Shitty Squat. What Do?

[Schwiggity]

Had some discussion in my training log about this, but I figured I might get more opinions if I made a form check for it. My squatting has been all over the place as far as how often I've been doing it. In the past few months I've done Goblet Squats, Box Squats, and intermittently full squats. I'm trying to do linear progression again, but what I believe to be bad hip mobility is limiting me. Here's the video of just squatting the bar. Sorry if it's not the best angle.



Monolift makes it hard for me to get a decent grip. And I know I'm not hitting parallel. I'm really trying to find a solution to it though.

I can air squat parallel, but it seems like I need to hold a counterweight with outstretched arms in order to keep my chest up.

And while I'm making a new thread, I might as well put up the recent Deadlift for some critique. Kyphotic back and being front heavy has made me a human rainbow in the past. I think this one is slightly better, but I'm not sure.



Compared to December:

[JTA762]

I'm not qualified to critique, but I have to say you're a good source of inspiration. You've got the heart of a lion, keep it up.

[Brian Zahn]

Some things that i just fixed that i see in your squat are that you have your hands and elbows under the bar, you can fix this by widening your grip, which will allow you to get your hands on top of the bar and help get you into the proper lowbar position

[PFerrari]

Some things that i just fixed that i see in your squat are that you have your hands and elbows under the bar, you can fix this by widening your grip, which will allow you to get your hands on top of the bar and help get you into the proper lowbar position

If this is an issue as a result of the squat rack like OP said in beginning post, you may need to do this after you take it out of the rack. (it's not a monolift, fyi) This is not ideal, but will be necessary until you gain the necessary mobility in your shoulders and thorasic spine. MobilityWOD.com is a great resource for improving mobility. I suggest searching squat on that site and devoting a good bit of time to mobility in addition to your strength training. Keep up the progress.

[Tom Campitelli]

Squatting with an empty bar is not a good indication of how you actually move under a load. What can you squat for a set of 5? You have a coach, do you not? This is something a competent coach should be able to help you solve.

[Brian Zahn]

yeah, i definitely maximize the efficiency of the movement with at least some weight on the bar

[Schwiggity]

I haven't squatted in a while except intermittently. I did up to 120lb. back in December but I wasn't hitting depth still and I was good morning-ing up the weight on the ascent. I'll add some weight to the bar the next few workouts and make some videos. I know the angle doesn't show my chest position for the full ROM, but does it look like it's caving in/forward much?

[bamzi]

I saw your other form check with the goblet squats. You still need to break the habit of sticking your butt back first - initiate the squat with your knees, and your hips will tag along.

You're pretty close to getting depth on the video you posted above, and it looks like your knees are wide enough that your belly isn't impinging on your thighs. However, it would be helpful if you could film a squat video from 45 degrees that shows your stance and knee width (with some weight on the bar too), just to confirm that your knees are in the optimal position. I assume you have read this http://startingstrength.com/articles...2_rippetoe.pdf?

One more thing - are you actively squeezing your shoulder blades together during the squat?

[Callador]

yeah, i definitely maximize the efficiency of the movement with at least some weight on the bar

Yeah, being a bigger guy (like myself), you might need to get 95lbs on there for a good form check.

I stretch a lot, but I still need a good amount of weight to clearly get below parallel. Just keep working with it, even if it is a tad high. As the weight on the bar increaes, it should help push you down a little more.

[Tiburon]

keep at it. put 95 on there and post another video

your grip is a fucking mess though. have you watched rip's platform video about grip?