Squat form check please???

[vjohn82]

Hi,

I'm in the UK and it seems no-one deadlifts or squats within a 100 mile radius; therefore no-one around to check my form. The staff in the gym would prefer me to use the range of specialist machinery they purchased rather than hide out in the back room with the solitary squat rack.

I was up to 100kg on front squats then switched to low bar ones... got upto 140kg... then read some of SS and incorporated hip drive... injured my back on 115kg. So it's now a case of working back in so I did these at 80kg with a set at 90kg.

Still struggling with back but I want to know if my form is ok or if I need to be doing something different to prevent future lower back injury? They have been taken from a range of angles and are pretty much consistent (whether bad or good).

Any help is really appreciated!

1

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

2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2JkaKXWmm0

3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2IrZ6eCEIM

4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOi6AcXmr_Q

5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kci4oFfsE0o

[Soc]

I might be wrong but these look like high bar to me and as far as i know hip drive and high bar dont mix well because you just end up doing a good morning. This is probably what injured your back. Lower the bar and re-record it.

Anyone correct me if im wrong though.

[Steve Hill]

Soc is correct in that you have the bar in a high bar position. You need to re-read the book on how to position the bar on your back. The explanation is clear and easy to understand, since I'm a dumbass and was able to get it right.

Soc is not correct that a high-bar squat, along with "hip drive" will cause / lead to back injuries per se. Your form that you exhibit in these videos, however, certainly could. It seems that your idea of "hip drive" is to shoot your hips back / up, which is incorrect. Hips should drive straight up out of the hole - there is no lateral component to it.

So, fix your bar position, and review the hip drive section of the book, and try it again. If yo can't get hip drive down, you can't squat - high bar OR low bar. So you have to fix that first. Do this, and go about an inch deeper. Then read the sticky at the top of the forum, and film another video.

[vjohn82]

The bar is below my traps. My mate squats with the bar in just behind his neck which I assumed was the high bar position.

[vjohn82]

Probably explains why I end up doing good morning style squats at a really heavy weight!

[sking1001]

I might be wrong but these look like high bar to me

Nice catch, Soc! I watched these videos a few times and never even noticed the bar position...duh. It may not be "high bar", but the bar is too high.