Squat Form Check

[Aaron_37]

Hey all,

So I finally hit one of my goals, which was 5x5 bodyweight squats to a reasonable depth. I figure it's probably time for a form check, so I recorded myself in the gym yesterday. Can't be too careful... I had some pretty serious back/knee issues growing up, but doing okay now. There are a couple crappy reps in there, but I figure it's smarter to include those than to not. Thanks for your time,

Aaron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSnCbS__EgU

[Adonis13]

if you were going heavier id be worried about your lower back but those are nice and deep. just keep ur head up and make sure ur comfortable in the hole ur pressing from

[Jazzy]

the same here!^^ Good deep and good form, but there a some reps that you tend to round your back..it's okay because it's not a really rounded back..But put attention to this!^^

[natenator]

slow down on the descent and explode up on the positive. It'll save your knees doing down as fast as you are and invoke more muscle fibers into firing.

[tiramisu]

Get some decent shoes. Chucks are cheap and they'll give you stability. Running shoes are too mushy. Watch the right foot. You pushing are from the toe and have a pretty solid ankle wobble. It's either the shoes or a wobbly knee. The heel lift on the right foot is pretty consistent.

I can't know for sure from the camera angle but it looks like your feet are at a wide angle outward, almost like you widened your stance with your toes but not with your heels. You might want try moving your heels out a little, leaving your toes where they are (more neutral foot position) and see if this helps you keep your feet on the ground while sitting back on the bottom of the squat.

... and concentrate on push your knees outward to engage the adductors to get rid of the wobble in your right ankle. Knees should track over the toes. Can't see this in the video

... and something most of us need to learn. Hip drive (rather than) - I should say in combination with back lift to bring the body upright. You need to engage your ass to stand up straight rather than trying to do it with only your back. This is my BIG technical weakness.

http://www.mensgarage.com/fitness/exercises/why-hip-drive-is-important-for-squats/
The student isn't coordinating the movement very well but if you watch his squat towards the end he is closer to using both his ass and his back rather than just the back.

[natenator]

is this at the OAC?

[PdH]

You seem to be rushing at the beginning. Take your time and get the bar planted on your mid traps and your feet planted good and stable. Also take time to get focused before your first rep. Find a place high on the wall in front of you and don't take your eyes off it. Good depth BTW. :)

[tiramisu]

The warmup set and the last set for reps are pretty good examples of perfect squatting.

Ed Coan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UxaJRuTtDY

[Talo]

All good advice.

Learn to sit back ( use a box if you have to ) Chest up / ass out is what you are trying to do .

Take your elbows and push them towards ( or under ) the bar . This will help keep your upper body tighter - Your chest will come up and your traps will crush together.

STAY TIGHT !

As Tiramisu mentioned get some better shoes - I would rather see you squat bare foot than in some gel sole's.

[Andre Gregoire]

I also recommend the Chucks your Squats will feel so much better and I agree you should slow down the negative like Nate said. It won't be harder just slower.

Besides that I think there is such a thing as going to deep, in the vid your pelvis tilts inward slightly at the very bottom, you will get hurt doing that once the weights get really heavy.

Try stopping just before this "butt wink" go like 75% of ass to grass....

For years, heck over a decade, I did ass to the grass squats and my legs are one of my best bodyparts so I never wanted to change that but over the last few years I have started having lower back pain after squatting.

My training partner and I analyzed my form and we found that at the very bottom my pelvis was tilting forward and knees tilting in slightly. We also noticed that I was sitting at the bottom before exploding back up.

I realize that these problems might be occurring because of tight hamstrings, calves and adductor's but the point is there is such a thing as too low.

Don't let your pelvis tilt forward and don't sit there. When you sit there you relax the spine for a moment and bam that is when you can get hurt.

It was hard mentally to stop full squatting because I had always believed that Full 20 rep Squats were the only way to get big legs and turns out they are not the only way.

Now I do 3/4 of a full Squat and it works fine.

[Talo]

I think there is such a thing as going to deep,

I agree , but some on here would strongly disagree.

[tiramisu]

He could also get rid of the butt wink by narrowiing the stance, holding the bar higher on his back and dropping the weight OR strengthening his hip flexors. Olympic Squat, Bodybuilding Squat, Powerlifting Squat. I tend towards something halfway between the bodybuilding/powerlifting squat.

Nonetheless I spent a week trying to figure out how to put my pants on from a similar technique error at closer to a 1RM. The little stabilizer muscles in the back get pretty unhappy if you wiggle your hips under load.

...in the video it's just a hint of a wiggle. A video of sets of triples closer to the op's 1rm would probably point out a few more subtle strength/technique issues. It's usually informative to see where form starts to break down.

[Aaron_37]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback!


if you were going heavier id be worried about your lower back but those are nice and deep. just keep ur head up and make sure ur comfortable in the hole ur pressing from

Roger that... I know how tough that can be, but I'll keep it in mind.


the same here!^^ Good deep and good form, but there a some reps that you tend to round your back..it's okay because it's not a really rounded back..But put attention to this!^^

Yeah... I was kinda wondering about it... pretty tricky.


slow down on the descent and explode up on the positive. It'll save your knees doing down as fast as you are and invoke more muscle fibers into firing.

Roger that... thanks Nate!


Get some decent shoes. Chucks are cheap and they'll give you stability. Running shoes are too mushy. Watch the right foot. You pushing are from the toe and have a pretty solid ankle wobble. It's either the shoes or a wobbly knee. The heel lift on the right foot is pretty consistent.

I can't know for sure from the camera angle but it looks like your feet are at a wide angle outward, almost like you widened your stance with your toes but not with your heels. You might want try moving your heels out a little, leaving your toes where they are (more neutral foot position) and see if this helps you keep your feet on the ground while sitting back on the bottom of the squat.

... and concentrate on push your knees outward to engage the adductors to get rid of the wobble in your right ankle. Knees should track over the toes. Can't see this in the video

... and something most of us need to learn. Hip drive (rather than) - I should say in combination with back lift to bring the body upright. You need to engage your ass to stand up straight rather than trying to do it with only your back. This is my BIG technical weakness.

http://www.mensgarage.com/fitness/exercises/why-hip-drive-is-important-for-squats/
The student isn't coordinating the movement very well but if you watch his squat towards the end he is closer to using both his ass and his back rather than just the back.

I read about this in another one of your posts... I'll definitely keep in mind, bro. As for the shoes... I can't... I'm a 19EEEE. I wear 22D's in place of them when I can't find them. My gyms also don't permit barefoot squatting. Any other ideas?

I do have a fairly "toe out" foot angle because I find it gives me the greatest amount of stability with my current bar and foot stance. When I go closer to straight, the shoes make it difficult not to buckle or fail.


is this at the OAC?

University of Victoria... I'm home for the summer. I lift at Carleton's gym 8 months a year though. Not sure what OAC is... I presume it's in Ottawa though.



You seem to be rushing at the beginning. Take your time and get the bar planted on your mid traps and your feet planted good and stable. Also take time to get focused before your first rep. Find a place high on the wall in front of you and don't take your eyes off it. Good depth BTW. :)

Thanks PdH - good advice. I did cut out my pre-bar "getinthezone" time, but I'll definitely slow it down a little once I'm under the bar.


The warmup set and the last set for reps are pretty good examples of perfect squatting.

Ed Coan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UxaJRuTtDY

Thanks bro, I really appreciate the solid feedback.


All good advice.

Learn to sit back ( use a box if you have to ) Chest up / ass out is what you are trying to do .

Take your elbows and push them towards ( or under ) the bar . This will help keep your upper body tighter - Your chest will come up and your traps will crush together.

STAY TIGHT !

As Tiramisu mentioned get some better shoes - I would rather see you squat bare foot than in some gel sole's.

Perfect... I was hoping someone would help out with the upper body tightness issue. Thanks a lot Talo, I'll keep that in mind.


I also recommend the Chucks your Squats will feel so much better and I agree you should slow down the negative like Nate said. It won't be harder just slower.

Besides that I think there is such a thing as going to deep, in the vid your pelvis tilts inward slightly at the very bottom, you will get hurt doing that once the weights get really heavy.

Try stopping just before this "butt wink" go like 75% of ass to grass....

For years, heck over a decade, I did ass to the grass squats and my legs are one of my best bodyparts so I never wanted to change that but over the last few years I have started having lower back pain after squatting.

My training partner and I analyzed my form and we found that at the very bottom my pelvis was tilting forward and knees tilting in slightly. We also noticed that I was sitting at the bottom before exploding back up.

I realize that these problems might be occurring because of tight hamstrings, calves and adductor's but the point is there is such a thing as too low.

Don't let your pelvis tilt forward and don't sit there. When you sit there you relax the spine for a moment and bam that is when you can get hurt.

It was hard mentally to stop full squatting because I had always believed that Full 20 rep Squats were the only way to get big legs and turns out they are not the only way.

Now I do 3/4 of a full Squat and it works fine.

Interesting... I'll keep this in mind. I have a feeling that once I start getting really heavy, it will factor in a lot more than it is now already. I have a fairly strong back at the moment, but it'll definitely be an issue in the future.


I agree , but some on here would strongly disagree.

I'm not super militant on the issue really... I just prefer it to doing parallel ones.

[Aaron_37]

He could also get rid of the butt wink by narrowiing the stance, holding the bar higher on his back and dropping the weight OR strengthening his hip flexors. Olympic Squat, Bodybuilding Squat, Powerlifting Squat. I tend towards something halfway between the bodybuilding/powerlifting squat.

Nonetheless I spent a week trying to figure out how to put my pants on from a similar technique error at closer to a 1RM. The little stabilizer muscles in the back get pretty unhappy if you wiggle your hips under load.

...in the video it's just a hint of a wiggle. A video of sets of triples closer to the op's 1rm would probably point out a few more subtle strength/technique issues. It's usually informative to see where form starts to break down.

I already have the bar pretty damn high... but I'll give the stance stuff a shot for sure.

As for the subtle issues... that's what I was hoping would come out from heavy 5-sets, but I suppose I could do some triples/singles after I finish my 12-week routine for your purposes.

[tiramisu]

I'm not actually suggesting that you need to change your bar position.
The olympic squat (high bar) is very much an ass to grass lift. The advice andre is giving is perfectly reasonable for the style of squat you are developing.

Low back for strength, High back for explosiveness. If you are an athlete, a strength coach would have you doing both of these at different times depending on what phase your training is in. The thing is to realize that these are slightly different movements and treat them as such.

Size 22.... that is a challenge. Shaq O'Niel's size 22.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9Go0dzKrJiA/SZzWuivxS5I/AAAAAAAADsg/WqEyiH63T8U/s400/246290.jpg

[tiramisu]

....
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1321/696098337_53bca7869a.jpg?v=0

[Aaron_37]

Haha yeah... I'm not quite that big. I'm 6'11" 260 right now... whereas Shaq is 7'2 320 last I checked. The only reason I wear the 22's is because they have the width and height that I need, just at the cost of an extra inch of toe. The only company that mass-produces 19EEEE is New Balance, which is featured in my video.

[tiramisu]

did you see these? they look like a decent deck shoe in a size 20. probably too narrow but watching ebay for a couple of months might get you what you want.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ADIDAS-ORIGINALS-TOP-TEN-LO-MENS-BASKET-SHOES-SIZE-20-/330416126859?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item4cee55fb8b

A good pair of shoes is important. You will hurt yourself without them.

[Talo]

http://www.converse.com/?CSID=43_kwid/#/products/shoes/converseOne/scratch

Make your own Chucks !

[Aaron_37]

did you see these? they look like a decent deck shoe in a size 20. probably too narrow but watching ebay for a couple of months might get you what you want.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ADIDAS-ORIGINALS-TOP-TEN-LO-MENS-BASKET-SHOES-SIZE-20-/330416126859?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item4cee55fb8b

A good pair of shoes is important. You will hurt yourself without them.

Yeah... I had a great pair of size 20 Superstars a while ago... they're just too narrow. I feel like I'm wearing wooden binding shoes with those on. It's a fairly lost cause when it comes to Nike/Adidas/etc.


http://www.converse.com/?CSID=43_kwid/#/products/shoes/converseOne/scratch

Make your own Chucks !

This looks promising... I could just ship them to an American friend of mine! I'll keep you posted if I can get anything out of this.

EDIT: Only goes to 13... thanks for trying though!

[natenator]

jesus ****. 6'11?

I had better see jo ass in the NBA soon!

damn

[warlock]

nothing much else to be said.

It would be nice to see the same video from the back in order to see your pelvic-lumbo ritm and determine if there is some sort of imbalance happening there.