Squat Form Check

[PVC]

Squat stalled at 290x5x3 a couple of weeks ago and I burned out hard. After a failed attempt at a 10% reset, I did just the warmup for squats last Sunday, 225x5x3 on Tuesday, 240x5x3 on Thursday and 250x5x3 today. Here it is:

Set 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-NA4eVXY9k

Set 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQamNplWRgA

Set 2 was a bit shitty since I didn't put the belt on properly, so you'll see that my back angle gets a little fucked and my knees cave in on some reps.

[OITW]

Other than those chicken-leg calves, I honestly don't see anything wrong enough to mention. Your knees come in a little at the start of the drive, but not enough to be concerned about. Form doesn't appear to be a problem.

Given that, I'd say look at the eat/sleep equation, and suggest that maybe you are done with your novice gains, time to move on to intermediate. Don't reset again, whatever you do.

[PVC]

Other than those chicken-leg calves...

Shitty genetics, 100%. I've gained 30 lbs (160-190), put 135 lbs on my squat and 125 lbs on my deadlift, and my calves are as small as they were when I was 15. It sucks.

[fnet]

Maybe you were still tired from beating up that Soh kid ;)
I didn't see anything glaringly wrong with your form. BTW, I too went from the low 160s to 190 and my chicken calves will give yours a run for their money. I'll second what OITW said about the eat/sleep and training equation.

[Soh]

Good form.

I was looking up shit online and found something I think might be useful for me. It was on the eliteFTS forum. Its called the wall squat. Don't know if you've heard about it. Anyways you get close to the wall, it helps you keep your chest up knees out, the only thing left is the depth. Its like TUBOW for your whole body. 1% loss of form results in your face smacking into the wall. Im going to try it tomorrow and post a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJgSna_H69o The Wall Squat

Also from the core of my heart. Fuck LB squats. I watched many rippetoe video's on youtube where hes teaching novices. All of them have the same flexibility issues. Wrists buckle up, inability to put the weight where it should be. The stance of the LB squat is so confusing that novices end up concentrating on that and not the dynamics of the squat. How can posterior deltoids make a shelf when you dont have any posterior deltoids. Its just stupid. What happens is after the first rep the weight slowly travels down the shoulder and you end up thinking about just getting over with the set and racking it back.

Theres something called a hybrid squat position, its mid way between the low bar and high bar. Engages the hamstrings just as much, allowing for a more vertical back. Im going to try that.

Anyways Happy lifting...

[Soh]

Maybe you were still tired from beating up that Soh kid ;)


Lol...

[PVC]

Good form.

I was looking up shit online and found something I think might be useful for me. It was on the eliteFTS forum. Its called the wall squat. Don't know if you've heard about it. Anyways you get close to the wall, it helps you keep your chest up knees out, the only thing left is the depth. Its like TUBOW for your whole body. 1% loss of form results in your face smacking into the wall. Im going to try it tomorrow and post a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJgSna_H69o The Wall Squat

I just tried this out on the nearest wall. This works well for the common powerlifting squat - i.e. very wide stance and looking up. But for practicing Rip's low bar squat, not so much. Which I guess brings us to...


Also from the core of my heart. Fuck LB squats. I watched many rippetoe video's on youtube where hes teaching novices. All of them have the same flexibility issues. Wrists buckle up, inability to put the weight where it should be. The stance of the LB squat is so confusing that novices end up concentrating on that and not the dynamics of the squat. How can posterior deltoids make a shelf when you dont have any posterior deltoids. Its just stupid. What happens is after the first rep the weight slowly travels down the shoulder and you end up thinking about just getting over with the set and racking it back.

The low bar squat is hard, I agree, since it requires a lot of patience and practice to learn. It's not a "natural" movement, so it's not something you'll get right away. But I would argue that everything that makes a low bar squat hard also makes it so useful. Yes, good shoulder flexibility is required for a LBS, but by the same token the LBS will help develop shoulder flexibility. Yes, it's hard to maintain your back angle out of the hole when your back is angled so much, but forcing yourself to actually maintain the angle will make your posterior chain very strong. Yes, you do need at least some muscle mass (less than you think though) to support the bar in the right spot on your back when the weight gets heavy, but this encourages skinny novices to drink their milk.


Theres something called a hybrid squat position, its mid way between the low bar and high bar. Engages the hamstrings just as much, allowing for a more vertical back. Im going to try that.

A more vertical back will necessarily mean that the hamstrings are engaged less. However, if that's what you want to do then good luck. Plenty of people (in fact, the majority of them) have gotten strong with high bar squats.

[LudwigVan]

This squat looks good.