Squat Check

[JFord]

I broke 2 ribs and injured my back doing something so stupid I can't even bring myself to describe the cause. Now, over 2 months later, I can finally take a deep breath without excruciating pain and I've started training again. The reason it's been so long wasn't so much the lifting itself but rather, it was the valsalva-ing which was too painful. Anyway, being an old guy of 58, I lost a fair amount of strength during this period.

I'm fine now but I lowered my squat weight significantly (220 lbs down to 135 and am now up to 150). I'm taking it slow and am micro-loading with 2 1.25 lbs weights (2.5 lbs) for each jump. I'm a little worried about my technique being out so long and just wanted a check.

I took the January seminar in L.A. and Steve Hill was my squat coach. The biggest problem he identified was that I wasn't leaning forward far enough and my back was too vertical. Am I still doing that? Any other identifiable issues?

Squat - YouTube

Thanks in advance!
John

[Michael Wolf]

Stance looks a bit wide. Not so wide that it couldn't possibly be the right stance for you, but it's something I'd look at.

Your ultimate back angle looks OK, but get there sooner - don't still be leaning further over at the bottom, already BE as leaned over as you need to be by the time you're halfway down. You do this better as the set goes on.

Stay in your hips on the way up, don't try raising your chest when it gets hard. Stay leaned over and drive hips.

Finally, your elbows may be too high. You only need them high enough to hold the bar solidly on the shelf back there, it looks like you may be cranking them up unnecessarily high. Give this a read for more info: The Elbow Problem | Jordan Feigenbaum

[JFord]

Thank you so much Michael. So get to the right back angle earlier, better hip drive, and adjust elbows. Great.

My only question then about your rec's is, what criteria do I use to determine if my stance is too wide?

John

[Tom Campitelli]

what criteria do I use to determine if my stance is too wide?

Shoulder width is the general starting point and then we eyeball it from there. It is more art than science.

[JFord]

Thank you Tom. Very helpful.

John

[JFord]

As I look at my previous post, it seems to suggest that I was being sarcastic. If you thought that, I apologize Tom! What I meant was that I now know to narrow my stance to shoulder width and just finagle it from there (which is the info I was looking for).

John