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Thread: Squat form

  1. #1
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    Default Squat form

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    Hi, posting this at the request of Ray Gillenwater in this thread, but of course open to anyone's feedback.

    Quick refresher and a little extra info. Refresher is I did heavy squats and heavy pulls and had soreness in my triceps. Ray proposed my squat grip might be the culprit. Extra info is I struggled mightily with elbow tendonitis in my left elbow over the summer, and every now and then I'll still have mild soreness during/after benching. But for the most part, the elbow is ok these days. Think what eventually helped the most was laying my wrists back a little, so I bought the straps to allow me to do so. I've been doing this since August without any noticeable problems.

    As noted in the other thread, these squats aren't from the day in question because I only recorded my pulls from that day. These are from the week prior, last set of five at 300#.

    As always, really appreciate the perspectives.


  2. #2
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    The hips and knees need to break at the same time. See your toes come up on a couple of these as you start? You're sending your ass back to start and the knees are delayed. At the same time, you still need to reach back more with the hips as you approach the bottom. Get your nipples between your knees and get your junk behind your heels.
    Lastly, keep driving your hips. Emphasize the hip drive out of the bottom and don't be tempted to lift the chest so soon.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Troupos View Post
    The hips and knees need to break at the same time. See your toes come up on a couple of these as you start? You're sending your ass back to start and the knees are delayed. At the same time, you still need to reach back more with the hips as you approach the bottom. Get your nipples between your knees and get your junk behind your heels.
    Lastly, keep driving your hips. Emphasize the hip drive out of the bottom and don't be tempted to lift the chest so soon.
    This is all awesome stuff. Will incorporate. Thank you.

  4. #4
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    Hi Pete,

    If you're still watching, would you mind taking a quick look at my most recent squats? In this session, I was trying to focus on two changes: 1) getting hips further back per your recommendation, and 2) setting and maintaining the lower back. During warmups, I focused on trying to break the hips and knees at the same time, which is surprisingly hard for me. I know you mentioned other tweaks in your last post and I intend to work on all of them in the coming weeks, but trying to focus on only a few items at a time. I'm not a smart guy.

    I moved to 5x3 this week, as I'm running out an NLP. Posting the first and last set to make sure there's enough to evaluate.

    Again, thank you very much.

    First set:




    Fifth set:

  5. #5
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    What direction are your knees moving at the bottom?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    What direction are your knees moving at the bottom?
    Forward? Think I'm seeing a shove forward just as I approach parallel, but maybe that's not what you're referring to.

  7. #7
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    The timing is better, but you need to shove your knees OUT so they track over the feet and don't continue to travel forward. Narrow up the stance a bit and think about trying to touch the safeties with your knees as you descend and that should help keep you over midfoot as you send your ass back

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Troupos View Post
    The timing is better, but you need to shove your knees OUT so they track over the feet and don't continue to travel forward. Narrow up the stance a bit and think about trying to touch the safeties with your knees as you descend and that should help keep you over midfoot as you send your ass back
    Got it, will continue working on it. Again, really appreciate all the feedback.

  9. #9
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    Think about your knees freezing half way down and your hips going back. Also a small thing, it looks like you may be looking too high. Your cervical spine looks like it is not neutral and if anything in extension. Tuck your chin to your chest will help your hip drive.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mundo View Post
    Think about your knees freezing half way down and your hips going back. Also a small thing, it looks like you may be looking too high. Your cervical spine looks like it is not neutral and if anything in extension. Tuck your chin to your chest will help your hip drive.
    Thanks. I have a bad habit of lifting my head on squat and deadlift if I don’t think about it before each set. Spent a year squatting with soft, rounded shoulders and got used to lifting my head to keep the bar from rolling up my back. Working on it.

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