New and improved squat form check, now with extra tightness.

[Tom Campitelli]

Weightlifting shoes are excellent, but they will not save you from getting loose at the bottom. Your problem is not so much flexibility as it is your inability to keep everything tight. The heel lift on shoes can help inflexible people get a little lower. They may be doing the same for you. However, shoes or not, you are not controlling yourself well enough.

[Man in the Box]

Are you counting the bar weight? That looks more like 147.5kg to me.

I wish! The yellows are 15kg, then one 5, 2.5 and 1.25 per side. 20 + (15x6) + (5x2) + (2.5x2) + (1.25x2). I use the 15s as they're a convenient increment for warmups (20, 50, 80, 110).

Weightlifting shoes are excellent, but they will not save you from getting loose at the bottom. Your problem is not so much flexibility as it is your inability to keep everything tight. The heel lift on shoes can help inflexible people get a little lower. They may be doing the same for you. However, shoes or not, you are not controlling yourself well enough.

Thanks. Looks like I'm just going to have to suck it up and squeeze everything HARD. Perhaps this is a perception issue to do with my kinesthetic sense of what the bottom feels like and where the stretch reflex is. Walter picked up on that and corrected me but it seems like I've still got to work on it.

I'm hoping to come to the London squat camp to work on this is person but I am horribly poor at the moment so I'll have to see if I can scrape it together.

[Man in the Box]

I forgot to say, I tried with flat shoes (like chucks) last night and twinged my lower right back on about 80kg warmup (it's sore and tight today) so put the squat shoes back on. I definitely do prefer them. Whether the twinging is related to the shoes I don't know but they certainly don't seem be be the cause of any problems.

Narrowed my grip slightly and worked on standing up and keeping shoulders tight, with some improvement. Couldnt get any video last night so I'll get some next time. Unfortunately the shoulder/arm pain issue reared it's head a minute or so after the last set and completely ruined my press (I was very run down too so that hasn't helped).

My girlfriend recently complained of similar pair so I'm wondering whether it's related to the roundy-shoulders/elbows high position (since she learned a similar position from before I knew better). Food for thought.

Your elbows are quite high. That could be extra flexibility, or your hands are too wide. It's resulting in some cat-boxing. This is the number one thing to correct.

Your knees do quite a bit of wobbling on several reps. Knees out.

When leaving the rack, don't have your stance so wide--you can see a very awkward step back. I exit the rack with feet in a jumping width, which is more conducive to stepping back, then find the stance once you're out.

When you rack the bar, you shouldn't have to look left or right--just walk straight into the uprights. Having to look may end in a crash some day.

For some reason I completely missed most of this reply!

Thanks for these pointers. My wide stance is because I'm bracing to take the weight and lowering myself to the correct height to receive the bar. Is it better to lift the bar, bring my feet together then walk back, or perhaps should my feet be closer when unracking?

The multiple height hooks make it possible to rack unevenly or hit ON the hook rather than between them, which is why I've been looking. I'll give it a go re-racking without looking if that's a thing I should be doing. I'm sure it can't be too hard.

Knees out: noted. Always working on it. Gradually getting better.
Blbows already being addressed.

Most important of all of this: Cat boxing???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4go3Hraq8

[Man in the Box]

Having taken all the advice in this thread on board I have:
- narrowed my grip
- brought my elbows down
- stood up straighter
- kept really tight to avoid going too deep and form degradation

Here's the last set.


Looking at the video, this seems to have fixed the main improvement points about my form. I squatted a new PR; it felt solid and like I had more in me. There's still a little wavering in my knees, I know, but overall they were pretty much shoved out.

My only self-criticism is that I might not quite be hitting depth in some reps but that's easily remedied with experience and improving my kinesthetic sense of correct depth.

How does this look now?

Thank you everyone for your feedback. It's invaluable and I appreciate your time looking.

[Tom Campitelli]

A few of your reps may have been a smidge high, but those look a lot better.