Squat form check please

[Pramod Reddy]

Here is my 3rd set of 185lbs:

Squat 185lbs - YouTube

I hit a wall with my squats at 295x5x3 and the form was pretty bad from the videos. I could clearly see my knees sliding forward at bottom and I was relaxing
some muscles to hit depth - in other words, ugly. So I dropped the weight back to practice form for the last week or two. I don't see much of knee slide and depth
seems decent in these. Please comment on any issues you see here.

Thanks!

[Steve Hill]

Bend over right away, point your nipples at the floor. Your knees are going to far forward, because you're not bending over at all. And there's no hip drive to be see whatsoever, making these, for all intents and purposes, front squats with the bar on your back. Bend over more, right away. Drive hips up first and stay with it all the way to the top.

[Pramod Reddy]

Bend over right away, point your nipples at the floor. Your knees are going to far forward, because you're not bending over at all. And there's no hip drive to be see whatsoever, making these, for all intents and purposes, front squats with the bar on your back. Bend over more, right away. Drive hips up first and stay with it all the way to the top.

Thanks for the feedback! I tried to incorporate it all last week and ended with this set today. Do these look any better?

Squat 205lbs - YouTube

[Steve Hill]

A little, but in your zeal to fix one error, you've induced another, and didn't address one of the original ones. You're bending over more (good) but you're doing it by breaking at the hips first, then the knees (bad). hips an knees should break a the same time, with you bending over faster, not first. There's a difference.

Second, do you understand the concept of hip drive? Explain to me what you think it means. Then watch the video and tell me if you think you're doing what you just typed (assuming it's correct).

[Pramod Reddy]

A little, but in your zeal to fix one error, you've induced another, and didn't address one of the original ones. You're bending over more (good) but you're doing it by breaking at the hips first, then the knees (bad). hips an knees should break a the same time, with you bending over faster, not first. There's a difference.

Second, do you understand the concept of hip drive? Explain to me what you think it means. Then watch the video and tell me if you think you're doing what you just typed (assuming it's correct).

I'll answer the question first. No, I don't think I have hip drive in that video. I only manage to get the feeling of hamstrings/adductors being stretched by accident for one or two reps in a workout - so I know the feeling, but can't seem to replicate it consistently. The prerequisite for hip drive is my knees staying put & my hips going all the way down without relaxation or a sudden drop like in the latest video again. It does happen once in a while, but it is not something firmly under my conscious control, yet.

The trouble I've been having with breaking at hips & knees simultaneously only appears when there is a bar/weight on my back; unweighted/body weight I can break them at the same time. With the weight on the back, either knees hesitate to go with the hips or they both start and then knees don't stop resulting in loss of hamstring tension. I read the squat chapter multiple times looking for any cues to solve this issue - so far no success. That is the reason for my experimenting with stances, breaking with hips a bit early etc. Can the issue be that I am not tightening the quads to stop the knees once they are in place?

Here is a video of my trying to break with knees a bit earlier in the descent: Squat 135, knees first - YouTube
I am stopping the knees here, but it feels like a knees first, hips/back second motion instead of both at the same time.


Thanks for all your advice here in general and in the book.

[Steve Hill]

A) you do not understand what hip drive is. Re-read the squat chapter.
B) if you can't make your hips and knees break at the same time, a visit to a coach (so that they can yell at you) is in order.

[Pramod Reddy]

Ha ha, alright. I am joining Wolf's 8 week group strength class from next week. Will let him do the yelling.