Tall man's (sucky) squat

[Corax]

Hi all,

I've been training for a few years now, but just recently started working on proper squatting and deadlifting after I bought the SS DVD. Before I did bodybuilder quarter squats, nothing to be very proud of

I'm 6ft1 and have always had trouble with squatting. Here's the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRryYcpJ-jk

Couple of questions / remarks:

I know there's probably still plenty of room for improvement, but what are the biggest flaws or mistakes? I'm eager to learn the lifts with proper technique, my max "squat" is 350, I'd like to get the same number with proper technique pronto

A big thanks for any help -- I'm the only one squatting in my gym so advice will be greatly appreciated.

Corax

[Bazarov]

Speaking as another tall (6'2"), long-legged guy with an even shittier squat, yours looks pretty good to me. Your stance looks a bit wider than I can tolerate with heels and a low bar position, but that's not necessarily a flaw. I don't really see any room for improvement, to be honest.

[Steve Hill]

Nice. Think about lifting your chest as you come up - your shoulders are lagging your hips - #2 was the best, #1,3 show the lag the best. Other than that, there was a bit of a slide forward on your descent on Rep #1 - watch the bar end vs. the vertical leg of the rack. Fix those two things (and you'd fixed the second on the 2nd & 3rd rep) and you're good to go. You might want to work on getting your elbows up a bit more, but that's an niggle.

[Corax]

Okay, thanks for the remarks! I think my shoulders are lagging because I'm focusing on the hip drive all the time. I'll pay attention to it ...

[shaddix]

I find I have to use a ton more effort to make my chest and hips rise at the same time than if my chest lags behind.

[Steve Hill]

Okay, thanks for the remarks! I think my shoulders are lagging because I'm focusing on the hip drive all the time. I'll pay attention to it ...

Remember that the focus on hip drive comes from not wanting knees to slide forward at the bottom. If most people don't focus on hips, and instead focus on the bar or the shoulder, they will raise shoulders fatser than hips, usually resulting in knees sliding forward at the bottom.

So you got the hip-drive part right. Now focus on hips and shoulders at the same rate when coming out of the hole.