squat check

[EmersonLynn]

Hi coaches, it's been a while since I've posted a squat check.

I've been steadily progressing on the novice LP, but I fear I am reaching the end of the road. I did 370x5x3 last night and it felt like I was working with true limit weights. I'm pretty sure they are very ugly:

Untitled on Vimeo

I just wanted to ask - is it worth backing off and working back up to fix the form issues? Or do I go to the 5RM + 1 back off for squats as outlined in PPST? I'm already squatting light on Wednesday, but I'm just not sure how long I should push novice programming considering this is now my 8th month of novice progression.

As always, anything would be great.

Thanks..

[Michael Wolf]

Your head position and eye gaze are all over the place - pick a single, specific spot to stare at that's 3-6" in front of you on the floor, and keep your eyes on it, and your head in the same position the entire time. Keep your mouth closed. And stay in your hips the whole way up.

Regarding programming, you're probably pretty close to where the top set + 2 back offs at 90-95% are appropriate, but it's difficult to say for certain with all of 1 set as reference.

[EmersonLynn]

Thanks for the help Michael.

Are these any better?:

Untitled on Vimeo

[The Berserker]

Hi Mr. Wolf, thanks for all your work.

What does the cue- "stay in your hips mean?"

[Michael Wolf]

Keep driving up with your hips, rather than raising your chest/trying to make your back angle more vertical.

[Michael Wolf]

Thanks for the help Michael.

Are these any better?

They're pretty good, but looking down, instead of straight ahead, will 99.9% help you stay in your hips better - see post above for answer to your Q about that - which is the main thing to improve here. Taking a bigger breath and getting set/bracing more between each rep will help too.