4 RM Long Femured Squats (Huge Form Breakdown)

Hello everyone,

first time poster here, i just did my week 5 on the Candito 6 week program resulting in this rather horrible set of squats at 352 pounds (160 kg). This is my second time running the program, starting my first cycle at 352 lb (160 kg) as a 1 rep max. I´ve achieved depth and had pretty good form the first cycle and for the first 3 weeks on this one.

However… This set my form broke down quite a lot as you´ll see, my first rep i felt moved very well but it lacked depth big time, so rep 2 and onwards i focused harder on achieving depth which mostly made my upper body fold more and more for each rep. I litterally felt uncapable of just going down with my lower body, my upper body just followed uncontrollably.

As some context for this, i´m about 6´5 at 220 with long femurs. I´ve always felt that i´ve had to fold a bit to reach depth (even on light weights). This set i folded more or at least less controlled than usual, having to grind the weight up. And in retrospect, i probably should not have done rep 4.

I´m not gonna run week 6 of the program, but instead find some program with lighter percentages and higher volume to reconstruct my squat a bit. Do you guys have any recommendations?

I would greatly appreciate any help on how i can fix my form, specific weaknesess or just about any general wisdom you might have to give.

Watch the Supertraining video with Ed Coan on how to squat. You might be better off with heeled shoes, easier to hit depth. Never do that again outside the power rack with a guy like that spotting you, you were inches away from death. If you collapsed forward (which you almost did) there is no way he could save you, especially considering that he was two feet behind with his arms at his sides.

Thanks for your response! Gonna check that video out, saw a while back. Yeah, definetly took my head under water there, gonna be more careful and not even touch heavy weights until i got my form down better.

Do you have any ideas on why this is happening? Could it be quad weakness? I feel like the breakdown in this video was the worst i´ve ever had. So i thought maybe i could pick out some weaknesess to work on? So that i got something out of this set at least :slight_smile:

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to respond!

This is sensible advice. I (almost) always squat in a power cage and (usually) make sure the bars are at the right catch height for me. There’s really no downside to taking some sensible precautions if you need to bail on a squat.

Really? REALLY?

@chris312 I’ve had squats like that before too when I lose tightness in the hole. My hips shoot up but the bar stays put for a moment instead of moving upwards with my hips. This happens to me when I lose tightness in my core and back, which is how your body transfers the force generated by your hips and legs through your spine and up to the bar.

TBH I’m not a powerlifter but I do squat quite a bit. I wouldn’t call this a “Huge Form Breakdown”, nor would I overhaul what’s been working for you up to this point. Just stay tighter. For me that means three big things. Get my upper body tight (I “bend the bar around my back”), get my core tight (bracing, which is what I would guess you failed to do throughout your reps), and get my lower body tight by spreading or “screwing” the floor.

You were strong enough to recover and finish the rep, which tells me that you were using a perfectly sensible weight. I think there’s something to be said for knowing you can handle a little bit of slop in your big lifts while still striving for a perfect rep each time.

My $0.02 is to work on tightness, specifically bracing. There’s also no downside to taking common-sense safety measures, like squatting in a squat rack or power cage where you can dump the barbell on the pins. Don’t panic, keep squatting.

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My opinion:

  1. Strengthen your core (abs, obliques, lower back) and upper back
  2. Initiate the push from the bottom of the squat with your quads/hips/ass. Don’t shoot your hips up first.
  3. Take 50-75lbs off your working weight and build back up. I would do with with 275lb and build back up. Will take you just a 4-8 weeks to get back up to these weights with much much better technique.
  4. Stay braced and squeeze the hell out of that bar.
  5. Keep your eyes straight or up. Looking down will cause you to bend forward.
  6. That spotter was pointless. Get in the rack or learn how to bail without a spotter.
  7. It’s honestly not that bad, just needs to be cleaned up a bit.

and just like @twojarslave said, Just stay tighter. That itself will make a world of a difference.

Thanks for the reply guys, i´ve never failed a squat before (haven´t trained that long either). And seeing your responses actually kinda freaked me out, hadn´t considered what could happen. Definetly gonna get used to the power rack!

I never really work my core, nor quads really outside of squats. So i think i´m gonna run a simpler program (and keep around 70%) for a while and add some core exercises and maybe high bar squats. Getting this close to failure was kind of an eye opener :).

I didn´t really instruct the spotter in this case. Just a friend i randomly grabbed to spot me, going to remove the video for this reason.

Greatly appreciate the wisdom tho, i´ll bring it with me!

You can keep squatting. I would just add in some lunges or leg presses and then hanging leg raises, ab wheel, decline situp, back extensions. You don’t need to overhaul everything.

Your technique is fucked and you are trying to lift weights that you can’t handle with proper form. Don’t worry about pointing out weaknesses, everything is weak. Learn to squat properly, lift weights that allow you to use proper form, and don’t push close to failure. No rep maxes.

The point is that if he lost balance or actually failed and started going down the spotter wouldn’t have been able to do much.

Damn! I’m sorry I missed this one :slightly_frowning_face:
These form check videos are my favorite show :sob:

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