Squat Form Check

[ineddywetrust]

First post, thanks for checking this out. Lifting 155 here and I feel like I'm drifting forward on the descent too much. I shook my head after the first one because I know I felt I did something wrong but I can't remember what I thought didn't feel right. Please let me know if you see anything wrong with form.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_2wKv1k00


I've got a lower back injury that will flair up every once in a while and I had an MRI done that showed a few tears on the discs so I'm trying to do this with as proper form as possible. I've been able to get heavier weights on the bars but I end up doing a GM and will feel pokes in my lower back which really leave me unsettled because I don't want to end up getting hurt even worse. I can pull off a few heavier ones which feel like the form is perfect but by the fifth or fourth rep comes around they turn into GM.

[ineddywetrust]

I've taken two more videos at ~45 degrees from the back with a white shirt and some blue pants, I'm hoping this will help with the coaching. I bumped it up to 165# as I was getting 155# without feeling like there was any failure this last Friday.

In this first video on the fourth rep I think my midsection failed and that's where it turned into a GM, I remember that's why I was shaking my head after that lift.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBriz9m_PZo

In the second video I only did two reps because as I was setting my lower back/extending(?) my erector spinae muscles before the third rep I hurt my lower back. I'm in pretty bad shape right now, a few hours later, but I stopped squats after that second rep and finished my bench and cleans. Both lifts I couldn't really set my lower back because of the pain but I still finished them.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrHyPiLcY2s

I'll probably sleep on the ground tonight and do some compressions tomorrow so I should be ready Wednesday to try again.

[ineddywetrust]

*Bump*

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated here. I'm going back to the gym tomorrow as my back was still in pain until yesterday and I wouldn't mind having some idea as to what I may have done wrong.

[Brodie Butland]

A few problems here:

(1) First, your primary issue (the back). You're overextended, which may have contributed to your back pain--especially see the first video when you are in the hole--your back looks like a banana. That's bad. Your spine should be in a neutral position. Focus on squeezing your abs hard--and get a belt to help with stability. Your back should not become more extended as you get deeper into the squat--it should maintain a normal anatomical shape throughout.

Squeezing your abs hard will also help with some of the looseness I see when you get into the hole.

(2) Your stance is awfully narrow, which appears to be throwing you off balance. Have your heels at about shoulder width.

(3) You have an odd tendency to descend, and then "slide" into the squat position. This is causing forward knee movement on many of the reps. Focus on breaking at the hips and the knees, planting your knees in the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the descent, and sitting back for the rest.

[ineddywetrust]

Thanks for the insight, Brodie. I would have never thought that I was overextending. I did the exercise described in SS: "lie face down with hands behind head, lift upper body and legs off the floor to find the lower back muscles that need to be in extension." I would try to keep those muscles as tight as I had them in the lying position, but I guess that places them in overextension? I've also been trying to squeeze my abs really hard in all of the lifts in those videos.

Should I:
a) Continue to keep abs as tight as possible and attempt to have a small amount of lower back extension/try to find the right amount
or
b) Only focus on keeping abs as tight as possible and lift with whatever lower back extension that results from the focus on abs

Regardless, belt has been ordered. I've argued myself into believing it is acceptable to use a belt at such a light weight because I've got that injury.

Also, the stance, I noticed it in the video after you mentioned it and I think I've only been going off of the width of my toes. Since those are angled out, I thought my stance was wide enough. Woops. Will definitely focus on keeping my heels at shoulderwidth.

Little confused on how to plant my knees but I'll try to sit back in the last 2/3 - 1/2 of the descent. I couldn't take a video today as the gym was too crowded but I should have one on Sunday.

[Brodie Butland]

Pause your first video at :05 and observe your back shape. Compare that to Figures 2-36 and 2-37 on pages 41 and 42 of the book. Hopefully this illustrates the overextension.

The superman drill is not meant to illustrate correct lower back position during a loaded movement--it's to help you have lower back awareness.

You may be one of those folks who overextends easily. So you need to pay extra attention to squeezing your abs. That doesn't mean to ignore your lower back--because it has to be extended for the squat to work--but it means that your focus should be crunching the shit out of your abs. I think you'll find a belt very helpful to this end, since you'll be able to squeeze your abs much harder with a belt on.

[ineddywetrust]

Hey Brodie, I tried to keep my abs as tight as possible and tried to put just the slightest extension in my lower back but I think what I really made a big change in was being super conscious of my knee positioning. In this session I think I unlocked hips and knees about the same time and tried to only push my thighs/knees out for the first part of the descent (positioned them for the rest of the lift), felt like I locked them, and then really focused on sticking my ass out and lowering it in the second part of descent. This was the most foreign movement to me. I also stopped worrying about leaning over so much. I think I may have done a huge step towards proper form?

The first video I don't think I was squatting low enough. I checked the first video out after recording it, noticed the lack of depth, and tried to squat deeper in the second video.

(Please excuse the loud music in all of my videos. Haven't figured out how to remove sound.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMQ9VlnxUFE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAuzaSmLJfs

If I am closer to squatting with proper form then I have been really fucking up for the last four or so years...

[ineddywetrust]

Been lifting with a belt and it feels much better. I still wouldn't mind someone checking out my form before I keep adding any weight. Maybe I could sit back more? First two videos below are at 165. I felt pretty good with the second set so the third video is at 175.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky_MPyQbjl4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj1-LtMqra4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6eoCQ9O-B0

[Brodie Butland]

There's a lot to be happy with here. You're high on a couple of the reps, so give a little more knees out to get that extra inch. In terms of leaning over a little more (which I agree may help), planting your knees a couple inches more forward will allow you to bend over more without compromising the bar position over the midfoot...right now leaning over more could cause you to be unbalanced.

[ineddywetrust]

Knees a little more forward and little more out for a little more depth. I'll focus on this for my next lifts to hit depth on all reps.

A million thanks for all the help, Brodie. I'll keep recording and checking them out myself but probably won't keep posting until it's a lot heavier, unless you think there may be some other points I can work on regarding form?