Shimmy Shimmy Squat Squat

[Randy Scheingold]

On a few occasions my squat has a strange shimmy to it. It only happens on heavier (for me) sets. Tonight my 3rd rep of 5 singles had it. See video below (sorry for the shitty lighting). Any thoughts on what this could be. After this rep, I rested a bit longer (3 min rest before the shimmy set, 5 to 6 min rest for each set after it) and was able to get 2 more singles with no shimmy. I was also able to get a 3Rep PR for my DL about 20 minutes after this, so I don't think it was nutrition related. Although I was a little lighter on carbs than I would have liked.

Thoughts?



Thx in advance

[Tom Campitelli]

Maybe it is just heavy for you. You will see people start to shake as their hamstrings cycle on and off on heavy deadlifts. It would be interesting to know if your following singles had better hip drive.

[Steve Hill]

Maybe it is just heavy for you. You will see people start to shake as their hamstrings cycle on and off on heavy deadlifts. It would be interesting to know if your following singles had better hip drive.

I note that he picks his head up right before the shimmy starts. Where the head goes, the chest goes...

[Randy Scheingold]

Thanks guys. It is true...I have a chronic head position issue. I am on SSOC and get yelled at for that on at least a weekly basis. One thing that has really helped is working on fixing my thoracic flexion....per Bill Hannon's awesome article (that is/was me to a tee...). But I still need more work, especially on heavier sets. Here is rep 4, where I think I did do a better job (not perfect though) on head position & therefore hip drive. So...basically this appears to be a lack of strength issue when I do heavy sets with subpar form. That gives me more motivation to keep working on the head angle. I guess this shit really does work. And...good to know I am not some special snowflake with some type of blood sugar issue that makes me shimmy on just random heavy sets



let me know if there are other major form issues or tips for keeping the head down.

Note: SSOC is working great for me, I just wanted to get some more insight on the shimmy...and share for posterity sake.

[Steve Hill]

I'm glad you added the last note since I was about to point out the irony.

[Tom Campitelli]

Here is rep 4, where I think I did do a better job (not perfect though) on head position & therefore hip drive. So...basically this appears to be a lack of strength issue when I do heavy sets with subpar form.

Heavy singles are demanding enough to expose inconsistencies and little form flaws. You don't shimmy because you are glycogen depleted. Lifting your head and chest do seem to be potentially correlated with it, however. Chin down. Stay with your hips.

[Karl Schudt]

Hey Randy,

Keep your head down!

[Randy Scheingold]

I was waiting for that.