Squat Form Re-Worked

[vicjg]

Hey Mark,

I bought and read Starting Strength (1st Edition) and have read it a ton of times. I worked on my squat and got it looking like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-9Xhags-0o

In an effort to go deeper, I started to "tuck" my hips under at the bottom and really didn't notice it. I thought I was keeping an arch. I bought SS (2nd edition) and it made me think more about form. I videotaped myself thinking I'd catch a few minor details and I could correct them and lift more weight.

But my back position was terrible. I had gotten sloppy. I dropped the weight and worked on keeping the arch and getting past parallel.

Is the video below more correct as far as lower back arch is concerned. Am I getting deep enough? (BTW I normally don't squat w/o a shirt, but I wanted to make sure my lower back was clear & visible.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc-nzG2Uzw8

[Mark Rippetoe]

I really hate to tell you this, especially because you have such a cool garage, but not only do I find not much wrong with your low-back position in the first video 325 x 3, but it looks the same to me in the second video. And both sets were very high, the second set of five being about 3 inches above parallel. Your form looks okay, but I think the way to fix this is to shove your knees out on the way down, and make damn sure that they get shoved out at the bottom. Bigger guys have depth problems when the thighs bind against the gut, and you can test this by exaggeration: take a close stance toes-forward and squat down, and compare what happens with a normal width toes-out knees-out squat. When you get your knees out of the way, depth becomes much easier, and the adductor stretch this provides also makes the bottom rebound waaaay more effective. The addition of a weighted bar will provide the help you need to get low.

[vicjg]

I really hate to tell you this, especially because you have such a cool garage, but not only do I find not much wrong with your low-back position in the first video 325 x 3, but it looks the same to me in the second video. And both sets were very high, the second set of five being about 3 inches above parallel. Your form looks okay, but I think the way to fix this is to shove your knees out on the way down, and make damn sure that they get shoved out at the bottom. Bigger guys have depth problems when the thighs bind against the gut, and you can test this by exaggeration: take a close stance toes-forward and squat down, and compare what happens with a normal width toes-out knees-out squat. When you get your knees out of the way, depth becomes much easier, and the adductor stretch this provides also makes the bottom rebound waaaay more effective. The addition of a weighted bar will provide the help you need to get low.

Thanks. It's really great how you take the time to contribute here. Its really appreciated.