Squat Form Check

[noclimate]

Hello all,

First, some context: I'm 5'10", 213 pounds, roughly 20% body fat and am on my fifth attempt at the SSLP. I only recently gained enough stability in my life to start the Novice LP and hopefully advance to intermediate programming.
I have had the privilege of being coached at CCSC in NC, but could not stay long enough to work out my discrepancies. I have been watching my own videos and self-critiquing on all attempted LP's except for the second.

I've been working on setting my knees into a fixed position. I have found that cueing 'set your knees' has been ineffective for myself and the one person that I'm newbie-coaching through LP. I think that telling a complete novice to set his or her knees is approaching the problem from the wrong direction. I've been telling myself to accomplish this using the desired result, and not the subjective steps it takes to get there. Knee position in the sagittal plane, as I understand it, is dependent upon hip position in relation to the mid-foot throughout the descent. When I realized this, I started pulling my knees backward with my hips, which resulted in overcompensation.

On 02/21, I narrowly avoided falling backward coming out of the bottom of a squat because I pulled my knees back too far, effectively moving my CoG far behind my mid-foot.
Now, on 02/23, I've starting squatting with the intent of shooting my knees forward in the top 1/3rd of the descent to compensate for moving my hips backward.

Here's what happened. This is the last set at 275 pounds from today. I attribute my knee slide on rep 5 to 275 being the heaviest weight I've done this year, and nearing the top of my all time 3x5 PR, 285.

I believe this is the desired application of the model, and would very much appreciate either validation or further critique.

Thank you.

[Jeff Illingworth]

This is a hard video to critique as we can see a little less than half of you. That being said, your shins are way too vertical. Get a tubow and use it to help dial that in. You also don't appear to be locking out at the top. Do these two things and get a video with all of you in it.

[noclimate]

I will get some TUBOWs by the end of the day today.

Here are my first and last squat sets from today. I faced the wall to get a 45 degree angle from behind, but didn't pay enough attention to getting my entire body in the frame. I adjusted the camera between sets one and three because my camera was about to die, so I plugged it in on the other side. Hopefully these will be sufficient.

I think I'll need to reset yet again. I've had minor, almost negligible tendonitis that just today flared up into real pain. Just when I thought I had everything together, I don't.

[KangaJoo]

Overall, they don't seem too bad but it looks like you squat a tiny bit too high (this was especially noticeable on your last set video) and you drive your hips up and back rather than straight up which on a couple reps almost made it look like your toes were coming up off the floor. I think you could really benefit from slowing down your descent since your bath path and balance seem to rock back and forth during the descent and ascent. You don't have to do full on tempo squats but focus on keeping more control and tension during the descent. That way if your balance shifts, like in these videos, it'll be easier for you to correct and may help with that tendonitis issue.

[KangaJoo]

One more thing, your grip looks pretty wide. It doesn't look like it's preventing you from getting tight enough to support the bar and maintain thoracic extension, but your squat might be a little more efficient with a narrower grip and tighter back.

[noclimate]

New video here.
Slowing down my descent and bringing my grip in was extremely helpful. The whole movement was easier and I felt better after squatting than before. A side by side review of my last squat from 02/25 and from 02/28 doesn't show a huge difference in bar speed at the bottom, but it felt really solid. The camera kinda hides my knees in this last video. I'll have to adjust again.

One more thing: I failed sets 2 and 3. Set 2 was 4 reps and getting pinned on rep 5, then set 3 was 2 reps. This was still the lightest 285 has ever felt.

[Jeff Illingworth]

This is looking better. You are going just a little bit too deep which is making your ascent a little looser and thus harder to accomplish. I also think you could adjust the bar's position on your back and work on your thoracic extension. Be sure to lock out at the top each time.

[KangaJoo]

Yeah, these look pretty decent to me and I agree with Jeff about trying to get your back a bit tighter. How long do you rest between sets? Usually, if I hit my first work set without too much struggling but don't hit my following sets, it was because I wasn't resting long enough.

[noclimate]

Does the bar need to be further up, down, left or right? Further down has historically caused tendonitis and the inability to stand up straight (I have video evidence), further up is unstable, and left and right would cause an imbalance, I imagine.

Also, I don't see any thoracic rounding, so I imagine you are both seeing indications that I don't know to look for. What am I missing?

[noclimate]

I typically stick to five minute rest periods, but I adjust based on the way the last two reps feel. Sometimes I wait up to eight minutes, it all just depends on how heavy the load is for me given where I am with my training, and perceived effort. Between sets 2 and 3 of my post from 02/28, I waited eight minutes, but still only made 2 reps. So, today I'm starting light squat days. I've been gaining weight, getting plenty of sleep and I don't do anything stupid to interfere with recovery, so I know it isn't a controllable recovery issue.