Squat check

[mcginn]

Sets 2 and 3, set 1 video got hosed. Sorry for the skinny vid, was filmed sideways and I had to rotate it.

Set 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpy9oRd1id8

I think I did better on this one:
Set3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFk0iGBYZnY

Thanks in advane

John

[bamzi]

The first issue I see is that you aren't standing up fully and "finishing" each rep; your knees and hips remain a little bent at the top.

I'm pretty sure you have the bar in a high bar position. It doesn't look like it is resting across the back of your deltoids. I might be wrong, perhaps someone more experienced can comment here too...

I think you could go a little deeper, all of the reps seem a smidge high.

You are trying to keep your back too upright; lean over more and stick your butt out. This could end up coming to you naturally if my hunch about the bar being too high on your back proves correct.

As the set goes on your wrists start curling under to support the bar - bad for business. Keep the shoulder blades squeezed tightly together.

What shoes are you wearing? They look like running shoes.

[MikeC1]

I also think it looks high bar, and the depth looks short. To me, your stance is too wide as well. If you look at your knees and feet on the way up, your feet are way outside of underneath the knees.

[LudwigVan]

Narrow your stance a little. Keep your elbows up and your upper back tight. Sit back with your hips more and stand all the way up at the top.

[Tom Campitelli]

Gents, that's not a high bar squat. Perhaps he should have the bar lower, but it looks pretty close to me. This is a high bar squat. I also want to congratulate the OP on the video. He actually filmed it from a decent angle and managed to rotate the video so we could watch it. If only everyone managed to do that. LV is on the money, as usual. The one thing I would add is that you are missing the concept of hip drive. The descent needs to abruptly turn around once you are below parallel. You need to use the energy in your tensioned hamstrings to drive your butt up. Right now you are tentatively seeking depth and then rising too slowly from the bottom.

[mcginn]

Thanks TomC and others, I had a workout Friday where I think I did a lot better, but sadly my camera man wasn't there to capture it , so I hope to resubmit Monday. I read the Active Hip 2.0 artice on here Friday before my workout plus applied some of the tips here as well. That article really helped me keep my knees out and I could feel my adducters really engage better. Is there a good video you could point me to showing good descent speed? I know I'm kinda tentative on the descent, but I'm not sure what the proper speed is. I'm trying to keep tight and "pull" myself down instead of just drop.

Still need to focus on completely standing up at the top, not sure why I do that. I'm going to really focus on hip drive Monday again and narrow my stance a little. With the tips from the article I noticed I can keep my knees out better and get better depth without my legs/belly colliding at a narrower stance.

[mcginn]

Well I tried again today, I think I got better at some things and worse at others,

Please review and comment.

Set 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqcwRGR0TII

Set 2 was bad, I hit the rack on my 3rd rep and it through the rest of my set off

Set 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anHZBvVOAjE

Thanks

John

[Carnivroar]

That's a fine looking squat. I would suggest you get better shoes though, something with a flat, hard sole like converse or skate shoes.

[mcginn]

That's a fine looking squat. I would suggest you get better shoes though, something with a flat, hard sole like converse or skate shoes.

Thanks Carnivore, I do plan on getting me some flat shoes and losing the running shoes I promise , gotta wait for my shoe/workout budget money to come around.