6'4" 164 lbs 32 years old - Squat Form Check

[Stephen Abbonizio]

Hello!

This is my first post like this, so please forgive me for anything that I might not understand or post that is common sense or some such other stupid thing or a too lengthy post.

There are no SS coaches in the Philadelphia area that I can find and after reading SS 3rd Ed., I am untrustworthy of most gym personal trainers. I don't have any workout partner or know anyone that lifts, and I have learned everything I know about working out from Tim Ferriss, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Starting Strength. I have watched some of Alan Thrall's content about the squat and diet and found it helpful. I have read the movements portion of SS twice over, and I the programming book up through the beginner programming. I decided I would just try and get as good as I can at the basics and then continue on reading. So far, in the past 5 or so weeks, I started at 155 pounds and I have gotten myself up to 164.5 pounds. I have been overeating as much as I can, trying to just eat the same meals each day with a goal of 4000-5000 calories and settling for falling a little short.

It seems to be working but I have plateaued at the squat at 165. Here is a video of my squat. I have three or four different camera angles because I was unsure what was best to post, and I did it before I read here about the best practices. Therefore, there are three or four angles in one video, so please feel free to just watch whatever you would like. Here is a link to a google sheet of my workouts that have been tracked through the SS app.

I made pretty good progress, but I noticed that my adductors have remained sore for the past two weeks (I haven't worked out for a full week because of a soccer lateral knee injury), and I can't find this issue anywhere else on the forum. I do not have any pain at the bottom of the squat. I have a dull pain as I'm entering the top of the squat when my hips are rotating back into the extended position. I am thinking it might be because my stance is too wide, but I'm hoping to hear what you guys think. Also, regardless of whether I am feeling the adductor soreness or strain in the groin prior to squatting, once I begin the warm-ups and get into my work set, I don't feel that it holds me back from pushing through my work set or to failure.

I have never worked out a day in my life and my goal is to reach 200 pounds. I'm a hard gainer with very skinny genetics but an above average propensity to learn and kinesthetic/athletic ability. Thanks for your time!

Squat - 165
Press - 100
Deadlift - 250
Bench - 125

[Dillon Spencer]

Welcome!

These are pretty decent ass to grass, high bar squats, if you're into that kind of thing Try to get the bar a little further down your back. There are lots of great videos about this on YouTube. Quit staring at yourself in the mirror! You need to pick a spot on the floor a few feet in front of you and stare at that. Get bent over more, and stay there as you drive your hips up out of the hole. Currently, you're leading with your chest. You're also going a lot deeper than you have to. Look at your side view. You're going ass to grass. Cut it off when the crease of your hip is just below your kneecap. Basically, you're currently doing all the things that reduce the contribution of your big strong posterior chain muscles, which is probably why your squat is so stuck so light. Learn to bring all the rest of that musculature to the party and these will feel a lot lighter. That being said, it's hard to believe you're really plateaued when these are moving pretty quickly. They may be feeling heavy, but they're barely slowing down, even with suboptimal technique. Sort that out and you have many more gains ahead! Try it out and post another video!

[Jstrause]

I live near Bethlehem, PA and drove about an hour and a half to see Adam Skillen in NJ. It was well worth the drive and I would highly recommend it.

[Stephen Abbonizio]

Welcome!

These are pretty decent ass to grass, high bar squats, if you're into that kind of thing Try to get the bar a little further down your back. There are lots of great videos about this on YouTube. Quit staring at yourself in the mirror! You need to pick a spot on the floor a few feet in front of you and stare at that. Get bent over more, and stay there as you drive your hips up out of the hole. Currently, you're leading with your chest. You're also going a lot deeper than you have to. Look at your side view. You're going ass to grass. Cut it off when the crease of your hip is just below your kneecap. Basically, you're currently doing all the things that reduce the contribution of your big strong posterior chain muscles, which is probably why your squat is so stuck so light. Learn to bring all the rest of that musculature to the party and these will feel a lot lighter. That being said, it's hard to believe you're really plateaued when these are moving pretty quickly. They may be feeling heavy, but they're barely slowing down, even with suboptimal technique. Sort that out and you have many more gains ahead! Try it out and post another video!

Hi Dillon. Thanks for the reply. I do look at the floor before I start the squat, and I lift my eyes up to look at my hips at the bottom to make sure they are below my knees. I will work on memorizing that feeling instead of looking. Honestly, I knew the bar was too high on my back. I have tried to go lower on my back but I'm so skinny that the bar is just resting on my shoulder blades and it's very uncomfortable. I was hoping that I was finding some happy medium resting it on the little muscle I do have under my neck. I will re-read the section on the squat about bar placement. I guess as I press more I will build more muscle there and it will get better. Also, I can finish a 155 and 160 work set without too much trouble, but as soon as I go up to 165 or 170, and obviously I understand I'm doing the movement wrong, I can barely finish the first set, and then I'm failing on number 4 of the second set, and number 3 or 4 on the third set. I also am wiggling my hips and legs around quite a bit while pushing very hard to finish those squats. That is what I mean by plateau. I'm not seeing any progress being made after rest on those workouts, whereas on every other workout I have been able to add 10 pounds or 5 pounds consistently of growth. You didn't mention anything about the hips rotating back into extension and the pain I'm feeling there, so if that's because this is the wrong forum for it, then I can take it elsewhere, but I'll assume it's because of the placement of the bar.

One final unrelated question that you may be able to answer. I have noticed with my deadlift that I am feeling a lot of pressure in my lower back, almost like it really wants to round or slip, and I squeeze and keep it as extended as possible. I have read that I don't need to add a belt into the workout until much higher weights, and I don't have a history of any back injuries, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't running the risk of slipping a disk or something (yes I know 250 pound deadlift is pretty light) because I'm skinny and thought that the ratio of weight lifted to body weight is what called for using a belt rather than just the overall load weight in general.

I will lower the bar and try some more squats and post a video at some point next week. Have a great week!

Best,

Stephen

[Stephen Abbonizio]

I live near Bethlehem, PA and drove about an hour and a half to see Adam Skillen in NJ. It was well worth the drive and I would highly recommend it.

Thank you Jstrause! I will look into that today. I have no issue going to see someone and paying for it and I appreciate the recommendation. I was assuming that I would need to regularly visit, which is why I said I didn't feel that there were any coaches in the area. Philadelphia sounds like it's a market that has potential.

Have a great week, sir!

Best,

Stephen

[Dillon Spencer]

Hi Dillon. Thanks for the reply. I do look at the floor before I start the squat, and I lift my eyes up to look at my hips at the bottom to make sure they are below my knees. I will work on memorizing that feeling instead of looking. Honestly, I knew the bar was too high on my back. I have tried to go lower on my back but I'm so skinny that the bar is just resting on my shoulder blades and it's very uncomfortable. I was hoping that I was finding some happy medium resting it on the little muscle I do have under my neck. I will re-read the section on the squat about bar placement. I guess as I press more I will build more muscle there and it will get better. Also, I can finish a 155 and 160 work set without too much trouble, but as soon as I go up to 165 or 170, and obviously I understand I'm doing the movement wrong, I can barely finish the first set, and then I'm failing on number 4 of the second set, and number 3 or 4 on the third set. I also am wiggling my hips and legs around quite a bit while pushing very hard to finish those squats. That is what I mean by plateau. I'm not seeing any progress being made after rest on those workouts, whereas on every other workout I have been able to add 10 pounds or 5 pounds consistently of growth. You didn't mention anything about the hips rotating back into extension and the pain I'm feeling there, so if that's because this is the wrong forum for it, then I can take it elsewhere, but I'll assume it's because of the placement of the bar.

One final unrelated question that you may be able to answer. I have noticed with my deadlift that I am feeling a lot of pressure in my lower back, almost like it really wants to round or slip, and I squeeze and keep it as extended as possible. I have read that I don't need to add a belt into the workout until much higher weights, and I don't have a history of any back injuries, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't running the risk of slipping a disk or something (yes I know 250 pound deadlift is pretty light) because I'm skinny and thought that the ratio of weight lifted to body weight is what called for using a belt rather than just the overall load weight in general.

I will lower the bar and try some more squats and post a video at some point next week. Have a great week!

Best,

Stephen

A peek is one thing, but from your videos it looks like you're staring at the mirror pretty much the entire time. I actually find the videos on the squat grip even more helpful than the book, because you can see coaches actually correcting real live people. Worth a look!

What are your rest periods like between your sets? If you can go 5,4,3 or something like that, a couple more minutes of rest in between sets might help you grind out those last couple of reps. A bit of wiggling around is pretty common as long you can overcome it without your form totally falling apart, like your knees totally caving in or something. You seem to do a good job of keeping your knees out though, so I bet you could grind them out if you fix that bar position and get better at staying in your hips.

I left the pain issue alone because I'm not a coach and don't have much experience with which form issues might manifest as pain where. Can you be more specific about where it hurts? Coaches frequent this forum so if you can describe it I'm sure they could be of more assistance.

As for your deadlift, that sounds like about par for the course! Of course your back wants to round or slip! It's pulling a heavy ass barbell! Without video we can't say for sure, but it could very easily be that the "pressure" is just your back working to maintain the proper position. Do you have video of it? If you're worried about your back, just add a belt. I really don't think it's going to hurt your progress. It actually helps the core muscles contract harder, so all the talk about a belt leading to a weak core seems like unnecessary concern.

I just went through your log a bit, and I don't see any workouts where you missed reps. Looks like it's pretty much successful 5s across, except for a 5,5,0 at 155. The biggest red flag I see is that you've only gained 10 lbs in two months. That's not horrible or anything, but this early in LP you could probably stand to be a bit more aggressive with the weight gain, as much of a challenge as that may be for you. I made that mistake myself, and had to try to play catch up later in LP.

Have you read this?
The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

I've never seen a coach in person, but I hear they can work magic in a single session. I'm sure it's worth a visit, even if it's only a one time thing!

[Stephen Abbonizio]

A peek is one thing, but from your videos it looks like you're staring at the mirror pretty much the entire time. I actually find the videos on the squat grip even more helpful than the book, because you can see coaches actually correcting real live people. Worth a look!

What are your rest periods like between your sets? If you can go 5,4,3 or something like that, a couple more minutes of rest in between sets might help you grind out those last couple of reps. A bit of wiggling around is pretty common as long you can overcome it without your form totally falling apart, like your knees totally caving in or something. You seem to do a good job of keeping your knees out though, so I bet you could grind them out if you fix that bar position and get better at staying in your hips.

I left the pain issue alone because I'm not a coach and don't have much experience with which form issues might manifest as pain where. Can you be more specific about where it hurts? Coaches frequent this forum so if you can describe it I'm sure they could be of more assistance.

As for your deadlift, that sounds like about par for the course! Of course your back wants to round or slip! It's pulling a heavy ass barbell! Without video we can't say for sure, but it could very easily be that the "pressure" is just your back working to maintain the proper position. Do you have video of it? If you're worried about your back, just add a belt. I really don't think it's going to hurt your progress. It actually helps the core muscles contract harder, so all the talk about a belt leading to a weak core seems like unnecessary concern.

I just went through your log a bit, and I don't see any workouts where you missed reps. Looks like it's pretty much successful 5s across, except for a 5,5,0 at 155. The biggest red flag I see is that you've only gained 10 lbs in two months. That's not horrible or anything, but this early in LP you could probably stand to be a bit more aggressive with the weight gain, as much of a challenge as that may be for you. I made that mistake myself, and had to try to play catch up later in LP.

Have you read this?
The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

I've never seen a coach in person, but I hear they can work magic in a single session. I'm sure it's worth a visit, even if it's only a one time thing!

Hey Dillon,

It's been great to hear from you so frequently. Thanks so much for the attention you have given me and for what I can see are a lot of other people on this forum.

Thank you for all the feedback. I actually already spoke to Adam Skillin so that's probably going to be very beneficial for me.

I have been using the default rest periods of 180 seconds in the SS app. I'm sure that I can add more time so that I can finish the reps because it does seem like cumulative fatigue is the reason why I can't complete the reps.

The pain is just a soreness that I can feel very dull inside both hip joints as they rotate vertical again. As the hips are rotating back into the standing position, the pain increases from 0-4 through the final 1/3 of the end of the movement. Once I'm standing the pain is gone. Deep in the hole there is no pain either. Not sure how else to explain it.

That all sounds good about the deadlift. I was feeling pretty strong with it, but I just wanted to be sure it was normal and that there wasn't an additional amount of risk I didn't know about.

The log isn't totally accurate because I'm not sure if the app allows you to log the amount of reps that you could complete, so even if I failed on a set, once you move to the next set, it assumes you completed 5.

I definitely have some digestive problems and I'm sure I'm not eating enough. I was surprised that I was able to even gain the 10 pounds that I have, but I have already lost 2 from not working out for a week because of work/knee injury from soccer, so I'm sure it's going to be a long road for me regardless. You are the man, Dillon.

Have a great night!

Stephen

[Paulbfast]

I suggest you get a belt, weightlifting shoes, stop playing soccer until your NLP is over, rest longer between sets and see Coach Adam Skillin. The last being the most important.