5 months of squatting, still cannot do 200lbs for 5 reps. User error or broken body?

[Charlie Davies]

Are your other lifts progressing well? If it's only squats that are stalling early, you probably just need coaching.

Your best bet would be in-person coaching, even if you have to travel.
A cheaper but slower and more error-prone fix would be to post your form videos to the SS coach subforum.

If *all* your lifts are stalling, and you are sleeping and eating properly, you might just be below-average in your ability to grow muscle.
There's a bell-curve for biological limits on strength and someone has to be on left tail of the distribution.

If that's you, you might just have to progress more slowly than average. Not the worst fate in the world!

[Marenghi]

Asymmetry --> broken body: Naim Suleymanoglu - 1996 Atlanta World Record - YouTube

So far all of the tips given are worth considering imo.

Just keep in mind that yes, squats are hard and uncomfortable, but in your situation, there is no sense in being fearful under the bar und your form adjusting to the weight: you adjust the weight to allow good form and THEN challenge your body to keep that form with progressing weights. You should succeed in that in more than 90% of your reps - not in one out of five.

There is a difference between a large structural anomaly that inevitably leads to greatly altered (individual) form and largely functional altered form (based on small structural anomalies). What weve known so far, you dont have the former one (5mm leg discrepancy is pretty much normal). So prevent your body from escaping the hard, but correct form. Btw thats exactly what happened to Naim in the video above - only that it might be worth allowing it at a world record attempt at the Olympics when going for gold...

You need practice, self-confidence, automatism and strength with good form. You can only achieve that by that squatting with good form regardless how much less weight on the bar that means at first.

Form --> weight. Not vice versa.

As for the rate of progress: Technique will be a major factor, and you probably will find something to improve in the other areas (nutrition, recovery) as well. Dont compare to others.

[neilc1]

i'll try again,
I'm 6-4 and have my share of femurs also.

Point your toes out more towards 30, and make yourself track your knees over your toes.
Your knees will still try to come in, but you make them stay out over your toes.
Think of it as your knees can't wobble in if they're pointing in opposing directions.
Lighten up the bar and deal with your legs, then work your way back up.

Also agree with go see a coach
Knees out

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

If that's you, you might just have to progress more slowly than average. Not the worst fate in the world!

Seconded.

IPB

[JTT]

I'm not posting this to help with form, but to help with the feeling that you may have of being alone or unique in this area. While I don't have the leg discrepancy you have, I do have almost every other issue. I only just hit and knocked down 200 last night at 180lb BW, and I can tell that my form started to break, particularly in my upper back. I regret that I didn't record it, but i'm sure it wasn't pretty. I have lots of trouble keeping my upper back tight under that kind of weight throughout the set. What you said about panicking is exactly what goes through my head, and all cues go bye bye; I just want to get the damned thing up. Just remember though, It's a marathon, not a sprint. Stuff like squatting only gets easier with reps performed. Keep eating, keep gaining, and keep training. One way or another, it's better than not training. Oh, and thanks for showing me that there are others like me. Good luck!

Thanks for the encouraging words.

Are your other lifts progressing well? If it's only squats that are stalling early, you probably just need coaching.

Your best bet would be in-person coaching, even if you have to travel.
A cheaper but slower and more error-prone fix would be to post your form videos to the SS coach subforum.

If *all* your lifts are stalling, and you are sleeping and eating properly, you might just be below-average in your ability to grow muscle.
There's a bell-curve for biological limits on strength and someone has to be on left tail of the distribution.

If that's you, you might just have to progress more slowly than average. Not the worst fate in the world!

No, the other lifts are also very bad/slow. DL 4x242, press 5x3x104, bench 5x3x127. I do micro-loading for the presses. I do have a tendency to be asymmetrical in the presses too but cuing myself to "Push evenly" really helps. But for the squat, all my cues are gone when fatigue hits and I end up twisting.

I was extremely sedentary age 16-23. I literally did no exercise/training during this time. I had bad eating habits and was skinny-fat. I also have 6-inch wrists etc so maybe my poor progress is a combination of starting out very thin, bad genetics and poor form. I've been eating 3500-4000calories but plenty of dirty processed food/sugar etc and high fat. I will try one week with super healthy food and a higher protein intake and see how it feels.

The closest coach is Carl Raghaven in UK and I live in Sweden. It's either go see him or sign up for ss-online-coaching. Or both.

Asymmetry --> broken body: Naim Suleymanoglu - 1996 Atlanta World Record - YouTube

So far all of the tips given are worth considering imo.

Just keep in mind that yes, squats are hard and uncomfortable, but in your situation, there is no sense in being fearful under the bar und your form adjusting to the weight: you adjust the weight to allow good form and THEN challenge your body to keep that form with progressing weights. You should succeed in that in more than 90% of your reps - not in one out of five.

There is a difference between a large structural anomaly that inevitably leads to greatly altered (individual) form and largely functional altered form (based on small structural anomalies). What weve known so far, you dont have the former one (5mm leg discrepancy is pretty much normal). So prevent your body from escaping the hard, but correct form. Btw thats exactly what happened to Naim in the video above - only that it might be worth allowing it at a world record attempt at the Olympics when going for gold...

You need practice, self-confidence, automatism and strength with good form. You can only achieve that by that squatting with good form regardless how much less weight on the bar that means at first.

Form --> weight. Not vice versa.

As for the rate of progress: Technique will be a major factor, and you probably will find something to improve in the other areas (nutrition, recovery) as well. Dont compare to others.

When I started, I had horrible form and I still remember that in my first workout I had this annoying hip shift and uneven low back arching. It's been with me from the start. So I did the mistake of not correcting the bad movement and I guess it got ingrained because I still upped the weight like an impatient fool.

And when I was a young kid in school and they did screenings, I still remember that a doctor said I had a "crooked body". But no action was taken so I guess it wasn't too gross.
I do not know why this asymmetry happened in the first place. Maybe it's because my skeleton has some bony abnormality or it's a movement pattern problem, or maybe both things. Maybe I just overthink things.


I think I will change my approach to squatting. I will lower the weight until 3x5 is doable with near perfect form and work up again. When my form breaks, I will lower weight and increase the weight on a weekly basis instead.

i'll try again,
I'm 6-4 and have my share of femurs also.

Point your toes out more towards 30, and make yourself track your knees over your toes.
Your knees will still try to come in, but you make them stay out over your toes.
Think of it as your knees can't wobble in if they're pointing in opposing directions.
Lighten up the bar and deal with your legs, then work your way back up.

Also agree with go see a coach
Knees out

I tried with toes at ~30 degrees today. I focused on "knees out" but 200x5 was too heavy because knees caved. I lowered the weight and did 180x5 while pushing my knees out aggressively and it looked much better but not perfect. I honestly don't know if I've been squatting for 5 months while not pushing my knees out aggressively enough. Maybe us guys with long femurs really have to overdo the knees out to make room for our body.

[Greg Ruhl]

You said all your lifts are not progressing. Eat 200g+ of protein each day and add more total calories. Get 8 hours of good sleep.

Check for sleep apnea, cancer or low testosterone if the above don't work.

There is nothing special about your body type or asymmetry.

[neilc1]

don't be in a rush to get back up to 200,
post a vid at 180,
show us knees out, practice at the lower weight keeping them there, and on the rest of your form,
we may see other things to fix BEFORE adding weight back on,
it's not our femurs per se,
dial in the form and dial out the wobbles,

[JTT]

You said all your lifts are not progressing. Eat 200g+ of protein each day and add more total calories. Get 8 hours of good sleep.

Check for sleep apnea, cancer or low testosterone if the above don't work.

There is nothing special about your body type or asymmetry.

I've upped the calories slightly and added more protein. Sleep is weird, it's extremely rare I sleep through a whole night without waking up several times. I sometimes go to bed 10 hours before my alarm goes off just to be sure I get 8 hours but I end up with low quality sleep regardless. I want to test my testosterone levels but it's a whole procedure to get a doctor to agree to do a test like this in Sweden.

Never thought about sleep apnea, I guess I need to visit a doctor for this aswell.

don't be in a rush to get back up to 200,
post a vid at 180,
show us knees out, practice at the lower weight keeping them there, and on the rest of your form,
we may see other things to fix BEFORE adding weight back on,
it's not our femurs per se,
dial in the form and dial out the wobbles,

I did 180 and recorded all sets. I tried to stay really tight and only cue I used was KNEES OUT (more like knees to the side).

Rear

Rear/side

Side

On the side view (3rd set) you can see that the bar shoots forward, how do I prevent this? Is it because my chest caves and I lose tightness in the upper back?

[neilc1]

you sure you need that shim?
rear view looks like your left ass is high as you stand at the top,
and your left knee also as you squat.
harder to say, but, rear 45 looks the same thing.

much better on the knee cave and wobble, though I think you could angle toes out a bit more still.

as for the bar moving forward,
yeah, well, brace, brace, brace,
gotta keep chest, abs, shoulders tight, the whole time.
looks like your ass comes up first out of the hole on the later reps, rep 3 and 5 especially,
brace the abs harder and keep a stiff straight back,

when I feel forward like that I think harder on bracing the abs and usually the next rep(s) feels better
loose abs suck.

Remember your master cue.
Bar over mid foot.
keep it there.

[JTT]

you sure you need that shim?
rear view looks like your left ass is high as you stand at the top,
and your left knee also as you squat.
harder to say, but, rear 45 looks the same thing.

I tried without the shim today and it felt very bad. I shifted laterally, but when I used the shim I'm able to control My knees much better.


I wobble alot more without the shim. Without the shim the left side of My pelvis is lower when I hit the hole. And the fact that My friend measured and found 5-15mm discrepancy makes me want to stay with the shim. I only use 8mm and combined with knees out hard it's the only thing that looks decent.


A short leg is only fixed with a shim. And 8mm shim and knees out hard is the only thing that feels/looks good.