Squat Check / Squat Stuck

[MikeP]

Sorry about that. I honestly had no idea my camera had a wide angle lenses. As for the angle, I told the guy holding the camera to hold it at hip height, but I guess he held it up. Either way, I know what I have to do. I will get one of the people who works at the gym and give them very explicit instructions.

I think I can take it from here. Thanks for the help.

[Tom Campitelli]

Sorry about that. I honestly had no idea my camera had a wide angle lenses.

I am not suggesting this is a bad thing. You cannot change the lens on a cell phone anyway. It is just something that needs to be kept in mind when looking at videos.

[MikeP]

Okay. That makes sense.

I would also like to say in the spirit of the appreception thread, that in addition to your constant patience when giving me form advice, you are the person responsible for me becoming aware of the "I command you to grow" video. For that I am forever grateful.

[Tom Campitelli]

That is an important video. Don't forget the Techno Viking, too.

[MikeP]

Finally got a video from hip height. This is set 2. I only got 3 on the last set. I am unsure if this are deep enough. If I had to guess, I would call 1 shallow, 2 deep, 3,4,5 borderline. Weight is 330.

https://vimeo.com/136326153

[Tom Campitelli]

One reason you are having trouble with depth is because your knees never really get set in place. They travel forward the whole time and sometimes slide forward at the bottom. As your knees keep traveling forward, getting your hip below the knee crease becomes more difficult. Get your knees in place by halfway down and keep them there. Drive your knees out harder. This should fix your depth issues. If you moved your stand a half inch wider, that would probably be okay, too. Most importantly, you must get tighter. Really contract your trunk musculature around the held breath and squeeze like a motherfucker on your ascent. Knees out. Bury the squat. Stay tighter.

[MikeP]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to implement them on Monday. What weight should I use then? On one hand from earlier plan, after 330x5,5,3 the next workout would be 335x5, backoffx5x2, on the other hand, if I am not hitting depth, adding weight might not be a good idea. 250 with 3 white lights beats 500 with 3 red lights.

Also, just to make sure I understand, the cue I should follow for "Get your knees in place by halfway down and keep them there" is "Knees out" right?

[Tom Campitelli]

Try the same weight. If it doesn't go, back off and find a weight that works. Knees out can help with preventing forward knee slide, but you may have to think about keeping your knees in place once you are half way down, too.

[MikeP]

I thought my depth looked better. The slightly wider stance and thinking hard "knees out" seemed to help. Tightness was still poor.

https://vimeo.com/136566826

[Tom Campitelli]

Congratulations on getting convincingly below parallel. Those squats would pass in the IPF. That knees out trick works wonders. Now, however, you need to focus on not letting go at the bottom of the squat. You are relaxing a little down there in the hopes of getting a bounce. Stay tighter, particularly at the bottom. Squeeze, motherfucker. Hold on to it on the way up. Time to eat, too.