Squat Check After Layoff

[Bradley Gish]

I'm coming off of a brief layoff and just wanted to make sure that my form didn't get too sloppy. These are VD sets, final set. Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNUeK6QjrLE

[Brent Carter]

Looks pretty good. Stand all the way up (chest up) between reps. The initial unlocking of the knees and hips is very violent. Try and smooth this out and control your descent at the beginning. Last rep didn't stay mid-foot the whole time but otherwise fine.

[Chris Kurisko]

That was a pretty good looking set. I would agree with all that Mr. Carter mentioned and also say that you could work on getting your nipples pointed at the ground a little earlier in the descend. Also, once you get more controlled on the way down and find the bottom, work on driving your hips up out of the hole with more force.

[Bradley Gish]

Thanks for the feedback guys. The main reason that the initial unlocking of the knees and hips look so violent and exaggerated is because I used to have a problem with not getting my knees out enough and would allow them to cave on the ascent. I was cued to push them out as hard as possible during the descent. I eventually fixed this problem, gut I guess it does look quite animated. Also, something else has been on my mind lately. Often on the last rep, after coming up out of the hole, I find myself at an ultimatum between keeping my knees planted out but not moving( only hip extension, like as in a good morning) or letting my knees cave in just a little while simultaneously driving my hips up. I know that this is like choosing the less of two evils, but which one is more optimal, or preferable? I know the former allows me to get the bar up but with the price of shooting my hips back, and the bar moving forward of mid foot. The latter would allow me to raise up faster, but I don't want to get back in the habit of letting my knees collapse in order to accomplish this

[Brent Carter]

I've worked with a lifter that has the same problem. If you let your knees cave in and continue to train this way it will become a formed habit. My advice to this lifter was to back off on the weight enough to allow for near-perfect execution of the lift and use this as a measuring stick for progress. So your initial instinct of neither is good is correct. Just don't let it happen in your training. If your working up to a competition ok fine but during training is your opportunity to make things right.

[Bradley Gish]

This was another VD set. I ramped my weight back up to 340, which was were I was at before taking my 12 day layoff. They were a lot more difficult this time around though. I tried to incorporate the cues, and I think I was able to smooth things out a bit. This was a tough set. Thanks for your time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOq-cAytes

[Tom Campitelli]

Am I the only one that giggles when someone writes "VD?" Tell me I am not.

[Tom Campitelli]

A 12-day layoff will almost always necessitate a few workouts to get back to where you were. You are descending too slowly and all of your reps, with the potential exception of the last one, were too high. Get deeper, descend more quickly.