Probably the dumbest question ever but hey...

[grand666]

Alright. I've been having some form issues on my squat and depth is the main culprit, shoes coming early May. Other form issues too but this pertains to the squat.

In the book on page 10 I believe, figure 2-1, there is a picture of a guy squatting. The caption for the photo says "Depth landmarks for the full squat. The top of the patella (A) and the hip joint, as identified by the apex in the crease of the shorts (B). The B side of the plane formed by these two points must drop below parallel with the ground."

What is the apex in hte crease of the shorts? Is it the corner of the hip angle or what? Or should you look at the middle of the side-of-the-hip to judge depth?

I know this is a very dumb question but I don't understand. When I squat I feel like I'm going down enough but I'm always border line high. I'm getting my WL shoes and hopefully that will help.

[250orBust]

WL shoes will help alot. Easy solution to all these depth questions is to just go lower, all the way down.

[Immortal_k]

With enough squatting under your belt you'll know when your hamstrings have stretched to their fullest before driving upwards. Until then, lower is better.

[cpbellavia]

Hamstrings usually arent the culprit. People cant get down because their adductors aren't flexible enough. No other activity truly stretches them like a deep squat does, so most people just aren't aware of the right feel there.

[veryhrm]

WL shoes will help alot. Easy solution to all these depth questions is to just go lower, all the way down.

Is this meant as a joke or as serious advice ?


Anyway, OP, yes the crease of the hip is where your leg is folding w/ respect to your torso. The farthest you would be able to shove your hand into your hip from the front. If you're fat, you'll have to fudge it a bit. If you wear black pants it is often hard to see on video. One thing that i found helpful is to do air squats to a box. First you can just sit on the box in a position like the bottom of your squat to see if the height of the box is correct (by using a camera, a friend or a far away mirror). There's a 12" platform at my gym that has me in a pretty decent position so i used that. I still do them every once in a while (and sometimes during WU sets) to make sure my depth perception isn't getting too far off.

[grand666]

Is this meant as a joke or as serious advice ?


Anyway, OP, yes the crease of the hip is where your leg is folding w/ respect to your torso. The farthest you would be able to shove your hand into your hip from the front. If you're fat, you'll have to fudge it a bit. If you wear black pants it is often hard to see on video. One thing that i found helpful is to do air squats to a box. First you can just sit on the box in a position like the bottom of your squat to see if the height of the box is correct (by using a camera, a friend or a far away mirror). There's a 12" platform at my gym that has me in a pretty decent position so i used that. I still do them every once in a while (and sometimes during WU sets) to make sure my depth perception isn't getting too far off.

Thanks man. Just to be clear I took three copies of the pics from the SS3rd book. (IF I'M VIOLATING ANY COPYRIGHTS PLEASE LET ME KNOW)

Am I correct where I'm pointing the arrows? I also drew a line through the "plane". Is that correct? On the middle pic, the bottom white half-arrow is the one pointed out by Rip in the book. It's cut off but it's labelled "B" and the caption I copied down above points to that location.

[cpbellavia]

Yes. Top of knee should be above the crease you labeled.

[MEbigUsmall]

Shit I'm tempted to buy SS3 now.

[grand666]

Yes. Top of knee should be above the crease you labeled.

Wow man so that's just barely breaking parallel then? Pretty damn close I would say.

Shit I'm tempted to buy SS3 now.

DO IT!!

[Simma Park]

Yes, the apex of that hip crease in individuals of normal weight will pretty much indicate where the proximal end of the femur is. This should drop slightly below an imaginary line that touches the top of the kneecap ("knee" is unspecific and means a lot of different areas to a lot of different people) and is parallel to the ground. In individuals who are larger, are wearing weird pants, etc., the hip crease may not be the best indicator of hip socket location. As you get more experienced, you learn to pretty much see what the femur is doing/how it is positioned at the bottom, and you stop needing to go by the hip crease.

Looking at the top surface of the thigh isn't useful because that surface can be really different between individuals, depending on amount of mass, composition of that mass, etc.