Squat Issue

[jimb1959]

I'm an old guy, (50) working through the SS program. SS has worked out very well, and the book and DVD opened my eyes to what legitimate strength training is composed of, but I did alter the program from 3 days a week to 2 days to allow for Old Dude recovery and some suspect joints that were injured years ago. All is fine, and my suspect shoulder and knee actually feel BETTER.

However this is the first time I have ever attempted to do PROPER squats. I started very light, used only 5 pound increases, and worked on depth, but somewhere along the line I started going more shallow without really catching it. Yesterday I reset my depth and learned to feel it, then in my working sets I got smashed, 4, 2, 1. I'm pretty sure my hip drive is good, but Bar speed was slow all the way through.

So my question is... do I attempt to work through the current weight and try and adapt to the proper depth on the fly, or should I reset or deload? I'm guessing my form started drifting when I hit the 200lb mark. (My last workout was at 220lbs) My D.L. is only 35Lbs ahead of my Squat because I kept monkeying around with it, but I am progressing well on that lift so I think my lower back is fine.

Any advice would be great. Thanks. And by the way, your program works very well for old guys, even though I tweaked the frequency of the workouts and decreased the volume of whole milk by half.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If your estimate of your squat strength is based on a high squat, you'll have to reset back down. Since that part of the ROM didn't get worked, it won't be able to adapt "on the fly" as you say, since if it was strong enough you wouldn't be having this problem. This is the bad part about no coaching -- problems with depth develop and you don't know.

[LarsM]

Starting a log on this (or other) forums and posting vids is one way of preventing form creep. Having an intelligent workout partner also helps a lot. I would have paid very good money to have a coach (especially at the start of SS), but there are ways to minimize the trouble of not having one.

[jimb1959]

This is the bad part about no coaching -- problems with depth develop and you don't know.

No doubt. But a few good books and video go a long way if you can rely on the principles and techniques, and you are willing to humble yourself.

Thanks for the advice on the reset. I'll do that. You do good work, man.

[Steve Hill]

If your estimate of your squat strength is based on a high squat, you'll have to reset back down. Since that part of the ROM didn't get worked, it won't be able to adapt "on the fly" as you say, since if it was strong enough you wouldn't be having this problem. This is the bad part about no coaching -- problems with depth develop and you don't know.

Little video cameras are cheap - and effective once you learn to look at video.

Camera placement is easy to learn. And if you buy one with a decent LCD screen, you can look at your own technique between sets.

Speaking of which, were did the squat form analysis stick go? That was a very valuable tool for me to see what YOU were looking for, Rip.