Squat form check

[Futurestrength]

I would really appreciate any help. I have read, watched and listened to all of the material countless times; any glaring issues I have are not a result of ignorance, just stupidity.

I have read and compared so many other form checks before reluctantly adding mine, but I’m spinning my wheels at a low weight and The First Three Questions are all in order.

I first was going way too deep and not leaning over enough, staying too upright. After trying to correct that, then I was leaning over too much and wasn’t tight and rigid in the back.

This is me resetting and trying to find the balance. I’m wondering if I’m again now not leaning over enough? I know that when rising from the bottom, the back angle should change only slightly, but mine seems to be more exaggerated, and from reading other posts that seems to usually mean that the leaned over when rising is the correct back angle I should have been in sooner on the descent. Or is that my back is weak and I need to do a better job of staying more rigid on the way up?

And maybe the last rep might have been too high?

Im trying to push my butt back, chest down and knees out. I think I do good with rising with the hips, but I think I have a hard time consciously using my knees correctly, maybe need to push out more? I notice I tend to be able to push my right knee out easier than my left.

I do have a leg length discrepancy on my left side, but only 5mm. Not treated yet

I know I need to get a belt. I know I need to get a proper rack. I know I need coaching. I just got the shoes, and hoping to be able to at least get the basics down before the rest

I really would appreciate any help. Thank you

Squat form check - YouTube

[Mark Rippetoe]

These are all excessively deep, including the last one. Hips are moving correctly.

[Futurestrength]

These are all excessively deep, including the last one. Hips are moving correctly.

Thanks for the reply Mark, I appreciate it. I will cut my depth, I didn’t want to get the dreaded “ Do not post above-parallel squats on these forums” , but I obviously have some more learning to do on judging depth

I hope I’m lucky enough to get another form check next time as well

Have a nice day

[Maybach]

Your back oscillates back and forth between extension and flexion like three times throughout the set. Watch your hips and your upper back and note that at several points the are moving independently of each other.

That sharp jerk of your pelvis back at the beginning is you setting your back into extension, and this extension be present when unracking the bar and be maintained throughout the set. You appear to have some natural lumbar kyphosis, so this will take some conscious effort on your part.

As Rip said, don't go so deep: you are having to move your back into flexion to get to the depth you are aiming for, which allows your hamstrings and adductors to shorten.

[Futurestrength]

Your back oscillates back and forth between extension and flexion like three times throughout the set. Watch your hips and your upper back and note that at several points the are moving independently of each other.

That sharp jerk of your pelvis back at the beginning is you setting your back into extension, and this extension be present when unracking the bar and be maintained throughout the set. You appear to have some natural lumbar kyphosis, so this will take some conscious effort on your part.

As Rip said, don't go so deep: you are having to move your back into flexion to get to the depth you are aiming for, which allows your hamstrings and adductors to shorten.

Thank you for this help. I’ve noticed what you’ve described about my back. It has never looked like one solid piece. I knew it didn’t look right. I’ve learned that butt wink is a BS term, but I could still tell my back didn’t look like the good squat forms I’ve seen on here


I’ve had a tough time balancing “keeping my chest up” as seen on the dvd but also pointing my nipples to the floor during the squat, I think I just never combined the two correctly but I need to focus harder on doing so

My plan tomorrow is to keep my chest up high when setting up and with a narrow grip and really focusing on keeping my back tight and squeezing my shoulder blades together and bracing hard

I hope that’s the right idea at least. If it’s not, please let me know. I really appreciate the help, a lot.

[Maybach]

You can clearly get your back into extension: you do so sharply at the beginning of each rep. Just do whatever you do at the beginning on the unrack and leave it there.

[Jason Donaldson]

I’ve had a tough time balancing “keeping my chest up” as seen on the dvd but also pointing my nipples to the floor during the squat, I think I just never combined the two correctly but I need to focus harder on doing so

This is probably because you are thinking of accomplishing both solely through the chest itself. "Chest up" is accomplished using the musculature of the upper back. "Nipples down" (or "bend over" or other cues related to overall back angle) happens properly from the hips.

The common theme here is learning to set your back. Properly setting your back keeps the spine rigid along its axis ("look[ing] like one solid piece", as you put it), allowing these two things to happen at once, and enabling the force transmission the movement requires between the bar and the prime movers around the hips.

I'm seeing that, at the top, you seem to be flexing your lower back, instead of extending it. (You're not thinking of contracting your abs at the top, are you?) This suggests that you have not yet learned to control the low back - no shame there, mind you. Lots of people get this wrong at first, myself included. The good news is, there are videos like this to help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXfOdvd-sJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZuB4t5cYkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz3eDghqrOs

[Futurestrength]

You can clearly get your back into extension: you do so sharply at the beginning of each rep. Just do whatever you do at the beginning on the unrack and leave it there.

You’re right. I realize I’m not setting my back before I unrack at all. I’m going to make sure I do that now, I need to get my form correct before I unrack the weight. thank you

This is probably because you are thinking of accomplishing both solely through the chest itself. "Chest up" is accomplished using the musculature of the upper back. "Nipples down" (or "bend over" or other cues related to overall back angle) happens properly from the hips.

The common theme here is learning to set your back. Properly setting your back keeps the spine rigid along its axis ("look[ing] like one solid piece", as you put it), allowing these two things to happen at once, and enabling the force transmission the movement requires between the bar and the prime movers around the hips.

I'm seeing that, at the top, you seem to be flexing your lower back, instead of extending it. (You're not thinking of contracting your abs at the top, are you?) This suggests that you have not yet learned to control the low back - no shame there, mind you. Lots of people get this wrong at first, myself included. The good news is, there are videos like this to help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXfOdvd-sJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZuB4t5cYkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz3eDghqrOs

You’re right, I’m not focusing on contracting abs nearly enough at the top. And again, you’re right, I’m not setting my back. I thought I’ve been doing all that, but I’m rushing through everything, I’m now realizing

I’ve seen all the videos and have read the material, but once I get to working weight it’s like I’ll remember one thing at a time or just forget everything. So many times at the end of the set I’m left with this feeling like I wasted the session and wish I could do it again. I suppose that’s where the coaching becomes so important

This forum is extremely valuable to me though and I really appreciate your guys help. Even though I “know” everything I should be doing, I clearly don’t, but being told specifically what I’m doing wrong is going to help a lot I think. Thank you for taking the time to link those videos. I’ve seen them all, but I’m going to watch each of them multiple times again, focusing on it especially knowing I am lacking in it and need to do better.

I went back at the squat yesterday and it still wasn’t good, not going to even waste your guys time with a form video

I know this idea gets frowned upon sometimes on here so please let me know if it’s bad to do in my situation, but I think I’m going to deload my weight and work back up while focusing on my form. I think I may keep spinning my wheels at this low ceiling because I’m able to get away with poor form for a bit while climbing up until I’m not able to anymore and it starts becoming obvious I don’t know what I’m doing. I need to focus on setting my back and staying tight, and doing so before I unrack the weight, and stay rigid while cutting my depth

I think I’ve also been rushing my warm ups and not being conscious enough of my form and setting my back during them, and when the time comes for my working weight, once I’m underneath the bar I kind of forget everything and go back to my crappy wrong instincts

Thanks again guys for taking the time to help me, I’m going to do my best to not let the good advice go to waste, and if I’m able to learn from this I’d be willing to send each of you guys a thank you tip for my appreciation if you have PayPal or anything like that. I’ve been at this for a while and it’s getting frustrating, so thank you again