Squat Check, Coming Back From Mild Knee Injury And Haven't Squatted In Quite A While

Shared album - Mitchell Smith - Google Photos

Turn the sound off unless you want to hear me coughing in your ear during setup.

This was my first back squat session in probably 6 months or so. I didn't push the load that much, and was trying to focus on balance and pelvic positioning. I did throw on my belt and do 3x5 with this same weight after this set.


Here is what I see.

1. Balance isn't perfect. There's a lot of re-adjustment and me having to consciously move my weight back to my mid foot after each rep. Hopefully just doing this deliberately and keeping "mid foot" and "press the big toe down" in my head will fix this.
2. Might be getting loose in the bottom. I know my lumbar spine isn't relaxing, but I may be losing some of my core tightness.
3. First rep was clean. Maybe I need to slow my descent to match the speed of that rep to stay in proper balance. I know Stan Efferding is notorious for descending slowly in the squat and when he was asked why he did that he said "if I go any faster I lose my balance". Obviously I don't need to be that slow, but slower than reps 2 and 3.
4. I got out of my knees on the last rep, should have kept them set forward during the first part of the ascent.

Thanks

Are you sure that's a low bar position?

The torso is too vertical for my taste. Also, don't just stand there for 14 seconds with a barbell on your back before attempting a rep. A work-set filmed from better angle would be great.

A couple things jump out. First off, your feet don't look like they're pointed out 30 degrees, which if true is going to make it harder to shove your knees out which in turn will make it easier to sink back into your hips more (as opposed to sinking forward into your knees which is seems like you're doing here). I could be wrong here too, but it looks like you're going down further than parallel which is unnecessary and is going to make it harder to keep your lumbar area tight. And keep your gaze 4' in front of you on the ground.

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Originally Posted by Ivan Stepic

Are you sure that's a low bar position?

The torso is too vertical for my taste. Also, don't just stand there for 14 seconds with a barbell on your back before attempting a rep. A work-set filmed from better angle would be great.

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Thanks for weighing in.

Yep, low bar position, angle is just odd.

The back angle is literally 50 or 55 degrees in the hole. I'm not sure what you're looking at.

I don't typically wait that long, but I've got an entirely new setup process and queues to remember since I was coming off injury, so I was trying to get everything set up right before starting...not a big deal since it was light. Obviously this will speed up more when the setup becomes habit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Justin Smale

A couple things jump out. First off, your feet don't look like they're pointed out 30 degrees, which if true is going to make it harder to shove your knees out which in turn will make it easier to sink back into your hips more (as opposed to sinking forward into your knees which is seems like you're doing here). I could be wrong here too, but it looks like you're going down further than parallel which is unnecessary and is going to make it harder to keep your lumbar area tight. And keep your gaze 4' in front of you on the ground.

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Thanks for weighing in.

I can assure you they're 30, possibly 35. My depth suffers substantially with any narrower toe position.

The knee forward is intentional and necessary. I actually had the opposite issue from the outset of starting squatting low bar 2 years ago. See Austin Baraki's explanation here: YouTube My hips were too far back, lower back in hyperextension instead of standard extension, and weight over the heels. This caused much more forward lean and a lot of balance issues. Also made it impossible to drive hard out of the hole, I had no POP at all. I can honestly say that today's set was the first time I actually felt my quads in a set of low bar squats, and the first time I was able to take advantage of the stretch reflex in the hole. Felt pretty damned good.

You aren't in low bar position and you aren't bent over on the way down. These are high bar squats. Really, they are.

Fix your bar position. Get the barbell just below the spine of the scapula.

Get your toes out 30 degrees. (they aren't), shove your knees out, and bend over on the way down. Get your chest down between your knees.

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Originally Posted by Karl Schudt

You aren't in low bar position and you aren't bent over on the way down. These are high bar squats. Really, they are.

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Son of a bitch, you're right! Good eye. I just grabbed a broomstick and did a little playing around with bar position in my office. Where I had it isn't exactly what I'd call high bar...but sort of a "mid-bar" position. Wasn't sitting up on top of the traps, but wasn't fully in the low bar position either. I can't feel the spine of my scapula worth a damn. All I know is that my shoulders don't even like the mid-bar position, so I'll have to work on that.

Most people can feel the spine of the scapula distally, out toward the joint.

Try the Paul Horn stretch. Don't bend your wrists when you do it.

Low Bar Position Stretch | Paul Horn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karl Schudt

Most people can feel the spine of the scapula distally, out toward the joint.

Try the Paul Horn stretch. Don't bend your wrists when you do it.

Low Bar Position Stretch | Paul Horn

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Yeah I can get it distally, just can't proximally.

I'll start working that Horn stretch into the warm ups to aid comfort. I can get the bar below the scapular spine, it just requires a little wider grip than I'd like (thumbs at power rings) and there's a ton of pressure jammed up in the front of the shoulders. That being said, I don't remember this being an issue at the beginning of 2018 when I did LP, and I'm pretty confident I was actually squatting with it in the correct position back then because I had the opposite squat issues that I have in the above video. Anterior pelvic tilt, too much forward lean, hips too far back, not enough forward knee travel. I think I've just overshot a little in my workings at getting back into the middle.

Thanks