How is my Girlfriend's Squat Depth for these singles?

[SBegetis]

She used to Squat Low Bar, but switched to High Bar due to her labrum. Here she is for a single at 160 lbs.



I personally think the 160 depth was below parallel, but this next single at 170 is where I think it's questionable. It's hard to look for the crease of her hip, and she's wearing a dark shirt underneath her gray shirt which blends into her black pants. The quality of the video is poor, and it's hard for me to judge her depth.



Any feedback is well appreciated. Thank you.

[BareSteel]

Look closely at her heels at 0:27-0:28 on the 170 video. They come up just before her descent. Plus, they continue moving forward at the bottom, where I believe her weight shifts forward a little. I can't tell from this angle if her stance width is an issue.

But you've got to keep in mind: This is a heavy single. Form issues will be more prevalent here than in her normal training. If you want a form evaluation of her typical squats, get us a non-max work set to look at.

As far as the depth, I think it's pretty damn close.

[SBegetis]

Here's a set of five of my girlfriend at 150 lbs for those who would like to see or give feedback. I already know we have to work on getting her right knee out/abducting the right hip, she's had chronic hip problems/patellofemoral pain syndrome her whole life from running and playing soccer, so it's no excuse but the right hip will be compressed and always will be the weaker one, so we're currently working on that right now. We're also working on staying tight at the bottom as opposed to collapsing in the hole. On the fifth rep she got scared and felt stuck; the hip wasn't extending hence why I yelled "Hips In!" to get her to drive hips, because of the right knee buckling in. Any feedback is appreciated.

[exter]

I love her depth.

[boot29342342]

May I ask why she is testing singles at her current training stage?

Depth looks good to me in the last video you posted, but I do see something that might explain her hip and patellofemoral problems--her knees move forward at the bottom of the squat, much as described in SS. The reason I noticed this is that I have the same problem, which I got some good advice on in my squat form check thread.

[Milo's Ghost]

I love her depth.

Classy.

[KAG]

Squatting with the bar up on the top of the traps while using a low bar style and pushing the hips back may not work well for her. The back angle can cause the bar to really grind on the neck causing discomfort and cause exaggerated forward tilt. This is more prevalent in her heavier singles as it appears she gets out in front.

I can sympathize with the labrum problem, as I tore mine, but if she is going to squat high bar, she should squat high bar. Have her drop down more and keep a more vertical back angle if she is going to squat high bar.

What was her low bar work weight and max? Most people squat quite a bit less high bar than low bar.

[SBegetis]

We lifted together tonight, some new sets of five, and new PR's in Squat Singles for my girlfriend.

Here's a set of five at 155.


A Personal Record for a single of 175lbs. (skip to 0:20 in video below)


And yet another Personal record for a single of 180 lbs (skip to 0:20 in below video)


And a failed attempt to Squat 185lbs, plus me taking it off her to hang clean and jerk it.

@Tobo, I completely agree about her knees sliding forward. We test singles after she does her 3x5 worksets because it teaches her to how to adapt to a heavy single, thus how to treat all 15 reps in the worksets as if they were all heavy singles. It's to help carry over strength. And because it's fun.

@Kag, the way my girlfriend is built is that she has long femurs and gets a really far knee position, so much that I have to remind her to sit back in the squat alot more than she's used to (even in the front squat sometimes), otherwise the crease of her hip will never get below her knees.

The last time she low bar squatted was 145x3x5 back in April. Since the switch to High Bar, her technique has clean up alot since the low bar has to be coached extensively or else it'll be done wrong. It seems putting the bar in the high bar position cleans up errors in technique. She has surpassed the work weights she was using in the low bar squat with weights she currently uses in the high bar, so it's without a question that she's gotten stronger.

Any feedback is appreciated.

[boot29342342]

@Tobo, I completely agree about her knees sliding forward. We test singles after she does her 3x5 worksets because it teaches her to how to adapt to a heavy single, thus how to treat all 15 reps in the worksets as if they were all heavy singles. It's to help carry over strength. And because it's fun.

[snip]

She has surpassed the work weights she was using in the low bar squat with weights she currently uses in the high bar, so it's without a question that she's gotten stronger.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Well, okay, the reason I asked is that she is still a novice lifter, right? And my recollection of what Rip says in SS is that singles are not appropriate for novices because the point of testing singles is to produce maximum power under the bar, and novices do not yet know how to produce such power. I think of the beginning stage of strength training as about learning the basics and drilling form, not about stroking one's (or one's boyfriend's) ego...

And of course she is getting stronger--she would get stronger no matter what she did as long as the load is getting heavier. She is a beginner.

[gatorinexile]

Why does she take 6 steps back? She's appears to be in no danger of hitting the safety bars of that rack. At heavier weights this could get dangerous.

As pointed out above, she is still lifting her heals before she starts eccentric phase. I used to do this as well. It was some type of strange trigger for me to start. This needs to stop.

Knees in place by 1/3 in. Keep them out. TUBOW.