Looking for advice on squats

[steven-miller]

I have been working to improve my squat form recently since I had problems with an annoying twisting resulting in a bad bar path and balance problems, loosening up at the bottom and all kinds of other nonsense.
Below are the last work-sets of the last three volume day work-outs in chronological order. Each is a little different in execution and the angle varies a bit as well. Please tell me what you think and what I can further improve upon.

So far I am aware of the following problems:

- still some twisting going on
- need to keep the knees from sliding forward at the bottom / going too deep (especially first and second set)
- some squats are high, but not systematically: work on finding the sweet spot (third set)




Thanks for looking into this!

[Mac Ward]

The only rep that was questionable was your very last rep of your very last set. That being said, I think you last set was your best, and your second to last set, namely the last three reps of the second set were your best.

When you drop in the hole like you do on the first set, you obviously give up tension.

TUBOW is what I would recommend for all of your warm up sets. Get your knees in place early, treat the warm up sets like your heavy sets (mentally), and perfect that movement. I think this will likely help with the variable depth problem on your heavy sets.

You are obviously an experienced lifter, so I will say this: Keep your hamstrings TIGHT throughout the movement. When you relax your hamstrings, your knees will drift forward at the bottom.

TUBOW during warmups will help you learn to do this more "naturally" (although I concede that there is nothing "natural" about weight training.

The only other small tweak I would consider is MAYBE bringing your heals in slightly, they appear to be a bit beyond your shoulders. Nothing drastic, be sure to keep your toes at the proper angle. I'm not sure they are wide, tough to say without being there, but the last angle I thought the might be a SMIDGE wide.

[spacediver]

is that 585 on the bar during the last set?

[steven-miller]

The only rep that was questionable was your very last rep of your very last set. That being said, I think you last set was your best, and your second to last set, namely the last three reps of the second set were your best.

When you drop in the hole like you do on the first set, you obviously give up tension.

TUBOW is what I would recommend for all of your warm up sets. Get your knees in place early, treat the warm up sets like your heavy sets (mentally), and perfect that movement. I think this will likely help with the variable depth problem on your heavy sets.

You are obviously an experienced lifter, so I will say this: Keep your hamstrings TIGHT throughout the movement. When you relax your hamstrings, your knees will drift forward at the bottom.

TUBOW during warmups will help you learn to do this more "naturally" (although I concede that there is nothing "natural" about weight training.

The only other small tweak I would consider is MAYBE bringing your heals in slightly, they appear to be a bit beyond your shoulders. Nothing drastic, be sure to keep your toes at the proper angle. I'm not sure they are wide, tough to say without being there, but the last angle I thought the might be a SMIDGE wide.

Thanks Mac, this feedback is helping me a lot. I have some wood here that I will make usable as TUBOW asap. I read about it in the book, but so far I just did not think about using it myself. Will do so on Monday.

Also, it's good to know that things seem to be heading in the right direction over the last weeks and that I did not get blinded by too many video hours of my own squats.

is that 585 on the bar during the last set?

Haha, I wish it was. That is 195 kg - this is not a well equipped gym. When I am doing 500 for 5 it will be a PR.

[steven-miller]

Would be great to get a follow-up critique on todays last set. I tried to follow Mac's advice and pushed the knees forward early. It feels weird at first, but keeping everything tight seems easier that way. Wonder what you guys have to say about it.

Thank you for taking the time.

[John Petrizzo]

Steven,

I am just seeing this post now, but having watched your videos I agree with Mac's advice completely. Your work set from today looks much better than in your original video. You do a better job of setting your knees forward at the beginning of the descent and do a much better job staying tight in the hole. I had many of the same issues as you have been struggling with at different points, just keep working on what Mac told you and eventually it will become a habit.

Keep up the good work,

JP

[steven-miller]

Steven,

I am just seeing this post now, but having watched your videos I agree with Mac's advice completely. Your work set from today looks much better than in your original video. You do a better job of setting your knees forward at the beginning of the descent and do a much better job staying tight in the hole. I had many of the same issues as you have been struggling with at different points, just keep working on what Mac told you and eventually it will become a habit.

Keep up the good work,

JP

Thanks a lot for having a look, John. Also, it's nice to hear you did overcome your bad habits - makes me optimistic.
There is an upside to having crappy technique: If one makes every thinkable and unthinkable form error at some point, one gains a lot of insights that are otherwise hard to acquire. That is if one tries and is able to correct the faults eventually.