Squat Form Check

[James Smithson]

Hi, please may you let me know if my form is OK? Making faces because I'm squeezing my abs and lats hard while trying to push my knees out. I've got the bar as low on my back as it can go comfortably and without causing pain. I'm bending forward as far as my hamstring and glute flexibility will allow me.

18 April 2024 - YouTube

18 April 2024 - YouTube

[Mark Rippetoe]

https://aasgaardco.com/store/books-p...bell-training/

If you have read the book, you didn't understand it. Look down at the floor and drive up with your hips, not your chest.

[Satch12879]

You're not going to be able to lean over any more with the bar that high on your back.

[James Smithson]

https://aasgaardco.com/store/books-p...bell-training/

If you have read the book, you didn't understand it. Look down at the floor and drive up with your hips, not your chest.

I'm presuming you mean that I come up too quickly? I tried not to but my back rounds if I do so given tight glutes and hamstrings. I have stretched a lot before and even so, I can't drive with my hips or get below parallel with the bar even lower on my back.

[James Smithson]

Due to the strain it puts on my glutes and hamstrings, with a greater moment arm? My hamstrings and glutes are actually strong relative to my quads but tight - I think the tightness prevents me from leaning over more, even after I stretch them.

[Martin Shenfield]

Dude. You are doing a high bar squat.

Thumbs around the bar, looking straight ahead, knees forward, vertical back, feet pointing forward and barely hitting depth.

Get the book, watch the videos, do a low bar squat with whatever weight you need to do it properly. If you can't figure it out yourself get a coach.

You're not even trying to do the squat specified in the book so why even ask Rip?

[James Smithson]

I'm hitting parallel. I stated very clearly in the introduction I'm trying to do the squat but I have injuries and body limitations. It's clear to me you should alter your technique around injuries and body limitations.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'm hitting parallel. I stated very clearly in the introduction I'm trying to do the squat but I have injuries and body limitations. It's clear to me you should alter your technique around injuries and body limitations.

Then why are you asking us about your squat?

[Maybach]

Your grip is extremely narrow, which means this is not "as low as the bar can go." If you widen your grip, the bar will be lower. There may possibly be the slight issue of shoulder flexibility but this can be remedied with a little bit of stretching. The Starting Strength crew has been getting the crippled and deformed to do low bar squats for decades at this point. Maybe you really are a special case, but Occam's razor would suggest you are another one of the many cases of people not really paying attention.

Your quads and hamstrings do not prevent you from leaning over more. That's not how those muscles work. To prove this to yourself, not that your hip angle actually reaches the same closure as it would need to to execute a low bar squat to correct depth. The reason you cannot lean over more is because the bar is in the high bar position, which means to lean over more you would have to move the bar forward of mid foot. This is not a mobility issue, it is a physics issue.

[Martin Shenfield]

My hamstrings and glutes are actually strong relative to my quads but tight - I think the tightness prevents me from leaning over more, even after I stretch them.

I think that you are wrong. When I broke my leg, after 12 weeks on two crutches I had basically no quad and calf left on my right leg. The muscle had atrophied that much. My hamstrings and glutes were still pretty good.

Have a guess what kind of squat I did as soon as I could walk? With a very weak quad compared to hamstring.

You are not a special snowflake.