Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Squat edition.

[Calvo]

Squats have been harder than I remember lately despite being 10-15 lbs off from PR territory, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't a form issue.

Here's 305 without TUBOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WgqThLMha0
Felt like I lost all tightness on that last rep. This set wasn't actually that hard, so I went up to 310. 310 was way worse (no vids), so I decided to use TUBOW as per Mac Ward's advice in an earlier thread.

Here's 310 with TUBOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOpAVoiwCbI
Felt like I was losing tightness, so I racked it early. Growing a pair might have been enough to get that last rep.

Here's 295 with TUBOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWj6PxzDc9E
These were still damn hard, but more manageable.

If you're only gonna watch one, watch the middle one.

Any advice? Is this just a case of not enough Motorhead and mental fortitude? Obvious form fixes?

[Mac Ward]

First video useless due to lighting.

The second and third vdeos are not from the best of angles and with the cage around you make it tough. That being said, I have a few comments. Hip drive is insufficient, depth is not there. DRIVE your hips out of the hole. Your head is high, which is likely hurting your hip drive. Feet MAY be a little wide though it's hard to determine from these videos.

TUBOW won't make it easier, hip drive will. Any significant change in your form will likely require a minor reset in weight as you iron on the kinks.

Review the part in the book about hip drive, ensure you hit your depth on every rep.

[Calvo]

Thanks Mac. Good luck on your deployment (no e-stalk.). Pretty badass to come back stronger than you left.

Trying to lead with my hips out of the bottom, here are vids from today.
275x5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79JGon8GRHE
295x5x2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZg2NJjlpGc (second set is from a better angle than the first.).

Thoughts?

[Mac Ward]

Feet are wide, depth is shallow. Hip drive appears to be better. Need to get your depth before doing anything more. Bring your hips in, get your depth right, drive the hips.

[Calvo]

Tried to implement this today. Not sure how successful I was. Better?

[Beau]

I am far from an authority on this but I am trying to get better at the coaching aspect so tell me to shut up if need be.

I think it might help you hit depth if you try to lead by shoving your butt back it looks a little like you dropping into your knees before you push your hips back.

Again if I am out of line let me know.

[Mac Ward]

Calvo, I've got nothing to look at in your post. Link?

[crunchy]

Me thinks you still not deep enough and you'l have to drop some weight to get there.

[Calvo]

Embedded, my bad. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=lj182Z8Skj8

[PunchSlap]

A video from the side would be good, so we can see of the bar is at the COM.
I'm no expert either. But I've had problems with the bar coming forward when ascending and this is results in a major sticking point, and it looks a bit like you have the same problem. Mostly because you're maintaining the back angle during most of the ascent. Not entirely sure as the camera angle isn't clear enough.

The bar coming forward is due to the back not rising and obtaining the correct angle relative to the ascent. My problem was that I maintained the same back angle during the first half ascending. Considering the moment arm of the knee and the hip shortened, which moves the whole back forward relative to the COM, and considering I didn't change the back angle to compensate for the shortened moment arm the result was bar coming forward of the COM. The only way to have the bar at the COM while maintaining the back angle is the shove the knees backwards so the shortened moment arm between the hip and knee is compensated by moving the whole back backwards, which also seems to be a popular type of low-bar squat in my non-professional youtubesquat-watching, opinion. Just thought I could mention that in case this would be the case (case case).

But as I said, I'm no expert so take this explanation with a grain of salt lolz.