior dominant squats.) After experimenting with that style Im now shooting more towards an Olympic high bar squat because it’s closer to how it already is and don’t have to change as much in the mechanical end and there less painful.
The problem is that you are trying all kinds of different things so you aren’t able to adjust to anything. Any change in technique is likely to feel weird at first. The main thing that you absolutely need to change is to stop rounding your back, or soon enough you won’t be squatting at all. Fix that first, and then make other small, gradual adjustments. Changing shoes and this and that all at the same time is going to complicate things further.
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So I think I just can’t squat and im going to have to just ditch it and change my goals. I have been trying alot of bodyweight squats on video and I realized I cannot even come close to parallel without rounding my lower back and and rounding my hips under. The only way I have achieved this is by pushing my hips really far back but essentially folding over.
After noticing this I did some mobility tests that showed the same results
This also explains why I always had a problem with leg press. I never understood why when I leg press I couldn’t hit 90 degrees without my hips rolling up. The only way I could leg press was with my feet super high. (Which basically mimics having my hips very far back)
Find a competent PT that specializes in sports/athletes.
And you could be right, I’d still find a specialist.
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Hey man, you may truly have a limitation that makes squatting without butt wink impossible for you (I can’t say for sure - not a PT), but I don’t know that you’ve been working at it for long enough to give up on it. It takes a long time to make positive changes. I’d suggest actually dropping to an empty bar and posting videos here. There’s a lot of help you can get if you manage your frustration and keep an open mind. I’ve been there and know it sucks ass, but I also know that it’s worth it when you finally scrote your way through a struggle like that.
Yeah, you can get big and strong without squatting, but it ain’t the easiest road to travel.
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I don’t think that is the case at all, you are going way below parallel but allowing your back to round in the process. Just go as deep as you can without any change in spinal position (this will require bracing, which you definitely need to work on) and if that means you don’t hit depth for now then so be it, work on hip mobility and eventually you will be squatting to depth without butt wink or rounding.
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Right that’s probably the only true way to know. I’m almost considering paying g a coach or finding a seminar or something.
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Why just “almost” considering it?
Assuming that you can afford a PT-session, a coach, or a seminar, then you either want to solve this problem or you do not. The way you write makes me believe that squatting isn’t that important to you and that’s fine, I guess, but I’m not sure what you expect of us as a community to do for you in that regard.
You’ve been given some pointers already, but I don’t think that you have tried it all, and @chris_ottawa is right that you are trying too many different things too quickly to really get in the groove anyway.
With your depth, and tendency to utilise the strength reflex maybe the low bar powerlifting style just isn’t for you. Your squatting videos remind me more of how Clarence Kennedy squats than anything else. But, I agree with what others have written. Slow it down, and use an external cue for when you’ve hit depth.
Like, find a box or a bench that you can sit back onto. Then, record yourself with the bar, and your warm-up sets. Look at the videos yourself during the session. Does your butt wink even during your bar warm-up sets? And approach this like proper detective work. Are you bracing? Are you bracing hard? Are you spreading the floor? Twisting your feet? Is your back tight?
And again, as others have mentioned, don’t scuff around with your feet, work on a proper set-up with as little energy leakage as possible.
Squatting right, and squatting heavy, is never going to be comfortable.
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I am doing this now as I fix my squat. This was definitely a problem before though I would let everything go loose in the bottom I realize now that was an issue
I don’t mean to ramble but I want to sum things up real quick. I have had about 8 squat sessions since the original post (2x a week 4 weeks) so that has been quite a bit of time to try stuff. And just to clarify, alot of the different foot positions and back angles I tried originally where done with a broomstick or just bodyweight on video lol. Then would try to chose the most reasonable position and do it the next day with weight at the gym… I really tried to feel things out in like a hundred different ways even using a chair as a box squat at times to balance (at home with no weight)… This is when I noticed that my lower back rounds about half way to parallel even with no weight on my back → then I did some mobility tests I found online
And realized I just suck
So it all comes down to this. Honestly when it’s not the end of the world if I don’t squat. At the end of the day I just like to be in the gym making progress on something anything really. Before this post I actually paid for a powerlifting program with alot of squats and just thought I would do a little form check before I mess myself up. Turns out my squats suck so I didn’t start the program and wasted money on that for now.
As for this I came here to this forum for one thing, to see if I was squatting properly and safely. The conclusion is no I am not… So knowing this I know changes have to be made, only I can decide how to do this. I wasn’t expecting many solutions but I appreciate the pointers I did get.
Also on this point I did not honestly think it was going to be this hard to fix my form. I thought I could just tweak a few things and be good. I turns out 4 weeks later this is really a pain in the dick and I have to consider if it is worth investing more time into because although I do take lifting serious I don’t try to compete or anything I just enjoy feeling strong and feeling jacked so idk
Sorry for such a long response but I just want to clarify all this stuff in one comment since the thread is growing I understand if nobody wants to read all this lol