Eye focal point during squats

[Stevo]

Coach Rip,

Thank you again profusely for sharing your wealth of knowledge with morons like myself who have been fed a steady diet of useless misinformation, bad information or even retarded information from "trainers" or other "experts" with far less experience or intelligence. Those who question your credibility should have a 45 lbs plate dropped on their balls. Twice.

That said, I had a "happy accident" (not in my pants) while squatting the other day & others on the board may benefit from it...you've said how important focusing your eyes is on one point, but I've had trouble finding a divot, speck, chunk, dust, god-knows-what-it-is, on the floor to stare at until yesterday when a nickel was sitting (lying?) there a few feet in front of me. Perfect! I even made 5 cents! Anyhow, it was a great way to have one point to stare at for all sets & not have to constantly look for something.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I have painted dots on the wall before, and laid things down on the floor like you did.

That was my nickel, by the way.

[Steven Q]

Wouldn't having one point to look at during the entire set not work?

Head position, as I understand it, is fixed, and as the torso changes angle, so to would the head, therefore, the head would be looking at a different point during the squat. Having a fixed point on the floor would result in the head looking more forward towards the bottom, unless I am misunderstanding something; I can think of one perhaps using their eyes instead of changing their head position, and if that is the case, it is a simple fix.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Eye gaze does two things. It sets the cervical position, and it provides a stationary position reference. So the gaze point needs to be fixed, and your neck position can accommodate this easily.