Squat form check

[zackpassman]

This is my first post. I have been reading other posts to get a feel for the forum but I really want to post this form check video because I feel like I'm getting my depth when I squat, but it doesn't look like it in the video. Also, I'm worried my knees are tracking too far forward. My knees have been getting sore during off days after sitting at my office desk for a long time and I'm worried that it's because of my form.

I'm currently lifting in Vibrams as you can see but am preparing to obtain some legit lifting shoes which I mention before people rip me apart.

Anyway... any insight would be super helpful.

Thanks!

https://vimeo.com/69971880

[Brodie Butland]

Try the following:

(1) Narrow your stance a bit. We need your heels at about shoulder width...you're a few inches outside of that. Then really force your knees out hard. This will help you be more stable, and will solve your depth issues.

(2) Take a look at your heels on every rep. You'll notice that your heel lifts up and your weight shifts inward. This is because you're trying to get depth by leaning forward. From now on, focus on sitting back, and plant your knees just about above your toes in the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the descent.

Sitting back will also help your hip drive and your excessively upright back.

Use your mid-foot as a gauge if you're doing all this right. If you feel the weight shift towards the balls of your feet, you're not doing it correctly and need to sit back more.

[zackpassman]

Thanks for the response. I will try a lighter weight next time and focus on my weight shifting (and forcing knees out harder). Could this account for my sore knees on recovery days?

[Brodie Butland]

Thanks for the response. I will try a lighter weight next time and focus on my weight shifting (and forcing knees out harder). Could this account for my sore knees on recovery days?

I would bet a Great Lakes Christmas Ale that your knees will feel a whole lot better once you stop squatting on them.

[zackpassman]

Ok.... I spent the last couple days trying to correct these issues and kept losing my balance backwards until today when I was filing something at work in the bottom file cabinet and got the stretch in my adductors and hamstrings without a balance issue. Realized my forward lean was better offsetting sitting back on my heels and ass more. I was excited to get to the gym to give it a go.

I dropped the weight way down to 185 as my work set which is usually my 2nd to last warm up set. Here's the last work set at 185: https://vimeo.com/70215802

After this, I felt good so I decided to do a set of 5 at 225: https://vimeo.com/70220001

Better? Certainly felt a lot better and I was happy with them based on the video. Anything else I need to improve?

Thanks!

[veryhrm]

Eh. On the 185 set you still have a good deal of knee motion back and forth. Better than the OP, but still too much. May be time for some TUBOW.

The 225 looks better from that point of view but still not quite. Also the stance looks rather wide and at the bottom you're having something going on where either the knees are coming in or the ankles collapse a bit toward each other. Narrower stance and pushing knees out more should still be the focus, imo. In terms of evaluating the video, a consequence of keeping your knees fixed would be that in the bottom third of the motion your ankles also wouldn't move at all. This makes sense if you think about it since the feet are fixed on the ground so any motion in the ankle means that the knee must be moving in space... or that you need more calcium.

(vimeo is really giving me some problems trying to jump back in videos or have more than one tab open. )

[zackpassman]

Hmmm... it looks like my knees drift forward way less on these after the initial movement.... at least to me. I'll keep working on it.

Thanks

[zackpassman]

Ok. Here's today's work sets. I personally think they are much better with one rep here and there not as good. Narrowed stance by 1-2". Really focussed on reaching back with my ass and pushing the knees out.

Set 1 http://vimeo.com/70448696
Set 2 http://vimeo.com/70448728
Set 3 http://vimeo.com/70448760

[zackpassman]

I waited till today, but yes it's true... Brodie was right... my knees feel a hell of a lot better. I'm betting at this rate, in a week it'll be like they never hurt and I was in pain for 2 months

[veryhrm]

I'm glad the pain is diminishing. I agree they're better, but there's still a fair amount of motion.

The best reps i think were set 3: reps 3 & 4. Overall there's still too much knee movement in most of the reps. The movement on the way down seems to be the more critical and that's better controlled (though still not quite there), but you should also keep them there on the way up and that one is less controlled.

Not trying to bag on you or anything, just saying you should keep at it. Have you tried TUBOW or something similar ? i've found it very useful (sometimes i practice it with airsquats in a doorway using the doorjamb in place of TUBOW. (to give a sense of how that would work alignment wise, one of your legs would be in the plane of the door so your body would be at like 45-60 degrees to that plane))