125kg squat fail

[Daveyboy]

I'd completed 3x5 at this weight 3 days ago, so this failure on my 3rd rep surprised and baffled me. I can't figure out what went wrong. Is there something going on in the first two reps that forecasts disaster in the 3rd? Did I do something in the 3rd that I didn't do in the first two?



I re-racked and completed my 5 after this.

[Pete Troupos]

Lifting your chest too soon. You got slightly forward on the third rep, started to lift your chest, it slowed down and you put it on the pins.
Gotta learn to fight through that and fix it on the next rep rather than taking it to Pin City as soon as it slows down. The bar speed of the first two reps don't indicate this was a limit set.

Why were you doing the same weight you've already done three days before?

[Daveyboy]

Thanks, Pete. So basically I got a bit off balance and wussed out. I'll try my best to avoid the temptation of Pin City in the future!

I've been doing the same weight twice before moving up because I'm 57-and-a-half years old and feel that 2.5kg a week (squatting twice a week) is a reasonable rate of progress for a man of my age. Is this just another example of me being a wuss?

[Pete Troupos]

Getting off balance is going to happen from time to time, but you have to learn not to freak out and put it on the pins. Better to figure out why you're getting off balance (chest up too soon) and fix it so it's less likely to happen though.

I don't see a reason to do the same weight twice, assuming everything is consistently to depth. If you can add weight, add weight. If you've answered the First Three Questions™ and the LP runs out, time to change the program to something more intermediate. Check out The Barbell Prescription and Practical Programming for how to organize that. Or you could hire a coach that will fix your technique and program for you. Either way, cowboy-up and resist the urge to bail when things aren't perfect.

[Daveyboy]

Will do, coach. Thanks for the advice.

[zklimczak]

Perhaps others have already given sufficient answers, but I wanted to weigh in with my two cents (take it for what it's worth, which ain't much):
If you watch the video, right around the 39-40 second mark, you can see your right heel come up off the floor; this would imply you've pushed the bar too far forward of the midfoot, created an unnecessary moment arm, and are now trying to drive the chest (as others have stated) instead of the hips, and stalled, resulting in a fail. I think if you focused on keeping the bar DIRECTLY over midfoot and stayed in your hips you would have completed the rep. Cheers.