[quote]KBCThird wrote:
You’re so much frigging stronger than me I feel ridiculous giving you advice. But that being said, its pretty clear that your upper back is caving over in the hole. It’s possible that this is a muscular issue, but I think it’s probably a technical one. What I would think about if I were you, is as soon as you hit the hole and begin the transition to the upwards phase of the lift, 1) force your elbows under teh bar and 2) push your head BACK (not up) into the bar.
Especially #1; take a look at the third rep of the 545 adn the second of the 555. Your elbows are actually the first body part to move, and they’re going up, not underneath the bar. Even if you just mimic the action while youre sitting at the computer you can see how that sort of forces your shoulders into rounding over. Dont take this the wrong way, but I am impressed that you doubled 555 with form like that. I honestly believe that if you are able to fix this it’ll be a big break through for you.
[/quote]
I have tried to concentrate on driving my head back, as you suggested, without much success. It is hard for me to think of things like this when I have a lot of weight on the bar. When you say my elbows are going up instead of underneath, do you mean they are flaring back? This is likely a flexibility issue, as I am still getting used to holding the bar closer for squats.
[quote]TunaMonkey wrote:
I am the world’s least flexible person and my hips always feel tight, especially during warmups (ironically, 135 hurts more than 600!). What kind of hip stretches do you do?
[/quote]
Your hip flexors are likely the biggest culprit, but you will want to stretch everything as it is all related.
Basically, I’d do everything outlined here, with extra emphasis on the hip flexor stretch.
I can appreciate the advice you have been given so far, but I would also ask you to question if that is just your squatting style.
I think we sometimes get caught up in the idea that there is a right way to do things, however, if you ever watch steve goggins squat, he looks a lot like you do.
I have seen him “good morning” over 1000lbs in the squat.
Check out this link:
I hope this helps.[/quote]
I had a training session a few months back with a renowned powerlifter who told me the exact same thing about Steve Goggins!
[quote]tedro wrote:
I basically agree with everything KBC has said, except it looks to me like your hips are breaking ever so slightly before your knees, which is good. You seem to be sitting back and down fine.
I think your stance width looks fine, but it can be hard to judge this in videos.
The biggest thing I think you should work on is your hand/elbow placement. You definitely need to get your elbows more underneath the bar, and if you can you may want to bring your hands in closer. A couple suggestions that may help this are to not wrap your thumbs around the bar and to hold the bar lower on your palm. Your wrists almost look hyper-extended, which in many cases can lead to your elbows pointing back and not down, depending on your flexibility.
One more basic pointer that I can’t tell off of the video is to make sure that you are retracting your scapulae, and keeping them back throughout the lift.
I also agree somewhat with MikeShank. Sometimes your bodies leverages will dictate your form, and you need to keep in mind that that is a lot of weight you are moving. Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement.
Finally, increasing your hip flexibility may help a bit, too.[/quote]
The grip, as I mentioned, is still something I am working on. At the moment, that is as close as a can physically hold the bar while keeping it that low on my back. I will try the thumbless grip next time, thanks for the comments tedro!
-move stance in a little bit
-use a shoe with a slight heel
as noted before, use thumbless grip
-your reps get better as you go, which is also as you drop a bit quicker into the hole. Control until 30-45 degrees above parallel, drop into hole and pop out.
Learn facing the wall squat to loosen hips.
-Get in a pool in about slightly above waist deep water. Lower yourself in squat, you will get to about parallel and stop, then pull yourself down into squat with hip flexors.
-Stretch hip flexors BEFORE SQUATTING by doing lunges. stretch with forward foot on bench, use PNF technique on back leg.
I’ll start by saying you’re squatting more than me, so disregard my $0.02 if you want, but I think whoever it was that mentioned squatting down (aka letting your knees come forward a bit) and not just sitting back hit the nail on the head.
Dude, you get bonus points for the killer music you were playing in the vid. Nothing like good thrash metal by (formerly) Mighty Metallica.
I will preface this by saying my max is only 500 or so, but I notice your upper back caving in as well. I’m a firm believer that you should be “there” in terms of max strength before you start giving advice to others, so I’m not sure I’m qualified to help you. However, KBCThird, ultimatethor, and Hanley all had great posts. I agree with all of them. I’m having the same problem as you currently, in that I am having trouble finding that sweet spot to keep me upright.
I have noticed for myself that the more I slam my elbows down and forward and the more I try and slam my head back out of the hole, the less of a problem this is. I have not tried squatting both back and down yet, although I’ve read that and think it’s a possibility. I’m trying to fix elbow and head stuff first. My upper back caves over, and I don’t think it is a muscular thing because it’s pretty damn strong. I have incorporated heavy front squats as a way to train myself to keep my torso more upright. Seems to be helping, but it’s too early to tell for sure.
-move stance in a little bit
-use a shoe with a slight heel
as noted before, use thumbless grip
-your reps get better as you go, which is also as you drop a bit quicker into the hole. Control until 30-45 degrees above parallel, drop into hole and pop out.
Learn facing the wall squat to loosen hips.
-Get in a pool in about slightly above waist deep water. Lower yourself in squat, you will get to about parallel and stop, then pull yourself down into squat with hip flexors.
-Stretch hip flexors BEFORE SQUATTING by doing lunges. stretch with forward foot on bench, use PNF technique on back leg.
Good luck[/quote]
EXACTLY what he said. Pool work helped my general flexibility a TON. I discovered this by accident going swimming with my daughters twice a week. Just walking around in the pool made my hips feel “loose”.
-move stance in a little bit
-use a shoe with a slight heel
as noted before, use thumbless grip
-your reps get better as you go, which is also as you drop a bit quicker into the hole. Control until 30-45 degrees above parallel, drop into hole and pop out.
Learn facing the wall squat to loosen hips.
-Get in a pool in about slightly above waist deep water. Lower yourself in squat, you will get to about parallel and stop, then pull yourself down into squat with hip flexors.
-Stretch hip flexors BEFORE SQUATTING by doing lunges. stretch with forward foot on bench, use PNF technique on back leg.
TunaMonkey,
I can’t really give you advice beings as you do alot more than me and obviously have more USAPL experience than me, but watching your vids popped a couple questions into my head. Does your elbows ever hit your thighs on your squats? cause i know that is illegal in competition, and due to your back bendage, do you think that actually has a negative effect on getting whites by the side judges? Cause I thought at first you werent hitting that USAPL depth cause your ass was almost even with your back, but watching the knee angle i saw it the second time, I dunno just something i was wondering because that would be horse shit to be gettin 2 reds on a lift that shoulda been good
[quote]Pipes06 wrote:
TunaMonkey,
I can’t really give you advice beings as you do alot more than me and obviously have more USAPL experience than me, but watching your vids popped a couple questions into my head. Does your elbows ever hit your thighs on your squats? cause i know that is illegal in competition, and due to your back bendage, do you think that actually has a negative effect on getting whites by the side judges? Cause I thought at first you werent hitting that USAPL depth cause your ass was almost even with your back, but watching the knee angle i saw it the second time, I dunno just something i was wondering because that would be horse shit to be gettin 2 reds on a lift that shoulda been good[/quote]
Getting a good lift redlighted in the USAPL on overly-strict judging? Why that would NEVER happen. [/sarcasm]
[quote]TunaMonkey wrote:
MikeShank wrote:
Hi Tuna Monkey,
I can appreciate the advice you have been given so far, but I would also ask you to question if that is just your squatting style.
I think we sometimes get caught up in the idea that there is a right way to do things, however, if you ever watch steve goggins squat, he looks a lot like you do.
I have seen him “good morning” over 1000lbs in the squat.
Check out this link:
I hope this helps.
I had a training session a few months back with a renowned powerlifter who told me the exact same thing about Steve Goggins!
[/quote]
I am glad to hear this. I really hope what I said helped. Please keep us updated with your progress!
Please take a look at this article by Donny Thompson, who is no slouch himself!
Check out #2. It should give you something to think about!
Rule #2 �?? Get a stance
Find what stance works for you. This takes a long time and will take some experimentation. Examine your squatting style and see what top lifter is similar. What stance do they use? Remember not everyone can squat like Chuck Vogelpohl or Steve Goggins. They have perfected their form and technique to suit them. You must do the same. Many people have jumped on the �??wider is better�?? bandwagon when some people need to squat a little bit narrower. Everyone is built differently and has different strengths. It�??s your job to find yours
[quote]Pipes06 wrote:
TunaMonkey,
I can’t really give you advice beings as you do alot more than me and obviously have more USAPL experience than me, but watching your vids popped a couple questions into my head. Does your elbows ever hit your thighs on your squats? cause i know that is illegal in competition, and due to your back bendage, do you think that actually has a negative effect on getting whites by the side judges? Cause I thought at first you werent hitting that USAPL depth cause your ass was almost even with your back, but watching the knee angle i saw it the second time, I dunno just something i was wondering because that would be horse shit to be gettin 2 reds on a lift that shoulda been good[/quote]
I have never gotten red-lighted for this transgression; just red lights for depth, not locking out, being part Italian, and wearing an ugly t-shirt.
