Squat Form check 215 x 5

[waterboys]

Coach Rip,

I am 36 yrs old, 6'0" and 190 lbs with chicken legs (I have long legs and a short torso). I started the program at 165 lbs and am eating about 5000 calories a day.

Can you take a look at my squat form and see if anything looks off? The video is of 215 lbs. I am at 225 lbs now, but they were starting to get hard at 215. They are really hard at 225. The drive up at 225 has slowed down even more than the last rep in the video. It feels like I'm about to stall so I'm wondering if there is a form/technique issue.

I posted awhile back about problems with lack of hip drive and depth. I got to 210 before I corrected those, and I had to drop the weight down to 185 and start back up. One thing I was noticing is that it doesn't look like my knees travel very far forward initially (they don't appear to be out over the toes). Is this a problem?

Any comments are appreciated.

Here's the video. Thank you for your time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbPjoFBO_SI

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don't think your knees are far enough forward, but you may have short femurs. I can't see angles and such in this video. But it is definitely time for some shoes.

[waterboys]

Thanks for looking. I'll get a video from an angle.
I just got some VS Dynamos. I'm trying to get used to them. I wanted to try the Rip shoes but Rogue was out in my size.

Assuming my knees aren't going forward enough, what effect does that have on the difficulty? Screw up hip drive? Short femurs relative to what? back?


Thanks again.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If your knees aren't far enough forward, you don't have enough quad in the knee extension. If your femurs are short relative to your tibias, your knees will be where they appear to be in this video.

[Dave 321]

Also, less knee travel means you'll be leaning over more.

Shoes may also help with this... Even if they didn't, it is a good idea to have them.