Squat technique feedback

[Mch64961]

Getting back into the swing of things, and would appreciate some feedback on my form.

YouTube

[tfranc]

You are a perfect candidate for lifting shoes. Everything I’m about to type would be easier to deal with in lifting shoes. Plus they’re just awesome.

You also have a tendency to do the same thing I used to do - overextend your back on the descent. You want to work on getting tight like you do and keep your back absolutely rigid, then break at the hips and knees at the same time, bending at the waist. It’s going to feel simply like you are bending over while letting your knees travel forward. This is going to help the second thing - getting your knees set sooner. Right now they are set at the very bottom of the movement, ideally you want them set 2/3 of the way down. Use the weight staying over the middle of the foot as your guide. Break both at the same time and I think you’ll be good.

[Mch64961]

My problem with that is when I’m holding a rigid back at the top, I feel like the bar is going fall off my back, and when Inlean over with it, I feel off balance. I guess I’ll play around with the leaning over part and make it work.

[Tiburon]

Knees are caving inward out of the hole. Keep those fuckers jammed out

[tfranc]

My problem with that is when I’m holding a rigid back at the top, I feel like the bar is going fall off my back, and when Inlean over with it, I feel off balance. I guess I’ll play around with the leaning over part and make it work.

I’m embarrassed to say this, but I might be wrong in saying you are overextending your back.

Honestly it would be easier to tell if you were able to film your whole self. Then we could look at your back and see how the bar is sitting and see exactly what you’re doing with back from the top. Wearing shorts would make it easier too.

[Mch64961]

Here are the last two sets from today- I know I should only post one but I may have figured out an issue of mine. First video starts at 40 seconds. Second one starts at 37 seconds- in the second video I really started throwing myself forward on the descen on the last 3 reps I believe. Doing that, however, caused back flexion. My question; is the forward bend what I should be doing minus the flexion?

1st YouTube

2nd. YouTube

[tfranc]

I actually think these look pretty darn good, most of the stuff I would say is nit-picky. You lifted your chest a bit on the last rep, and some other very minor things, but don’t fixated on it. You know how to squat. The weight is just heavy. Wolf told me once that if your work sets could be given the grade “B”, and your warm ups are “A”s, and your B’s turn into A’s as you they turn from work sets to warm ups, then you’re doing it right. These look like solid B+’s at the very least.

Having said that, the one thing I would watch out for is getting looser at the bottom. You have a couple reps where you “plop” down into the hole at the last moment, sometimes making your knees shift forward, but you don’t do that on every rep, so it’s obviously not habitual.

Try breathing more into your middle, less into your shoulders and bear down tight. Squeeze that valsalva, and control your descent all the way down until it’s time to ascend.

[Mch64961]

Okay, thanks for the feedback- it has been very helpful! I’ll work on what’s been suggested and hopefully finish my LP this time around!

[KangaJoo]

Yeah, mostly agree with tfranc although I wouldn't call that last set a B+ (then again the average scores for the classes I taught were in the high 60%'s so I guess I'm a bit harsh). You have a tendency of letting your hips come forward at the bottom and to me it looks like you could get your upper back tighter/puff your chest out more at the start of the set. Lifting shoes will help a little when it comes to keeping your hips back at the bottom and generally will make everything feel more stable. As someone who always wears minimalist/"barefoot" shoes casually and even at work, I highly recommend getting some proper weightlifting shoes at least for squatting.

Your hips coming forward is what's making you feel off balance since it shifts your center of gravity forward of the midfoot. Focus on keeping your hips back and tight. It might help to exaggerate this movement a little bit by keeping your hips so far back that your weight is slightly on your heels at the beginning of the rep. Once you get the hang of it, though, just stay on your midfoot the whole time since it's pretty easy to fall over onto your ass if you're wobbling on your heels.

[tfranc]

You have a tendency of letting your hips come forward at the bottom

Right, but I would say that’s an artifact of not staying tight in the bottom, a symptom, not the issue itself. If you watch the reps where he does it, you see him get loose. I don’t think he subconsciously moves his hips forward. I think he, on a couple reps, allows them to by getting loose and plopping down a bit right at the bottom. I would agree with you though that it is sending him a bit off balance and making the squat harder than it needs to be by a small margin.