a few questions regarding my squat form

[aaron502]

so here's two videos of me doing low bar squat. 1st video is 1st set, second video is 5th and last set.





1st question. are my knee's caving? and if so, how severe is it? im terrible at spotting form even my own so your opinion will be appreciated.

2nd question. depending on how you answered question 1 should i deload the weight or carry on adding weight to the bar? i haven't missed a rep yet but my form is getting a little sloppy i believe.

3rd and last question. i plan on getting a good pair of weightlifitng shoes. do they help keep the knees out more compared to barefoot squatting? (inbuilt arches in the shoes?) or are they mainly for depth and a more stable platform to push off of?.


thanks for taking your time to read and answer these questions.

[TinyArnold]

Please read the sticky before posting a video.

I couldn't spot any major issues. Your toes might point out too much. Not sure since can't see anything clearly from this angle.

[Nick Klemetson]

1. Not excessively, no. Just keep cuing yourself.

2. Keep adding.

3. Shoes provide stability. They will likely help you get the extra inch of depth it looks like you need too.

[2011holidayschedule]

3. Shoes provide stability. They will likely help you get the extra inch of depth it looks like you need too.

His depth looks perfectly fine, if not too deep. But I agree, get the shoes.

[BareSteel]

These look like reasonable squats. A few observations: Kill the gloves unless you have some sort of open wound you're trying to protect. You want skin to bar contact. Learn to love that feeling.

1. You will start to notice that there are a lot of judgement calls when it comes to barbell training. Your knees are staying out very well (good job). Are they perfect? Well, no, not quite. There is very minor caving on the last to reps of your second video. You'll have the be the judge of how much wavering you'll allow in your technique. I think your knee position is very good here. If you wait for perfection, you'll be at the same weights for a while. In contrast, if you get greedy and throw form out the window, the lift becomes more dangerous. The short answer is that these are very good, slightly imperfect, but probably sufficient for an increase. As the weight gets heavier, your utmost focus is required.

2. (Answered in part 1)

3. Oly shoes are firm. They feel very good under your feet when you're lifting heavy stuff. I think you'll like them - especially against that wood floor. The added ankle support may assist you in getting the knees out better, but they won't really do any work for you. Hope I articulated that well enough.

[aaron502]

thanks for all your help. and yes i'm a bit ocd when it comes to form so i would constantly deload when i noticed just a bit of form degradation. im going to try keep adding weight till i actually fail a rep this time haha. cheers

[BareSteel]

I can definitely relate, aaron. Video helps, because you can prove to yourself that your form was good. Sometimes the feel of a rep and the visual of a rep can show very different things (ex. a rep feels difficult, but appears to go up fairly quickly).

Treat every rep, from empty bar to work set, with perfect form in mind. Drill it into your brain.

[Lamneth]

Why are you doing five sets?

[dotyl9h]

excellent unanswered question, like so many in these pages

[Trevor C.]

I would say:

1. Toes are almost too far out; angle looks significantly more than the 10-15 degrees recommended.

2. Your wrists are in flexion on top of the bar. I would widen your grip on the bar and focus on keeping a wrists neutral (i.e., stop them from drooping over on top of the bar).

3. Get shoes.

4. Stop doing 5 sets at 190 lbs.