Coveting Master Novice Weakling Squat Form Check

[drecar]

Well I now know what it means to covet. AC and crew at 70s big and Gary and others here make it look so easy, plus they are so freaking strong.

I've been working on form for 6 months. Hopefully this isnt 15 poor examples of squatting. Please forgive the excitiment at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27IKYvcFtY

[coldfire]

Your knees are sliding forward at the bottom. The second set looks better, but try putting your knees forward during the first part of the descent

[stronger]

you're a tad high, but otherwise I think that's a pretty good squat.

guys?

[nisora33]

Good work, drecar, and welcome.

After your first set, you were squatting too shallow. Need at least another inch to satisfy depth.

Work on getting the knees forward sooner. During the 1st one third of the movement, get your knees to their forward-most point and keep 'em there through the remainder of the rep. This will have your hips and knees breaking at the same time.

Now, you're not getting any "bounce" out of the bottom because of how slow your descent is. This is going to take some practice, but you're going to have to drop more quickly to take advantage of the stretch reflex--maybe over the course of a 2-count. Getting more depth will help with this as well.

Kudos on your lifting. It's obvious you've been working hard.

-Stacey

[El Viejo]

Please forgive the excitiment at the end.

You EARNED the right to be excited. I'll leave comments on your form to the more experienced members of this forum, but I will say this - there ain't a guy at either of the 2 gyms where I go that even comes close to the depth that you are squatting (except for me, of course ;)). And, to be perfectly honest, I probably cheat a bit on depth as I get tired.

Anyway, keep up the good work. And if you think that was fun, wait until you start the Texas Method program and have to do that for 5 sets. The 1st time I did 5x5 across I got down on my knees and thanked Jesus and I'm an agnostic!

You mention "master" in your title. How old are you? I'm always happy to see older guys on this forum (I'll be 58 in 6 weeks).

[nisora33]

You EARNED the right to be excited. I'll leave comments on your form to the more experienced members of this forum, but I will say this - there ain't a guy at either of the 2 gyms where I go that even comes close to the depth that you are squatting...

Here, here!

And keep working at it, you'll get it, drecar.

[drecar]

Thanks for the encouragement. I am committed to getting as strong as I can. The damn squat form has been difficult to get correct. I am not too keen on increasing the decents speed but I will try that. Knee position I am trying to find. Perhaps when my shoes arrive they will correct my issues. I am still open to more critique and suggestions for fine tuning.

[blowdpanis]

Aside from getting the knees more forward initially, it almost looks to me like you're too on your heels/bent over, i.e. your knees barely move forward at all, with almost all of the motion happening at the hips.

Try an experiment for me. The next time you squat, as you warm up (say with an empty bar), try simply keeping the weight evenly distributed on your feet with the bar on your back, going all the way down, without thinking of sitting back or anything else, just "even" weight distribution on your feet. See how far forward your knees are in this position. This should represent a pretty good balance between knees forward enough, and sitting back enough, because you need quads to help you out, even in a low bar squat.

It's also possible your femurs are just very long relative to your torso, but it seems to me like your knee position could be more forward in general.

[Nauticus]

Your form is almost identical to mine, except the depth on my squats is shittier. Since we've both got weightlifting shoes coming, it'll be interesting to see if our form mirrors. Post another video once you get the shoes - I've got one coming Monday.

[Gary Gibson]

Aside from getting the knees more forward initially, it almost looks to me like you're too on your heels/bent over, i.e. your knees barely move forward at all, with almost all of the motion happening at the hips.

Try an experiment for me. The next time you squat, as you warm up (say with an empty bar), try simply keeping the weight evenly distributed on your feet with the bar on your back, going all the way down, without thinking of sitting back or anything else, just "even" weight distribution on your feet. See how far forward your knees are in this position. This should represent a pretty good balance between knees forward enough, and sitting back enough, because you need quads to help you out, even in a low bar squat.

It's also possible your femurs are just very long relative to your torso, but it seems to me like your knee position could be more forward in general.

Agreed. A slight heel would help facilitate this. There may be an article addressing this coming soon.

[Gary Gibson]

Felt I should expand on my comment...

Shins stay very vertical and then knees move a bit forward as the ascent begins. Kills hamstring tension and thus the hamstring's contribution to the lift.

Would be fixed by knees going forward to their final position just ahead of the toes in the first third of the descent. Face the Wall squats or a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood help teach this. A slight heel helps facilitate this. The heel changes the balance a bit and forces the knees to get out a little farther, making the knee angle more acute and thus involving the quads a bit more. Again, this may figure a great deal in an article that may or may not appear on this site soon.

[drecar]

Felt I should expand on my comment...

Shins stay very vertical and then knees move a bit forward as the ascent begins. Kills hamstring tension and thus the hamstring's contribution to the lift.

Would be fixed by knees going forward to their final position just ahead of the toes in the first third of the descent. Face the Wall squats or a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood help teach this. A slight heel helps facilitate this. The heel changes the balance a bit and forces the knees to get out a little farther, making the knee angle more acute and thus involving the quads a bit more. Again, this may figure a great deal in an article that may or may not appear on this site soon.

Thanks. Are you suggesting that simply using the shoes when they arrive may solve the problem? Everything else is fine just initial knee position needs to be fixed?

[nisora33]

Thanks. Are you suggesting that simply using the shoes when they arrive may solve the problem? Everything else is fine just initial knee position needs to be fixed?

You'll still have to think about getting the knees forward earlier to their position out near the toes, regardless of whether your wearing the shoes or not.

-S.

[drecar]

Felt I should expand on my comment...

Shins stay very vertical and then knees move a bit forward as the ascent begins. Kills hamstring tension and thus the hamstring's contribution to the lift.

Would be fixed by knees going forward to their final position just ahead of the toes in the first third of the descent. Face the Wall squats or a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood help teach this. A slight heel helps facilitate this. The heel changes the balance a bit and forces the knees to get out a little farther, making the knee angle more acute and thus involving the quads a bit more. Again, this may figure a great deal in an article that may or may not appear on this site soon.

Gary, thanks for your article. Thanks everyone for your guidance.

In it you gave an example of what a squat would look like if the balls of the feet were raised and I think it matches my form. Unfortunately my concrete slab has settled so theres a slope running down front to back. My shoes should be here today which is my quick fix for the flooring problem. I have to teach myself how to level a floor which i expect to complete this summer. As I write this I realize my form was giving me trouble when i switched from the Y to home gym. I will post another vid (praying i get this right soon) once I adapt to the shoes.