Squat form check.

[Polishdude20]

Here's my latest squat of 175 X 5. Am I using hip drive here? I'm still a bit unsure of what to look for. I made sure to consciously tell myself to drive the bit up and not back or forward.

My Edited Video - YouTube

[Steve Hill]

These look pretty good. Note that 2-3 of them are borderline on depth. Rep 5 was probably high (insert comment here about bad lighting and dark clothing). You have some long femurs.

[Polishdude20]

You have some long femurs.

Yeah I've been meaning to get that checked out. Damn long femurs just won't go away!

Did you see hip drive in that video?

[Steve Hill]

Yeah I've been meaning to get that checked out. Damn long femurs just won't go away!

Did you see hip drive in that video?

yes

[Crom]

Aside from a medical exam, is there an accepted way for an individual to self-measure femur length and compare to other measurements to know one has "long" or "short femurs" ?

[Steve Hill]

I suppose you could just use the old Mark 1 Mod 0 eyeball.

[Polishdude20]

Steve, so I went from 175 on Wednesday to 185 on Friday and then 195 today (Monday).I usually get pain in my left shoulder when getting into the low bar position. I just lived with it until I noticed that the bar dips to one side after watching a video. I don't even feel this happening when I squat. Here's a video of it happening:
YouTube

Also, here's my latest side view of 195. I felt as if I had even less hip drive this time and I was "cheating" a bit. How does this look?
YouTube

Do you figure I should start adding just 5 lbs to my squat from now on? Or is this a case of not eating enough? Because I rested 7 minutes between sets.

[Steve Hill]

I think your 195# set is fine, I didn't see a question in the first paragraph, and how the hell do I know if you're eating enough or not if I don't know all of the factors we ask for when considering such questions, like, height, starting and current BW, age, when the program was started, etc. It's all in the sticky that you didn't read?

You cut increment when you have truly stalled / reset, a stall is impending, or the weights are getting really, really hard. And you don't have enough experience to judge when that (really, really hard) is going to be. As is demonstrated by you asking this question after posting a very easy set of 5. All of this has been talked about in PPfST and to some extent, in SS:BBT3. And in these forums many, many times. Perhaps some searching around and reading will be illustrative for you.

[Polishdude20]

Oh sorry, what I was going to ask is if there's some way I should be holding the bar as to not have it dip to one side. Is it possible that my left shoulder is not as flexible as my right?

Here's my answers to those questions:

1) Age / sex? (23, male)
2) Current Body Weight? (172 lbs height: 6ft)
3) Current programming (what program are you using).
(SS)
4) How long have you been on current programming?
(About two months)
5) Starting body weight (what was your body weight when you started lifting? Started current program?).
(158 lbs)
6) Increment you are using on the lift in question. When did you switch to this increment? What was the previous Increment for the lift in question?
(Previously my squat was at 155 lbs before I started the squat two weeks ago in which I was incrementing by 10 lbs)
7) Caloric intake (in calories-ish. The answer "sufficient caloric intake" is totally insufficient).
(Averaging 3500 cals per day. Some days I manage 4100. Some days I manage 3000.)
8) Amount of rest between sets (work sets).
(7 minutes)
9) What weight you started the program at (weight on the bar for the lift in question) and a detailed description of how long, what increments were used, and what kind of breaks / vacations / etc caused a disruption in the programming).
(Started with 135 two months ago. At 160, something caused pain in my hip so I stopped squatting until it healed. I kept trying to squat lower weights but had bad form. Two weeks ago, I corrected my form and started with 155. I incremented this by 10 lbs every workout since then.)
10) Other activity that you are engaging in (sports, hobbies, job that causes physical exertion).
(no other activities.)

I just wanted to know if stalling at 195 with 10 lbs increments is usual for someone my size or if I should keep trying for 10's and just eat more. Now that I've answered the questions you've asked for, do you think that's the case?

[Steve Hill]

You posted an easy set of 5 and you think you've stalled? I'm still not sure of what you're asking. Take 10# jumps until you stall. Do a reset. Then take 5# jumps until you stall at that. Then do a reset. Then take another run using a 5# increment until you stall. Then reset. Try one more time. Then move to an intermediate program. Why am I typing stuff that is in the book?


As far as how you are holding the bar, it looks like it's crooked across your shoulders, not "dipping to one side", which, if it is indeed doing that, you've cleverly hidden by not filming your form checks as specified in the sticky you still have barely read.