Squat check

[Nitrox]

I'm 6 weeks into SS, squat is at 250 lbs, below are the links to my 3 work sets this morning. Everything feels pretty ok but since I'm self taught from the books I wouldn't mind some extra sets of eyes making sure everything looks gravy. My IT band area is often sore, and my knee around/below my patella pouch sometimes feels tweaky when getting out of the car or such, only concerned areas I have.
Thanks in advance for any input!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtZJe...ature=youtu.be
http://youtu.be/ZwpUlGgpA8k
http://youtu.be/3gbcuodXD6s

[slowjoe]

1. You are placing your palms under the bar. This means some of the weight is going directly into your elbows. This WILL cause injjury.

2. Reps are high

3. Right knee is collapsing a little.

4. The angle is too far to the rear, but I suspect your knees may be travelling too far forward.

[Nitrox]

1. You are placing your palms under the bar. This means some of the weight is going directly into your elbows. This WILL cause injjury.

2. Reps are high

3. Right knee is collapsing a little.

4. The angle is too far to the rear, but I suspect your knees may be travelling too far forward.

Thanks Joe,
1) Agreed, but didn't realize it was THAT serious. Just reread that section in SSBT3 and will correct this
2) As in not reaching below parallel? I looked over all the reps in those vids and in all it looks like my hip crease passes the top of my knee
3) Yea, this happens occasionally with both legs. Any tips here? It always happens right out of the hole and one of my legs kinda just caves in, I immediately correct it, but don't know how to make it not happen in the first place.
4) I'm not sure what you mean here. My knees go just a wee bit in front of my toes, and the bar travels reasonably straight just above the middle of my foot.

[Jsutt]

2) As in not reaching below parallel? I looked over all the reps in those vids and in all it looks like my hip crease passes the top of my knee

No he's right, they're a bit high. Looking at yourself in the mirror can mess with your sense of depth because they will look deeper than they actually are. They're not far off though, just drop another couple of inches.

[MikeC1]

These are definitely high, this is one reason why squatting in front of a mirror is not a great idea.

Your knee(s) caving in is a symptom of your stance being way too wide (incidentally your lack of depth is also related to your too-wide stance).

Not sure if your grip is guaranteed to result in injury, but if your elbows start to feel inflamed down the road, you'll have some idea why.

[Carlos Daniel]

I'll disagree over the depth, mostly because the side views, which I use to gauge depth, are blocked by the plates. But the stance is definitely too wide and the wrists should be straight.

[toonttm]

1. You are placing your palms under the bar. This means some of the weight is going directly into your elbows. This WILL cause injjury.

This is causing me grief at the moment. I cannot get the hands (especially my left) over the bar properly. I am trying to keep my elbows up as high as possible to compensate but as I am getting elbow pain I guess it is not working. Now it is affecting my bench. I don't want to drop squats but I'm starting to think I need an alternative. [lack of motion is due to previous shoulder injuries]

[Carlos Daniel]

This is causing me grief at the moment. I cannot get the hands (especially my left) over the bar properly. I am trying to keep my elbows up as high as possible to compensate but as I am getting elbow pain I guess it is not working. Now it is affecting my bench. I don't want to drop squats but I'm starting to think I need an alternative. [lack of motion is due to previous shoulder injuries]

If you have restricted ROM, do high bar squats AND work on shoulder mobility with shoulder dislocates and stuff like than. Return to low-bar squatting as soon as you can.

[DoctorWho]

This is causing me grief at the moment. I cannot get the hands (especially my left) over the bar properly. I am trying to keep my elbows up as high as possible to compensate but as I am getting elbow pain I guess it is not working. Now it is affecting my bench. I don't want to drop squats but I'm starting to think I need an alternative. [lack of motion is due to previous shoulder injuries]

I also had a hard time. Shoulder dislocates did not fit it, but some other stretching exercises corrected it almost immediately. My problem was poor internal rotation, but your limiting thing might be different.

[Nitrox]

Thanks for the feedback everyone

I have corrected the wrist issue, it was pretty easy once I set my mind to it. In case anyone is having the identical problem as I, all I did was once I got setup but before liftoff forcefully "curled" the bar in my hand, pushing my wrist somewhat above the bar. This got my wrist into a straight position and was super easy to replicate once I forced it in there a few times

As to my squat width...am I really that far apart? I used to squat with narrow legs and straight feet (a la crossfit), but since SS I had to really try to widen my stance out. Guess I took it too far!! Will work on correcting this after re-reading that section of the book

I also did a mini 5% reset on my squat 2 workouts ago to concentrate on hitting depth...turns out you guys were definitely right! 10lbs less at proper depth and it was exceptionally difficult

Thanks again,