Here is the video
Do you not see how imbalanced your squat movement is? Look at the video you shoot at your back.
Drop the weight by 50% or more and do paused squats.
Learn how to actually get into the hole and stay there while maintaining tension in your leg and core. Paused squats are tremendously useful for a reason- they force you to maintain tightness and learn how it feels to stay tight all throughout the movement. Once you get used to this, then doing a controlled drop and exploding up by using the stretch reflex becomes easy.
Elbows go “down” under the bar more in a high-bar squat.
This is a low-bar squat. Your elbows should not be under the bar for a low-bar squat. That would put far too much stress on them, unlike in the high-bar where the bar is sitting higher on the traps and gives a better angle for the elbows to be underneath without them absorbing all the stress. The cue “elbows up” makes you think about STAYING TIGHT up top. Chest is OUT and elbows UP makes you keep it all tight up there for the “shelf” to lock the bar in place so it doesn’t roll down your back.
And what magick says about overall tightness is important. You look kinda loose and wiggly. Need better overall tightness, and perhaps his suggestion might help you understand the “feel” of it.
I’ll try out some paused squats the next time I go to the gym. How long should the pause be?
OP, not many people will argue with Mark Rippetoe’s coaching on the squat.
A single expert source = no confusion.
My opinion if you want to squat big then eat big!
[quote]Jointe1992 wrote:
I’ll try out some paused squats the next time I go to the gym. How long should the pause be? [/quote]
2-3 seconds.
Or, ideally, long enough for you to sit and feel the weight on your back and what the muscles are doing.
Rather than start a new thread, I want to see if anyone can toss me some advice for an issue I’ve been having recently with my (high-bar) back squat.
For the last 3-4 months, I have only been doing front squats, since I tend to feel those better in my quads, and it keeps my back more erect. I’m 6’2" and pretty lanky, so the front squat helped a lot to target my quads and allow me to go super deep, safely. I was working with ~185-200 for work sets of 3-5 with solid form and depth, for reference.
I just started CT’s Indigo Strength program this week, and it has back squat, bench, and DL M,T,Th,F as HFSW/Warm-up stuff (plus quad day on T, and dead day on F). The HFSW says to work with non-maximal loads, so I’ve been doing sets of 6 with 175, which shouldn’t be near maximal for me. I’ll start the set with some paused squats in the hole before doing the HFSW.
What I’m noticing is that I start to get some severe hip/pelvic “drift” as I start the ascent. It’s like my waist/hips shift to the right about 3-6", and looks and feels quite awkward. I’ve played with stance and foot placement, and my knees aren’t caving in or anything, its like my hips are just rotating. It’s quite frustrating, since 175 isn’t that heavy for me, but as I get more off-centered, it starts to get quite awkward. Plus, I don’t want to injure anything, obviously.
Is this the sign of a weak muscle or muscle group? Is it form/stance/foot related? Is it just too heavy?
I’ve started doing extra warm-up sets with 135, pausing in the hole and whatnot, and it doesn’t seem to help. The “drift” only seems to occur at 175+. Front squat form is still fine. Seems weird to me that it’d be too heavy, given what my front squat and leg press strength is.
Thanks for any help.
Muscle imbalance. With that much of a drift I wouldn’t continue to squat for hypertrophy until it is attended to.
The problem is there is a slew of factors that could cause that.
Improper weight distribution, tight gracilis/vastus medialis on your right leg, weak IT band, erector spinae imbalance, improper scapular retraction, limited flexibility of your left hip, overall mobility issues, etc.
Seek out a coach, there’s only so much words that can help you here.
But to get you started, your left hip is most likely tighter than your right hip. And you most likely push off your right foot harder than you do on your left. Look to increasing the dynamic angle of your left hip utilizing lunges/bulgarian split squats/step ups. Use the aforementioned exercises to note differences between right and left hip mobility. And if you can afford it, seek an evaluation from a chiropractor to check for sublaxation. Last thing you want is a herniated disk… and a drifting hip during a loaded squat is the quickest way to get it.
[quote]Apothecary wrote:
What I’m noticing is that I start to get some severe hip/pelvic “drift” as I start the ascent. It’s like my waist/hips shift to the right about 3-6", and looks and feels quite awkward. I’ve played with stance and foot placement, and my knees aren’t caving in or anything, its like my hips are just rotating. It’s quite frustrating, since 175 isn’t that heavy for me, but as I get more off-centered, it starts to get quite awkward. Plus, I don’t want to injure anything, obviously.
Is this the sign of a weak muscle or muscle group? Is it form/stance/foot related? Is it just too heavy?[/quote]
If I understand the issue correctly, it sounds a lot like what happens to me.
I have tighter muscles on my left hip/general area, and as such heavy narrow-stance squats make me rely heavily on my right side. As such, my left side is probably weaker due to the tightness that causes me to use more of my right leg to push up than my left. I “fixed” it by going with a wider stance and trying to maintain knowledge and mind over it all the time.
Just go heavy enough till the issue pops up, then force your body to work properly. It’ll probably hurt real bad on the weaker side (mine does), but it’s getting better.
Thanks both. The program I started last week has me doing some unilateral leg work, so that and a slightly wider stance should help (as well as dropping weight a bit). Also doing extensive foam rolling at night and trying to stretch far more often.
I think it’s a pretty accurate guess, as I am very right-leg dominant. Playing various sports focusing on kicking, as well as using the right leg as lead off for sprinting surely helped to contribute to this. Hopefully can get the left leg up to speed.
Hello again, I’ve recorded some videos. I’ve increased my bar speed and tried to stay more tight in the bottom of the squat, however I would like your opinion on if it looks more stable now.
Something I also noticed is that in the bottom position the bar is uneven, you can clearly see that my right elbow tends to position itself more underneath the bar. I’ve had shoulder issues in the past and back then I noticed I was not as flexible in my right shoulder as in my left.
Looking closer it looks like I’m pushing more from my left leg, this is probably to compensate for the bar being slightly lower on the opposite side. Or could this just be an illusion from a slightly off camera angle?
In the second video I’ll post I’ve set the last rep to be in slow motion so that it’s easier to study.
When this happens it doesn’t feel strange or wrong, I don’t even notice it. Could trying to get the elbows more underneath the bar (in this case the left elbow) fix this? I get the feeling that if i try to push the elbows more upwards my shoulders will collapse.
I’ve seen some people move their elbows forward during the descent, and moving them back on the ascent. Could this be something to try since my elbows look fine at the top position?
I also notice that my hips sometimes rise to quick, what can I do to prevent this? Is it just to focus on keeping tight?
And would you say my bar speed and stability has improved? I tried some paused squats and I felt that I can’t go as low. If I just hit parallel I can maintain tightness.
Here is the second video, with slow motion on the last set.
Number one… kudos to you for using a narrow stance with your long legs. That takes guts.
With that said, perhaps try a wider stance with your toes pointing out further. ( as most powerlifters squat )
Your hips… still come up too soon. What I mean by that is that your shoulders (or entire torso) should move in conjunction with your hips. What we see in your squat is that the butt lifts first, and then the rest of the torso follows. I suspect your abs are weak… which in turn propagates the wobbly hips from improper firing. You see, your abs are the synergist to spine stability in the squat. So if the ab strength isn’t there, the lower back, erector spinae, and hips can’t perform as they should.
And very important… when I say abs, I do not mean solely the rectus abdominus… so no need to do 100 crunches. Rather, you should focus on your transverse abdominus (please google to save both of us time if you don’t know). Proper planks… conventional and holding up the push up position should do the trick. But please, plank properly. If you feel even a hint of lower back discomfort during the plank, you aren’t putting enough emphasis on the belly… Hence the lumbar spine will take all the damage.
Cliffnotes:
lower weight
try wider stance
mindfully clench abs
work in planks into routine
And as a side note… DO NOT worry about your 1RM going down while you work out the chinks in your armor. Simply fortifying your weak points WILL, absolutely will help you blow past your current 1RM and beyond.
I agree…first thing I notice is that your hips are rising ahead of your shoulders. They should be in sync with one another.
I’m an older guy (53) but can offer this bit of advice from experience. Training is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Often, we’re too eager to make leaps and bounds in how much we lift, whether it’s to feed our own egos or to be as strong as someone else, while sacrificing form and putting ourselves at risk for injury later on in life.
There are alot of “cookie cutter” programs out there, while effective, don’t take into account individual differences. Often I read things like “add 5 pounds every week” or you’re not doing it right. Sometimes smaller increments, even two pounds a week or per workout (whatever you can handle) is better than trying to make leaps and bounds that aren’t possible for everyone. Get some fractional plates. Again training is a marathon and not a sprint.
Although squats, deads and overhead presses do strengthen the core, back extensions and ab work can be added which can help your squat form.
What’s the rush? Big numbers are good and result in growth, but you have alot of years of training ahead of you.
Hello and sorry for the late response, busy week.
I recorded some videos today during my squats and from what i could tell by watching them during rest between sets it looks better, I’m focusing on keeping my abs tight so that the hips don’t shoot up. I’ve also added planks into my routine which I do after I’ve completed the lifts. Forgot to do them two times, guess I’m not used to it yet.
I also seem more stable in the bottom position of the squat, if you would like I could upload a video for you.
TKDWarrior:
I’m not adding weight as frequently as I did when I started working out 4 months ago, guessing the “newbie gains” are slowing down. I’m fine with that, however I don’t like stalling (who does?). At my gym I have 1,25kg plates or ~3lbs if you will. I could get some smaller but from what I understand those are quite expensive.
I’m not trying to rush anything, it will like you say probably take some time to squat 400 lbs. But I’m aiming to squat 300 lbs by early summer. I don’t know how slow my gains will be compared to when I begun, would you say 350 lbs is doable until autumn?
Wow, if for any reason you missed this article, this guys breaks down everything I was saying… just better.
Vids are always cool.
And as TKDwarrior, what’s the reason you’re rushing to hit 350lbs in autumn? Lifting meet? A bet? Ego? Personal satisfaction?
Haven’t read that article, will have a look at it later.
I would say it’s for personal satisfaction, I’m just setting goals for myself so that I have something to work towards. Not sure if 350 by autumn is a realistic goal however. I’m guessing I won’t have near linear progress like when I started out.
I’m going to the gym now, I’ll see if I can record something for you guys.
Also, Magick mentioned earlier that my squats where imbalanced, could someone clarify what he meant by that? I’ve been working on staying tight at the bottom.
Also, the bar is uneven on my back when squatting. If you look at my right elbow you can see that it is aligning with my torso on the descent. What could be causing this? I don’t notice it when I’m squatting.
[quote]Jointe1992 wrote:
Also, Magick mentioned earlier that my squats where imbalanced, could someone clarify what he meant by that? I’ve been working on staying tight at the bottom.
Also, the bar is uneven on my back when squatting. If you look at my right elbow you can see that it is aligning with my torso on the descent. What could be causing this? I don’t notice it when I’m squatting. [/quote]
You aren’t setting the bar evenly on your back to start.
The reason it is more pronounced at the bottom is that you are tightening up as you get to the bottom and ready to come up.
If you were getting tight when you took the bar off the rack, like you are supposed to, then you’d see the unevenness of the bar right away. You seem to be too loose. It was worse in the first vid, but it’s still there. When the weight actually gets heavy, you are not going to be able to get away with being loose and then tightening it up as you start your ascent.
Get tight before you lift the bar off. Set the bar evenly. And stay tight all the way until you have the bar racked and are done.