Squat Form Check

[lundstrom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prcth...youtu.be&t=22s

Shoot!

I have a realtively long torso compared to my legs which makes both squats and deadlifts somewhat difficult to do properly - in this video my heels are about shoulder width apart and toes out in a 30 degree angle just as in the SSBBT3.

Kind regards
Alex

[MikeC1]

Can you get a camera view from the back?

[lundstrom]

Can you get a camera view from the back?

Absolutely! I'll get on it, but I'll have to do it next week since I'm away til' then.

Another thing that I wonder is if I should invest in a pair of lifting shoes, but I've seen people talk about how they help you get the knees out in front of your toes(?) and I don't really think I need that. Could lifting shoes actually make a lift (squat) worse - considering a certain kind of body composition?

[MikeC1]

That's an excellent question. I think that you may be better without a heel lift in your shoes. Although you will still want the incompressibility of the sole when considering your footwear.

[lundstrom]

Hmm, I'll just write down some thoughts and maybe some questions - I've read some articles and checked out some posts on serveral different forums and as I understand it a long torso is an advantage when squatting. And when I look at my body, in the mirror mostly doing different squat stances and such I notice that I have a weird body composition, torso is long, femurs are long but shins are very short.

I look very much like my father, he was a very good swimmer (still is, though he looks more like a walrus than a shark nowadays) and as far as I know never needed to stretch but could still stand on a pile of books and put his palms on the floor with straight legs.

Anyway, is there something you could do to make the squat better for someone like me? Long torso, long femurs and short shins that is.

Oh, and thanks on beforehand to anyone taking his or her time to help out.

[Fury]

Hey man,

Your knees are coming way too forward when you are in the bottom position of your squat. I actually recently questioned my own form regarding this and put up this video for people to comment on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Qu-uXqF_k

In general though, notice how my shins are much more vertical than yours. You need to sit back when you initiate the decent and avoid relaxing in the bottom position which is causing you to come forward.

[lundstrom]

Hey man,

Your knees are coming way too forward when you are in the bottom position of your squat. I actually recently questioned my own form regarding this and put up this video for people to comment on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Qu-uXqF_k

In general though, notice how my shins are much more vertical than yours. You need to sit back when you initiate the decent and avoid relaxing in the bottom position which is causing you to come forward.

Hi! I took a look at your video and the most apparent difference when not looking at technique is the different body mechanics. Your shins are way longer and your torso is much shorter than mine. I really appreciate your help, but if I where to "sit back" my back would round as hell, and not because of mobility (don't really have any trouble with mobility) but because the length of my back.

But this is just me guessing really, hard to see much from a video.

The knees are a problem though, but i think my stance width has been a little bit narrow and that I could push my knees out even more... we'll see next week. Stay tuned, heh.

[Fury]

I'm just referring to how far your knees end up over your toes. Could this be avoided or is it entirely due to the proportion of your limbs?

[lundstrom]

We'll find out the next time I squat!

[Simma Park]

Hi! I took a look at your video and the most apparent difference when not looking at technique is the different body mechanics. Your shins are way longer and your torso is much shorter than mine. I really appreciate your help, but if I where to "sit back" my back would round as hell, and not because of mobility (don't really have any trouble with mobility) but because the length of my back.

His knees will be much further back than yours (although I think they still need to come forward a bit).

You, on the other hand, actually do need to sit back more with your butt and lean forward more with your torso in the bottom half of the movement. Due to your proportions, your knees will be more ahead of your toes than the average person, and your torso will be more upright than the average person. But that doesn't change the fact that you are keeping your torso too erect. Also, once you are 1/3-1/2 of the way down, your knees should stop moving forward. Instead, you're really letting your knees crash forward at the bottom. Lastly, related to your too-erect torso and your knee slide, you're lifting from the chest instead of driving through the hips.

The knees are a problem though, but i think my stance width has been a little bit narrow and that I could push my knees out even more... we'll see next week. Stay tuned, heh.

Yes, your stance looks too narrow to me, too. We'll need to wait for the rear view.