Squat form check

[firemed839]

Hey Coach,
A couple of us at my fire dept. have been doing SS now for about 2-3 months. I have gone up on my squats and made increases in everything else. I had a lower back problem a few months ago and got it straightened out by a chiropractor. I'm up to 215 x 3 x 5 on my squats. I still feel a twinge in my back and just wanted to make sure my form was good. Sorry the video is not that great. Our gym is not very conducive to Rippeterian's like ourselves. Thanks for your time coach. This is my first vid so I hope I posted it right.

Firemed839

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDMSYZtyB18

[Mark Rippetoe]

See how your knees are pulling back as you drive up out of the bottom? Your quads are straightening out your knees without moving the bar up when this happens, and it occurs because your hamstring tension failed to "anchor" your back angle, and your hamstrings and calves failed to hold your knee angle in position so that your quads could do their job of opening the knee while moving the load. Tighten up your legs by squeezing all the way down to the floor before you go down and see if this helps.

[firemed839]

Thank you so much for the input Coach. I am going to re-read the squat chapter in SS when I get home. I know I may sound stupid and you can slam me for my stupidity but I'm confused on how to tighten and squeeze on the way down before I go down. I hope to come to a cert soon but any further advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for providing your expertise.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You squeeze on the way down by tightening all your muscles from the floor up into isometric contraction before you start the descent, and then loosen just enough to start down.

[firemed839]

I gotcha. Thank you for the input coach. I'm sure I'll be posting a video soon to see if I can get it right.