Squat Form Check

[gannimal007]

Rip,

Thanks for all your time - I appreciate your willingness to help guys like me get stronger... Even if we aren't skinny kids anymore.

I'm an older novice trainee who is trying to get strong for the first time in my life. I am 35, 6-1, and ~235 lbs (up from 200 last July). I have been following a linear progression a la WFCF for a few months and have seen some good results.

However, I have a question concerning my squat form (below). It looks like I do a good job at shoving my knees out on the way down and at the bottom without my knees sliding forward. I think I'm going past parallel although it's hard to tell from this angle, but, as the weight has been getting heavier, I have noticed a tendency to 'good morning' when coming out of the hole. You can really see it on reps 4 and 5 which cause the barpath to shift forward on it's way up. What should I do to fix this? Any specific cues or things to work on during warm up? I am thinking of going down 30 lbs and building back up but will keep fighting through as long as you say I'm not in danger of screwing myself up. Anything else that you see that I'm doing wrong?

300# x 1 x 5
http://www.vimeo.com/7855705

Thanks again! Your comments/criticisms are highly appreciated.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Looks like it might be time for a reset. When the weight gets heavy, these kinds of technical problems will occur. Normal shit. Reset, and get ready to be an intermediate soon.

[Polynomial]

I have noticed a tendency to 'good morning' when coming out of the hole. You can really see it on reps 4 and 5 which cause the barpath to shift forward on it's way up. What should I do to fix this? Any specific cues or things to work on during warm up?

What helps me with that (besides my friend yelling at me) is to "reset" between reps in that I try to: 1) make sure everything, especially the back and the legs, are tight; 2) feel the weight distributed around my feet (sometimes I wiggle my toes); 3) take a really, really big breath and hold it; 4) focus on keeping my torso slightly more vertical.

I feel like I need to elaborate on #3. I've noticed that sometimes the desire to complete a set causes me to sacrifice Valsalva maneuver prep time and I descend with what appears to be a full breath... But it really isn't. Every time I make sure to lift my chest and take in a really, really deep breath my form improves slightly.

But like Rip said, as the weight gets heavy, this shit is going to happen.

[gannimal007]

Thanks for your time.

I'll reset to 270# on Monday.