Squat form check

[dills05]

Hi all - grateful for a squat critique. I have quite a long torso and find it incredibly hard to remain tight. Am also concerned there isn't much of a hip drive. Would really appreciate some pointers.

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[Ryan Arnold]

Focus more on keeping your low back in extension and not going quite so deep. Look down instead of forward and the hip drive shall improve

[dills05]

Thanks Ryan. When you say back in extension... Any advice here. I've always thought that over extending anywhere is a bad thing...

As for the looking down, I'll have to avoid the temptation of the mirror 😂

[Ryan Arnold]

Over extending is bad. But you won't have that problem. What you have to do is maintain the natural curve in your spine and keep it tight. Since the weight on your back will force you into flexion you have to concentrate on extension to keep it neutral. Rip explains here:

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Yes definitely don't look at the mirror. Turn the hooks around and face away from it if you have to

[dills05]

I had a much lighter squat session today - heavy again Friday - but tried to take your advice on board. It felt a lot better, I think there are problems with my upper back tension still however? Grateful for further pointers.

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[Ryan Arnold]

Just eliminate the over arching you're doing before the rep starts and you should be fine. Just stand straight at the top. Let's see what heavy day looks like

[dills05]

First of all, apologies for the awful angle on this one - I thought I'd set it up OK. This was my top working set, so I didn't have chance to retake.

I really struggled to get and maintain that tightness today, which was very disappointing. Lower my gaze had helped with hip drive I feel though...

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[Ryan Arnold]

video is blocked

[dills05]

Apologies - YouTube blocked that one because of a background song breached copyright! Try this;

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[Ryan Arnold]

Yes, much better. But the form slips as the set goes on. As you may know we like 5's around here and one of the reasons is that form tends to break down with higher rep sets. I'd focus on the knee slide next. Can you see how your hips come back first and then the knees bend? You need the hips and knees to break at the same time. So focus on getting your knees forward sooner and keeping them there throughout the rep. Don't let them go forward