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Squat Form Check 107,5 kg
Good Day Dear Starting Strength People,
I have been following the program for around 2 months now, progress has been steady on all lifts.
But the last few workouts my squat has been a struggle (pretty much since I passed 100kg).
Today's squat at 107,5kg:
First set: TRIM 20170705 095721 - Sendvid
Second set: TRIM 20170705 100508 - Sendvid
Third set: TRIM 20170705 101311 - Sendvid
(For the future: Suggestions for improvement of the filming?)
Before anyone asks:
1. How long are you resting between sets?
I'm not timing the rest, so I could be wrong, but I'd estimate 3-5 minutes.
I go by feel and do the next set when I feel "fresh and ready" again. The complete workout takes around an hour.
2. How big a jump are you taking in weight on the bar between workouts?
Currently 2,5kg on the squat. Which really shouldn't be too much at this point.
3. How much, and what, are you eating, and are you getting enough sleep?
I'm not tracking my calories, but I eat 2-3 good meals and a couple of snacks every day.
Meat, Eggs and dairy pretty much every day. And some fruits and veggies.
Carbs with every meal: Bread, Pasta, Rice, Potatoes. I supplement with Creatine, Fish Oil, Zinc, Magnesium and occasionally Whey Protein.
I sleep 8-9 hours every night, on a regular schedule.
I've lost a bit of weight because I was sick last week, but my squat was already struggling before that, when I was slowly gaining weight.
I already gained back some of what I lost, so nutrition-wise I should be fine.
Also, as all other lifts are progressing with no problems at all, I doubt that it's a general recovery issue.
(My other lifts are: Press 62,5kg 3x5, Bench 77,5kg 3x5, Power Clean 62,5kg 5x3, Deadlift 135kg 1x5)
A possibility would be that it's just my legs and hips that aren't recovering enough, as I also bike regularly.
Anything I can do to help recovery for legs and hips in particular? (Other than "stop biking").
I'm 1,70m tall (or short) and currently weigh 73kg. I was 75-76kg before I got sick.
I know I should probably be in the mid to high 80s to optimize my strength... I'm working on that.
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1) There's a stickied post at the top of this sub forum with extensive detail on how to best film form checks.
2) You are probably pushing your knees forward at the bottom of your squat. Learn how to set them in place over your toes.
3) Stay in your hips longer out of the bottom, you start lifting with your chest when you should still be driving your hips up.
4) At some point, the weights get heavy, and that's just how it is. For every person doing the program.
5) You should track your calories, at least for a few weeks, so you can see if you are really eating as much as you think you are. Most people aren't, and do not realize it until they track for a while.
6) Yes, biking will interfere with your recovery.
7 ) Welconme to the forum, spend some time reading the stickied posts, and other posts. You'll find answers to most of your questions simply by reading or searching the forum.
8) Read Rip's article called something along the lines of "the first three questions"
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1) Yeah, I only re-read the sticky after recording these videos. Still, specifics as to what I could improve would be helpful - unless it's already perfectly fine of course.
From what I can tell, the 45° rear view is best. Obviously I can't film from the front, there's a wall. Not sure about Side/Back View - are they useful?
2) I don't think so. They move forward to where they need to be when I go down, but it seems like they move in and back a bit when I start the ascent.
3) All I think when I go up is "Hip Drive", not sure how I could focus any more on that...
4) I know, the thing is they don't just feel "heavy", they feel "wrong". My other lifts are starting to feel heavy too, but other than that, they're fine. I just push harder, maybe grind a bit and finish the reps. The squat just feels bad. And it has always been that way. I've been lifting for a while, only recently started doing proper SS Lowbar squats, before that I absolutely wanted to only do "high bar atg". Which had the same issue as now. At a certain weight - right around 105-110kg - they start to feel "wrong". And not only that, I can tell from the videos that they're inconsistent. I seemingly randomly shift onto my toes and lean forward. My knees cave in and my feet collapse.
At least one thing I think I can tell from watching the videos again, it could be that I don't start over mid-foot, but over my heel, and the weight moves forward to the right spot when I descend, and this change of balance irritates me at the bottom and I basically "panic"...
5) As I said, I was gaining weight before I got sick, so I'm pretty sure lack of calories isn't the problem. Still, I have already upped my intake since the beginning of this week.
6) Ah well, priorities...
7) Thanks
8) I specifically answer these three questions in my post
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To be fair, I only watched the 3rd video, which was from far away and a side angle, with the rack blocking your knees. I just tried to watch your other videos, and it put a virus on my computer so I am not trying that again (the new tab opened so I saw you recorded from other angles, but the virus popped up before I could watch the other angles; the 45 degree rear is the best to use, generally, where we can see from your feet to your head, including knees through the range of motion). But from the angle I watched, your shins were at a steep angle, an angle that strongly suggests your knees were too far forward for the SS low bar squat technique. You recent comments that you seem to shift onto your toes supports an analysis that your knees pushed too far forward; it's not conclusive evidence, but it is evidence. If your knees are caving, focus on keeping them shoved out over your toes/in line with your feet; when they cave you are taking some muscles out of the ascent, which of course makes things harder (in a bad way).
As to the First Three Questions, you do answer them. But your answers on food and rest times state that you are estimating, which is essentially guessing. Resting 3 minutes for heavy squats may not be sufficient for you at this stage. You might need the full five, or more. Time it for a few sessions and see how it goes. You start your OP by saying you are doing the program, then list a bunch of ways you are not DTP. Which is fine, I am not criticizing you for how you structure and carry out your training. But I note it to say that you are wondering why you are starting to struggle on squats, but tell us you bike (affects recovery), don't know how long you are resting between sets and don't really know how much you eat (meat and eggs pretty much every day... you should be getting sufficient protein every single day; maybe you aren't gaining weight fast enough, I don't know? maybe something is being lost in translation). All of these things might factor into answering the question of why you are struggling with your squats. End of the day it is up to you to prioritize and figure out how fast you want your squat to progress (and doing what is required to make that happen) versus how much you want to bike or estimate the important things.
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I doubt that it's a virus, to me it seems just to be a popup which can be easily closed. I guess I'll have to find some other way to upload it though.
Overall, I'm mostly looking for someone to simply take a look at my squat and tell me what looks right and wrong. If you can only see the bad side angle, that doesn't really help me.
I have not (yet) stalled on the squat (Besides being sick for the week which meant I couldn't just continue right where I left off).
It's really mostly that they *feel* struggling. Besides the occasional obvious balance shift onto my toes, and my knees caving, the squats look okay - as far as I can tell.
As for knees too far forward - I was under the impression that's generally dependent on limb proportions - but it doesn't hurt to try to keep them back more next time.
The speed seems to be pretty consistent across all sets and reps.
Maybe I'm just overthinking it and expect too much because lighter squats feel much faster and smoother. Still, if there are any major issues, I would rather fix them sooner than later.
Because it's only the squat that feels sub-optimal - and I have previously squatted more weight for more reps at a lower bodyweight, just "high bar atg" instead of lowbar - it seemed to me that it was most likely a technique issue rather than recovery.
I'll try to properly track my rest and food for a while, maybe I'm missing something after all.
What's the "bunch of ways" I'm not DTP? I just read the book last month and don't really see what specifically I'm doing that would be considered NDTP...
Thanks
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Here is the first set again, hopefully this time without a "virus": TRIM_20170705_095721 - Streamable
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