Squat form check

[Lubomir Duricek]

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the land of low-quality video, population: "me".

I would greatly appreciate if you could have a look at this squat video of mine:

YouTube

This was the first set with 177.5kg / 391 lbs (I do have video of the 2nd and 3rd, but I would have to post those in the year '93 for them to be tolerable).

Now, I know it's not the best angle, but these look a bit high to me.

The other issue I am facing is losing upper back tightness before rep 5 (and sometimes even before rep 4). I can control breathing after the first three reps and keep it shallow, with 1-2 short breaths between reps. But the last two reps this becomes very challenging and I have to take 4-5 breaths.

I am, more or less, convinced I should probably take some weight off the bar and go fix technique until it looks A+ or A, at least (I know this is difficult to achieve without hands-on coaching, but it's the least I can do until I come up with the ca$h for that).

All feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks.

Lubo

[Tom Campitelli]

Ahoj, Lubomir. Your video is actually way better than some of what I have seen in the recent past. More than good enough to provide comment what is going on. Your squats are all a little high and you are correct that you are rounding your upper back. With some work, you will probably be able to correct all of that. Firstly, you probably want to take 5 to 10 kg off the bar and get depth on every rep. You are rounding primarily as you begin the ascent. This can be a tricky problem, so I am going to give you a couple of cues to try. Firstly, don't overdo the looking down thing. Keep your eyes on where the rack meets the floor in front of you. Right now, you are looking down at a point maybe one third of a meter ahead of your feet. Cue yourself to keep your elbows down on the ascent. Squeeze your shoulder blades together right before you get to the bottom and hold on to that as you ascend. Think of yourself as maintaining good posture, even as you lean over. Also, check this out from our friend, Bill Hannon:

Identifying and Correcting Thoracic Spinal Flexion in the Squat | Bill Hannon

[Lubomir Duricek]

Hey Tom,
first of all, many thanks for taking the time and doing these form checks. And the "ahoj" is a nice touch, as well

Here is the last set of squats from the session following the one you already saw: YouTube
I did this yesterday, before you had the chance to reply. So, I actually took off more than you advised. I went down to 140kg, a point where I am more than 100% certain I can control every part of my body (and the lift).
The next thing I did is put a collar on the bottom end of the rack so I have an actual "thing" to put focus on. I think that helped a lot. I will work on the elbows and shoulders as I add weight.

Thank you for the article, I will read it and then re-read it.

I think a lot of my form breakdown with higher weight is my body defaulting to previous (i.e. not ideal) squat habits which I attained over the years (and also some fear and panic from handling weights previously unknown).

Also, Crysknife rocks.

[Tom Campitelli]

I realize you had not implemented any of the cues above, but depth was better on those. Youmay need to think about arching your back near the bottom if the other cues don't stick. you could probably move your stance just a little wider, too.

Also, Crysknife rocks.

Flattery will get you everywhere. Thank you for the kind words.

[Lubomir Duricek]

I realize you had not implemented any of the cues above...

yeah, sorry Tom, those squats were done before you had replied to my original post. nevertheless, I have to admit, that I also probably wasn't thinking about your advice/cues actively enough. In my mind it was probably enough to set the back at the start of the rep. But I will need to do a lot more active thinking/cue-ing throughout the whole movement.

When you said:

You may need to think about arching your back near the bottom

would this be the same arching as with the deadlift set-up, i.e. chest up in order to get back tight/arched? Should those two be similar/same in what I feel?

Flattery will get you everywhere.

First of all, yes. Also, I'm by no means an expert, but listening to a couple of your songs did not make want to turn off my computer. So, there's that. Just being honest.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.

[Tom Campitelli]

yeah, sorry Tom, those squats were done before you had replied to my original post. nevertheless, I have to admit, that I also probably wasn't thinking about your advice/cues actively enough.

Given that I had not provided any feedback yet, that is entirely understandable.

would this be the same arching as with the deadlift set-up, i.e. chest up in order to get back tight/arched? Should those two be similar/same in what I feel?

It will be similar. Right now your back is flexing. By working to extend it (arching the back), I would like to see you keep it from moving during the rep.

[Lubomir Duricek]

By working to extend it (arching the back), I would like to see you keep it from moving during the rep.

Thank you Tom. I will test my ability to understand and turn your advice into practice tomorrow.

[Lubomir Duricek]

Hi Tom.
Here's my latest set of 5 (155kg) done yesterday. YouTube
Went for a wider stance and it didn't feel bad at all, depth looks OK.
I also think that the back looks pretty stable now.

Your honest feedback is much appreciated.

[Tom Campitelli]

You still have a hint of flexion, but that is much improved. Nice work. If the bar starts rolling on you again, you know what you need to focus on. Go forth in sin.

[Lubomir Duricek]

Thanks Father Campitelli. I'll do my best.