Squat Form Check #285

[omaniphil]

This was my 3rd set of 5 at 285lbs. I think I might be going too low, which causes my lower back to lose tightness at the bottom. Anything other comments?

[Noah Milstein]

You are "dive bombing" the squat. Think about squeezing yourself down into the squat, with hips back, and knees out in order to exert more control of the eccentric phase and glean more proprioceptive feedback from the movement. As it is, it looks like you're just rapidly dropping down with insufficient control of the load, consequently your torso is too vertical and knees too forward.

[omaniphil]

You are "dive bombing" the squat.

For sure. This is the first time I've filmed myself, and while I don't notice it when I'm in the moment, its pretty clear on camera. Thanks!

[BostonRugger]

You have a few opportunities to improve these.

1. Knees. Your knees move forward through the entire descent. They should move forward and out during the first 1/2 of the descent, then they should stop moving while you sit your butt back and down to hit depth. Try TUBOW. Google TUBOW if you aren't familiar.

2. Depth. Like you said, you're going too low. Right now, you keep descending until your hamstrings bounce off your calves. Cut it off 3 inches higher and bounce up using the stretch reflex in your hamstrings, not from physically bouncing the back of your thighs off of your calves. Shoving your knees out and fixing the knee slide as mentioned above will help you feel and use that stretch reflex.

3. Valsalva. Take a bigger breath and squeeze down harder.

4. Descent speed. You need to go more slowly on the way down. The 3 things above will probably force you to do this anyway.

5. Wrists. Your wrists are overextended. Get them to neutral. Check the grip section of the squat chapter for details.

Best of luck!