Re-worked squat check

[madcat]

hmm, I could move camera more to behind for the knees part? I am in MA so the only coaches around here are in NY since Noah moved for his new job, so going to one is much tougher now.

[Jeff Illingworth]

Yeah, move it a little forward or back. Really just a couple of degrees either way should do it.

[madcat]

OK, I moved the camera behind me, so hopefully that is not too far of a correction for you. In doing so, I noticed a few days ago during a video I did not post that I was sort of twisting into my left hip a little and that was the cause of my light hip pain and my right knee caving a little. During this video I know the feeling of being more "centered" now, so I think my knees look much better / easier to keep to the sides and my hip pain is already feeling better. Hopefully you agree as well, Thanks!

8 30 17 - YouTube

[Jeff Illingworth]

Your knees are caving in on the ascent. You need to keep them out over your feet the whole time. Widen your stance a little bit (about half the width of one of your feet) and keep your knees locked out over your feet on the way up and down.

Work on bringing your hands in closer together on the bar. This will help tighten your upper back.

Make sure you are hitting depth (these look shallow/borderline) and that that you are getting a solid, hard valsalva.

[madcat]

OK, I'll focus on keeping them to the side more and widen my stance. I think originally I had it a little wider, but hip pain creeped in so I brought them in some since it helped, though my form was messier then so perhaps it'll be fine this time.

This one may have to stay or I can try very slowly bringing them in and see. I had really bad golfer elbow from them being in close a few months ago and the wider hands really helped with this. It is still lingering and slowly going away, so I am pretty hesitant to bring them in closer again.

It may be the camera angle as I am going as low as I can until I feel my lower back starting to tug like it wants to loosen up to go lower, so I think I am borderline at least, but a side camera shot would be only way to confirm.

I am going to take this coming week off as my hip pain flared up a little yesterday, so I am thinking it may be best to let it heal for this time and get back at it and post how those ones go.

[Dalton Clark]

Once cause of having thoracic extension during the squat is having your elbows too high. They don't nee to be really hiked up. You could stand to drop your elbows to be more inline with your back. Might let you have a narrower grip as well.

[madcat]

hmm, true that is similar what to Jeff was saying. I could try moving them in, but keeping them lower and gauge how to elbow pain is from there. It would be cool to find out that is all it would take to fix the issue and keep the pain away.

[Jeff Illingworth]

Do what you can to keep the elbows unloaded when you squat. The tighter you keep your upper back and the more hip drive you have, the easier that will be. Don't let your wrists drift under the bar.

[madcat]

OK, so I dropped the weight a little more, managed to move my hands closer by a few fingers, kept my focus on a tight upper and lower back, while trying to keep my knees out as discussed. It looks like my knees move a little since they may be almost too far out, but I manage to keep them a bit more inline this time on the way up. So do they look like what you had in mind?

9 11 17 - YouTube

There is an extra set in there as I practiced again later on in the day. I've also tried putting my elbows lower, but if I do that the bar will drop down so that is the best I can do as I believe I have it in the right position as Noah did not mention it the few times I went to him. So I tried to focus more on pinching my shoulder blades together rather then more elbows up to keep it in place.

[Jeff Illingworth]

You're inconsistent with how you drive your knees out - sometimes you are even pushing them out past the sides of your feet (which would suggest that your stance is not too wide). I can't tell for sure from this angle, but I think you're shooting your knees back on some of your ascents.