225 Squat PR! Form Check

[theselfreliant]

BW is 155 lbs, and this is the first time I squat 225 lbs! Vids are down below, and I'll add some points:







From what I can tell, my form is not too bad: I hit parallel, keep back sort of straight, and keep head down (too down?). My lower back feels uncomfortable after sets, with a sort of dull pain that doesn't bother too much but is way worse during deadlifts. Am I not flexing the back as I should?

One thing I noticed is that with a heavy (for me ) weight like this, when I struggle with the rep my hips drive up first and then my torso, which may or may not be a bad thing.

Thanks for the help!

[Kelli Nielson]

Get some lifters. Narrow your stance and shove your knees out hard. Stop trying to pull your chest up as you descend. Nipples toward the floor and push your ass back farther.


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[spacediver]

few things I did notice:

You need to work on keeping your knees shoved out during the ascent.
You're lifting your head up when you ascend.
On reps 1 and 2 in the side view, your knees come forward too much during the descent. Reps 3, 4 and 5 looked better in this respect.
Your back looks fine to me - I don't see any flexion in the lumbar or thoracic spine (but again, don't hyperextend your cervical spine, look DOWN).
Have you tried wrapping your thumbs around the bar instead of under them?

I'll leave others to comment on hip drive, as I'm not yet confident enough with my eye here.

edit: didn't see Kelli's post until after I had made mine, wasn't trying to out do u Kelli

[theselfreliant]

few things I did notice:

You need to work on keeping your knees shoved out during the ascent.

I definitely have noticed this and every time I go up to the bar I think about shoving the knees out but it takes a lot of work and its easy to forget. Also, lifting the weight feels much harder when I do shove the knees out (though not the reason why I don't do it).

I do notice arching my head up when going up. This happens when I'm struggling. I guess psychologically it must be me trying to 'reach' up with my chest and climb out desperately.

[Brodie Butland]

I definitely have noticed this and every time I go up to the bar I think about shoving the knees out but it takes a lot of work and its easy to forget. Also, lifting the weight feels much harder when I do shove the knees out (though not the reason why I don't do it).

I do notice arching my head up when going up. This happens when I'm struggling. I guess psychologically it must be me trying to 'reach' up with my chest and climb out desperately.

Put a colorful water bottle on the floor and stare at it from the time you unrack to the time you rerack. That may help.

If that doesn't work, try putting your struggling energy into jamming the bar harder into your back at the sticking point rather than "pulling up" with your head.

The looking up part is screwing up your hip drive, so we definitely want to fix that pronto.

[theselfreliant]

Put a colorful water bottle on the floor and stare at it from the time you unrack to the time you rerack. That may help.

If that doesn't work, try putting your struggling energy into jamming the bar harder into your back at the sticking point rather than "pulling up" with your head.

The looking up part is screwing up your hip drive, so we definitely want to fix that pronto.

Thanks! This is a great idea which I will use next time. I didn't think the looking up could really screw up the hip drive, but we'll see on Monday when I fix it.