Squat Form Check

[Marcelo de Lima Marcolin]

Hey coaches, today I'd like to check my squat.

I'm 10 workouts into my NLP, and things are starting to feel heavy (I know it's not, but I'm weak ). I'm posting 3 videos, with different angles, one from each day of this week.

I've been trying to correct the more obvious problems I could detect since I started, but your trained eyes are always welcome to keep improving.

Monday 106kg - first set (missing first rep, chosen for the different angle)


Wednesday 109kg - last set


Friday 111kg - last set



Thanks!

[Pete Troupos]

Hey Marcelo
One video of a set of 5 at a workset is fine.
Still tough finding lifting shoes in Brazil? Are you not able to have shipped from the US?

You need to shove the knees out harder and keep them out. Get leaned over a bit sooner, shove the knees out and you'll find depth and maintaining the back angle out of the bottom less challenging.

Good luck.

[Marcelo de Lima Marcolin]

Hey Pete,

I'll be moving to Europe probably next month, so I'll wait until I get there to buy a pair at a more reasonable price.

Thank you for the tips, I'll keep them in mind for tomorrow's workout. Just to clarify, do you think I'm not hitting enough depth and that my back angle is shifting too much when I start the ascent? And the "keep the knees out" is because they are caving in or coming backwards when I get out the hole?

Thanks!

[Pete Troupos]

You're hitting depth, but when the knees aren't anchored outward, the adductors are more slack and can't help with keeping the back angle constant from their origin.
Good luck with your move.

[Marcelo de Lima Marcolin]

Hey Pete,

I've been working on improving the points you mentioned, I'd like your opinion if I'm on the right track. And I finally got a pair of proper shoes!

This was the third set of squats from my last workout.


I felt I was able to anchor my knees better. However, I noticed that I'm rotating the bar around the vertical axis, like I'm pushing the left side and bringing the right side back a bit. I don't know why this is happening, have you seen this before? What would you suggest to correct this? And if there is anything else that you notice I could be doing better, I really appreciate your advice.

Thanks!

[Pete Troupos]

This is a good improvement, Marcelo.

Keep shoving the knees out and exhibit more control in the descent. You're getting a loose and dropping in the hole toward the bottom. Control the barbell on the way down so you can stay midfoot and keep everything tight for the turnaround.

I see a little rotation. Are you having any pain? That may go away if you stay tight and controlled.

[Marcelo de Lima Marcolin]

Thanks Pete, I'll focus more on controlling the descent and staying tight.

I'm not feeling any pain during the workout, but I'm feeling some tightness in the hip flexors, and there is some discomfort if I press the area right next to the hip bone with my fingers, like if I try to massage them. I feel this in both sides, though, so maybe it's not due to the rotation.

[Pete Troupos]

You could be smashing the shit out of the hip flexors at the bottom by not getting the knees out enough. Film yourself from the rear and make sure your heels are under your shoulders and the stance isn't too wide. If it is, bring it in and shove the knees out so they track in line with the feet and stretch the adductors out.

[Marcelo de Lima Marcolin]

Hey Pete,

Here are my first and last set of squats with 116kg, filmed from the back. I tried focusing on shoving the knees out and controlling more the descent, but the sets are getting harder every workout, so I don't know if I was successful.



My impression is that the last set was a bit more asymmetrical (that's why I merged both videos, so you could assess the degradation in my form from the first to the last set). I don't know what to do in order to fix this.

Thanks!

[Pete Troupos]

Hey Marcelo
Bring the stance in a cm.
You're leaning left like you're trying to protect something on the right side. The control looks better.
Keep your head and chest down on the way up so you can stay in the hips and drive them out of the bottom.
Work on it for a couple weeks and then come back and we'll check it out.