Maintaining tightness (and form) when you get fatigued

[JTT]

Hello,

So I've been dealing with an asymmetry in my squat, where my hip shifts to the right side and my low back becomes uneven when I drive up. I've been trying to iron it out and the main culprit for my asymmetry seems to be a lack of tightness in the upper back.

I cue myself to "pin my elbows to my sides and point them down", and to "close my armpits" and it makes my upper back (and whole torso) tight as a MF'er and my form holds up just fine.

But when I start to get fatigued, I lose tightness in my upper back and I get loose, so my form suffers and my hips starts to shift.

I feel like I have energy/power left in my legs, but the lack of tightness makes it impossible to grind out reps with good form and it feels like I'm leaking power.

I know some form breakdown is to be expected when you get fatigued, but my form goes from good to bad too damn quickly!

[JTT]

To make it clearer: when I get fatigued, I just can't seem to pin my elbows to my torso quite hard enough and it makes me lose tightness --> bad form.

[Dillon Spencer]

Something I feel has recently been making a difference for me is thinking about pinning the bar to my back with thoracic extension before I even unrack it. Once my shoulders are warmed up and I can take a decently narrow grip, I find focusing on that thoracic extension let's me pretty much forget about where my elbows are because it's almost impossible to become loose even if I tried to. I used to think more about my elbows, wrists and hands, but since I've shifted my focus to thoracic extension during the set up, the bar has felt a lot more steady on my back.

[JTT]

Something I feel has recently been making a difference for me is thinking about pinning the bar to my back with thoracic extension before I even unrack it. Once my shoulders are warmed up and I can take a decently narrow grip, I find focusing on that thoracic extension let's me pretty much forget about where my elbows are because it's almost impossible to become loose even if I tried to. I used to think more about my elbows, wrists and hands, but since I've shifted my focus to thoracic extension during the set up, the bar has felt a lot more steady on my back.

Yup that's just another cue for the same thing pretty much. Thoracic extension. Can try and see if it's better.

But the issue is more that on rep 1-3 I can remain tight, but not on rep 4 and 5 even tho I'm thinking about it 100%.

[Dillon Spencer]

Yup different cue for the same thing, but I just found thinking about one vs. the other helped me lock it in better before I even unrack, so that even when fatigued it feels solid because there's nowhere it can go. However, I've also taken a bit of weight off the bar recently to focus on form more, so we'll see if it even works for me when I get back up to my heavy (for me at least) weights!

[stef]

I've also taken a bit of weight off the bar recently to focus on form more, so we'll see if it even works for me when I get back up to my heavy (for me at least) weights!

I prefer keeping the weight on the bar and decreasing reps per set for form work.

[Dillon Spencer]

I prefer keeping the weight on the bar and decreasing reps per set for form work.

Thanks Stef! I've been doing some of both lately. 5x3 with the heavy stuff, and one day a week doing 4x5 with lighter weight to keep the total tonnage up.

[Aslin]

Hello,

So I've been dealing with an asymmetry in my squat, where my hip shifts to the right side and my low back becomes uneven when I drive up. I've been trying to iron it out and the main culprit for my asymmetry seems to be a lack of tightness in the upper back.

I cue myself to "pin my elbows to my sides and point them down", and to "close my armpits" and it makes my upper back (and whole torso) tight as a MF'er and my form holds up just fine.

But when I start to get fatigued, I lose tightness in my upper back and I get loose, so my form suffers and my hips starts to shift.

I feel like I have energy/power left in my legs, but the lack of tightness makes it impossible to grind out reps with good form and it feels like I'm leaking power.

I know some form breakdown is to be expected when you get fatigued, but my form goes from good to bad too damn quickly!

I have the same sort of issue. I do lots of body weight stretches with a broomstick to keep everything loose. Seems to help me maintain form when shit gets heavy.

I also think chest out, really helps. Might go well with what you are thinking already.

This guy's video also helped me stay tighter:

YouTube

[FatButWeak]

Proper use of the belt will help with these form issues. The belt gives your back, side and ab miuscles something else to brace and push against, which keeps your spine locked into proper position. Are you using a belt?