Squat form check, please

[Supertec]

First video I've put up

This is my first work set at 117.5 kg. To my untrained eye, my form doesn't look too bad, but any constructive criticism would be appreciated.

[Milo's Ghost]

Decent for a near-limit set. Let's make them better.

1) You're going too deep. Just below parallel is all you need. The problem with going as low as you are is a) it makes the lift harder than it needs to be without doing anything that we want, like getting more muscle involved or training a full ROM; and b) it forces you to round your lower back at the bottom. Which you are.
2) You could be tighter. Going less deep will help. Squeezing your abs HARD will too. Also narrow your grip and squeeze your shoulder blades together to keep your upper back tighter.
3) Keep your chest up. Which is done with your upper back. Your back angle collapses a bit as the reps get harder. Your back angle should be constant out of the hole.
4) Hip drive. You're going back out of the hole; you want to go STRAIGHT UP. Watch your knees - see how they go back out of the hole, changing the angle of your shins? You want your knees to be anchored coming out of the hole and DRIVE YOUR HIPS UP to get the weight going. When you nail this part, you'll be amazed at how much easier the set feels.
5) Knees out much harder. They're coming in at the bottom. Point your toes out maybe 10 degrees more. And you may want your stance to be an inch or two wider - it's not egregiously close but it'll make you a little more stable.
6) This just may be the angle of the video but it seems like you're not quite standing all the way up. Do.

This seems like a lot but they're mostly connected. Get tight, shove your knees out, hit the hole and then BAM straight up with your hips.

Work on all these and post another video. No need to deload, just focus on technique, especially on your warmup sets. Good luck.

[Supertec]

Thanks, Milo - lots of stuff to work on, but I'm glad it's not crazy bad. Always good to have something to concentrate on.

Also narrow your grip and squeeze your shoulder blades together to keep your upper back tighter.

Of all the advice, this is the bit I might have trouble with. When I started squatting the SS way, I had my grip in about the position you see in the video. As I put the weight up over a few weeks, I tried narrowing the grip, and started suffering elbow pain, which has receded as I've gone back to a wider grip. I did notice that my wrists weren't straight before going back wider, which may have been a contributing factor.

I'm doing light squats today, going up to 80% of my work sets, as I've started to feel that I'm not able to recover fully within 48 hours - deadlifting after heavy squats is becoming difficult as well.

I'll use today's sets to work on my technique, and post a video of my work sets at 117.5kg again on Monday.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

[Milo's Ghost]

Yup, low bar in general and narrowing your grip in particular can cause elbow pain even if your wrists are straight and your arms aren't supporting the bar. It usually recedes. I had the same issue for a while - I'm about as flexible as a creditor during a financial crisis - so I did a couple things to deal with it. First, I narrowed my grip slowly, like a finger-width every week. Second - and I still do this, actually - I start my warmups with a wider grip and go progressively closer each warmup set. I make sure to hit where I want for the last warmup or two and my work sets. I used together pretty bad elbow pain but now I've adapted to it and it's not an issue.

You don't absolutely have to narrow your grip - lots of dudes have lifted big weights with a fairly wide grip - but it tightens everything up and locks the bar in place better. Do your best.

Adding in a light squat day is fine for the weights you're lifting. You should be able to get well above three plates that way. You should do it in the middle of your three day lifting schedule - e.g. Weds if you're lifting MWF. You can deadlift on Weds or Mon. I prefer Mon so that Weds can be a true light/recovery day, but I'd you're just too smoked to DL on Mon, try Weds and see how it works for you.

Happy to help. Post another vid Monday and I'll take a look.

[Charlie Davies]

Supertec, you seem to be wearing running shoes in this video. Look at your last rep -- your weight shifts back and the heel squishes under you, you almost fall over backwards.

Get real weightlifting shoes with non-compressible heels if you can. Short of that, no shoes or flat-soled shoes like chuck taylors or VFFs.

[Supertec]

Supertec, you seem to be wearing running shoes in this video. Look at your last rep -- your weight shifts back and the heel squishes under you, you almost fall over backwards.

Thanks, I noticed my feet moving back and forward on most reps too. I wore my old Adidas Sambas yesterday, and they felt a bit more stable.

[Supertec]

Another video:



Not going so deep, but my knees still go back on the way back up. Something to focus on. Back angle is less prone to collapse as a result of not going so far below parallel.

[Milo's Ghost]

Not working for me.

Also don't enbed videos, harder to open on a mobile device.

[Supertec]

Not working for me.

Also don't enbed videos, harder to open on a mobile device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EMHjAhk6hc&feature=em

Here's the link.

[Milo's Ghost]

Sorry dude, still not working. 'Video unavailable' the ol' YouTube monster tells me.