Wow, you're almost doing the sumo stance. Much too wide if you ask me.
I'm 6'0 tall, 205 lbs.
This was supposed to be a set of 5 at 315 on a Friday Intensity Day.
This former fridays I've been able to blow past my five reps, but I screwed something up big time on the third rep.
I may have taken too wide of a stance, I suspect, which would cause my knees to want to buckle in. Could I be going too deep? Are these factors toward why I may be losing the back angle, even though I feel my glutes working fine.
Any feedback appreciated.
Thank you.
Last edited by SBegetis; 05-08-2012 at 02:00 PM.
Wow, you're almost doing the sumo stance. Much too wide if you ask me.
You're an intermediate trainee. If your goal, as an intermediate trainee, is to powerlift then there is nothing wrong with a wide stance that maximizes poundages. If you're just interested in generally getting stronger, it is much too wide. Really though, even as a powerlifter, it doesn't look that this stance is maximizing your leverages. I'd narrow it regardless.
As for your squat, you are divebombing; you are dropping into the hole. You need to do a better job of keeping your knees out and staying tight, yes. Additionally, you're trying to stay too vertical on the descent. The first thing that happens out of the hole is that both your knees and butt pull back. Don't be afraid to lean over, get your knees forward in the first third of the movement, and make sure you stay with your hips. Drive your hips straight up. Literally think about driving straight up.
I agree with Tom--that stance is way too wide for the kind of squat you're trying to do.
Also, if I were you, I'd train myself out of having to do a cricket dance to set up and amp myself up for a set. WAY too much extra movement and way too much throwing yourself into movements--at every step of that set.
Get in the habit of being efficient and deliberate and not relying on having to jump around to feel ready to squat. When you're squatting 400, you'll be glad you fixed that now.
You gotta keep those knees out !!
I have been taping my squats lately and I noticed my knees were caving in as soon as I started going up. Not as pronounced as yours, but it was affecting my drive up and it was giving me issues.
I narrowed my stance and I was able to almost entirely eliminate the problem of my knees coming in. It's definitely going to help you keep them out if you narrow your stance and right away you're going to be tighter in the hole and have a better bounce out of the hole. Like everyone said, a narrower stance can fix up a lot of your issues.
Your legs do the wave!
I want to thank everyone for the feedback. I think an explanation for taking a wider stance is that I felt like my left knee would buckle in if it were narrower, or sometimes I feel like a stroke of lightning would run down my anterior left hip (femoral head impinging on the ASIS, if I had to guess). I had gone to a chiropractor earlier this year, basically I think my left leg may be a little shorter than my right, causing me to keep my left leg under me a little more, and my right hip is a little more forward than my left, so this causes an internal rotation on my left hip causing it to buckle in. I mentioned that I couldn't keep my knees out well to Rip, he hit me with the Active Hip article, suggested to take a wider stance, which I obviously may have misinterpreted HOW wide. I started taking a wider stance, and I would deliberately twist my hips a little clockwise so that my left hip wouldn't be internally rotated/buckle in (I didn't do this in the video above) and it actually felt good, like I could transfer power through "spreading the floor" and getting the outer hip going and focus on driving my ass up and in.
I will take a little narrower for a stance, from now on. How about as wide as the stance I'm standing in before I get under the bar? Also, what does my anthropometry appear to be, according to the video? I can't really tell myself, am I long torsoed or long femured?
Last edited by SBegetis; 05-09-2012 at 12:48 PM.
I'll get yelled at for saying this, but I can't squat exactly as Rip advises due to an orthopedic issue with my feet. It prevents my knees from staying out if I load the middle of my feet.
I had to relearn the squat by keeping the weight on my heels and emphasizing sitting back. I did this by squatting to a box (not box squatting).