Squat Form Check

[ceast]

A couple weeks in after getting back to squats after a few months off due to some fairly useless injury rehab. The SS squat is very different from how I'd squatted previously so I'm hoping for some form critique. I'm sure there's a lot wrong here. A few different views.

YouTube
YouTube
YouTube

Thanks in advance.

[Caleb Krieg]

Hey there Carter!

You're off to a decent start man. I like that you are actually leaning over! Most people mess that part up when they first start.

From what little I can see of your stance it looks like some adjustments need made. Make sure you're heels are underneath your armpits and point your toes out a full 30 degrees. 30 degrees will feel way more "duck footed" than what you're used to, but it's critical to get your knees tracking out rather than forward. Keeping the knees out is most likely going to take a lot of conscious focus from you at first.

While we're talking about your feet. Let's get some lifting shoes on those puppies. Have you ordered any yet?

All this aside, the thing that's going to help your squat the most in the long run is putting on some serious bodyweight. Are you eating like a maniac?

[ceast]

Hey there Carter!

You're off to a decent start man. I like that you are actually leaning over! Most people mess that part up when they first start.

From what little I can see of your stance it looks like some adjustments need made. Make sure you're heels are underneath your armpits and point your toes out a full 30 degrees. 30 degrees will feel way more "duck footed" than what you're used to, but it's critical to get your knees tracking out rather than forward. Keeping the knees out is most likely going to take a lot of conscious focus from you at first.

While we're talking about your feet. Let's get some lifting shoes on those puppies. Have you ordered any yet?

All this aside, the thing that's going to help your squat the most in the long run is putting on some serious bodyweight. Are you eating like a maniac?

Thanks!

I'll double check stance width (I'm quite narrow framed) and toes out. In the past (prior to SS) I had tons of issues with groin soreness and adductor mag/min/etc strains that would take me out for up to 5 or 6 days due to intense spasms/cramps in those muscle whenever they stretched from a resting position. Reading through some stuff on here from searches led to me erring on the narrow side stance-wise with toes slightly less out than the book suggests. If I'm off here, perhaps gradually changing to the accepted width/toes position would work? I'll post a follow up video from an angle where that's all visible.

No shoes, I'll get some. I figured barefoot was better than the squishy trail runners I have. My old coach (Westside) from years ago told me to go barefoot mostly.

So eating... I am by my standards, but it's still almost certainly not enough. For ref, I'm 148ish lbs and 5'11". I'm an avid cyclist, road and mountain, so weight and body composition is hugely important to my performance there. Totally at odds with the program, I know. Strength training makes me a faster, more durable rider (of course), but based on 15 years of training logs, once I hit around 155-160lbs my riding performance suffers on the climbs no matter how strong I get in the gym. I simply lack the vo2 and aerobic capacity/talent to haul that much weight up the climbs at a competitive pace. I accept this will limit the rate and extent of my progress and am okay with that. I'd like to see a 400lb DL (previous PR was 350, sumo), 300 squat (can't remember PR) and could care less about bench/press so long as I'm strong enough there to support my other lifts.

[ceast]

Hey there Carter!

You're off to a decent start man. I like that you are actually leaning over! Most people mess that part up when they first start.

From what little I can see of your stance it looks like some adjustments need made. Make sure you're heels are underneath your armpits and point your toes out a full 30 degrees. 30 degrees will feel way more "duck footed" than what you're used to, but it's critical to get your knees tracking out rather than forward. Keeping the knees out is most likely going to take a lot of conscious focus from you at first.

While we're talking about your feet. Let's get some lifting shoes on those puppies. Have you ordered any yet?

All this aside, the thing that's going to help your squat the most in the long run is putting on some serious bodyweight. Are you eating like a maniac?

Update from today. Stance slightly wider. Front 1/4 view to see if knees are pushed out enough throughout.

YouTube
YouTube

[Dillon Spencer]

Don’t wanna step on Caleb’s toes, but I’ll offer some feedback until he comes back around.

To me, looks like your knees are tracking pretty well. You’re squatting too deep though. Your upper back is also all over the place. Your head is moving around a lot. Puff that chest up before you unrack, pick a spot on the floor that’s maybe a little forward of where you’re looking now, and keep staring at it to keep your neck neutral.

[Caleb Krieg]

Thanks!

I'll double check stance width (I'm quite narrow framed) and toes out. In the past (prior to SS) I had tons of issues with groin soreness and adductor mag/min/etc strains that would take me out for up to 5 or 6 days due to intense spasms/cramps in those muscle whenever they stretched from a resting position. Reading through some stuff on here from searches led to me erring on the narrow side stance-wise with toes slightly less out than the book suggests. If I'm off here, perhaps gradually changing to the accepted width/toes position would work? I'll post a follow up video from an angle where that's all visible.

Gotcha. Yeah, you are definitely on the narrow side. I would try bumping out 3" or so and see how it goes. It'll help you avoid the excessive depth and stay tighter at the bottom. You had adductor pain squatting in the past? How wide did you set your feet pre-SS?

No shoes, I'll get some. I figured barefoot was better than the squishy trail runners I have. My old coach (Westside) from years ago told me to go barefoot mostly.

Good. You won't regret it!

So eating... I am by my standards, but it's still almost certainly not enough. For ref, I'm 148ish lbs and 5'11". I'm an avid cyclist, road and mountain, so weight and body composition is hugely important to my performance there. Totally at odds with the program, I know. Strength training makes me a faster, more durable rider (of course), but based on 15 years of training logs, once I hit around 155-160lbs my riding performance suffers on the climbs no matter how strong I get in the gym. I simply lack the vo2 and aerobic capacity/talent to haul that much weight up the climbs at a competitive pace. I accept this will limit the rate and extent of my progress and am okay with that. I'd like to see a 400lb DL (previous PR was 350, sumo), 300 squat (can't remember PR) and could care less about bench/press so long as I'm strong enough there to support my other lifts.

Ahh, you're an endurance guy. Well that certainly changes things. That's pretty cool that your strength training to begin with. Do you compete in cycling?

[Caleb Krieg]

Don’t wanna step on Caleb’s toes, but I’ll offer some feedback until he comes back around.

To me, looks like your knees are tracking pretty well. You’re squatting too deep though. Your upper back is also all over the place. Your head is moving around a lot. Puff that chest up before you unrack, pick a spot on the floor that’s maybe a little forward of where you’re looking now, and keep staring at it to keep your neck neutral.

^^^All of this too Carter.

[ceast]

Don’t wanna step on Caleb’s toes, but I’ll offer some feedback until he comes back around.

To me, looks like your knees are tracking pretty well. You’re squatting too deep though. Your upper back is also all over the place. Your head is moving around a lot. Puff that chest up before you unrack, pick a spot on the floor that’s maybe a little forward of where you’re looking now, and keep staring at it to keep your neck neutral.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll work on those things. Wow, I watched that video a bunch and never noticed how all over the place my head was and how it affected my upper back. I definitely have a lot of trouble feeling the correct depth, which is probably largely due to my inexperience.

[ceast]

Gotcha. Yeah, you are definitely on the narrow side. I would try bumping out 3" or so and see how it goes. It'll help you avoid the excessive depth and stay tighter at the bottom. You had adductor pain squatting in the past? How wide did you set your feet pre-SS?



Good. You won't regret it!



Ahh, you're an endurance guy. Well that certainly changes things. That's pretty cool that your strength training to begin with. Do you compete in cycling?

Initially I was sumo wide, but mostly recently just a bit wider than what I'm doing now. I seemed to have adductor issues at all widths, but admittedly was all over the place searching for a fix. I've worked a lot to make sure tightness isn't an issue any longer. My current thinking is that it was combination of not driving my knees out (Will mentioned this in another thread), the adductors being weak from lack of use riding and their near complete lack of exposure to eccentric contraction. Perhaps also (relatively speaking) my quads/hams were strong from riding, leading me to use more weight than my adductors and glutes were ready to handle. I started with just the bar a few weeks ago to give the weak stuff a chance to catch up. Going well so far, but I'm now getting up to the weights where I had issues before.

The best thing that I ever did for my riding was to start strength training and drop back my riding hours. I used to race a lot in my 20s but no time anymore with kids. My current riding group is pretty competitive and I do a few organized rides a year that certainly qualify as races if you're near the front, which I try to be.

[Caleb Krieg]

Makes sense. I'd say this is a good time to get used to a moderate stance width while you're building things back up and fixing your technique.


That's awesome. We need more guys like you bridging the gap between worlds. Have you gotten any of your other biking buds into strength training?