Form Check SQUAT (Video / 435 / 6'4, 210)

Hi, im 19 yo, 6’4, 210 lbs.

I tried to hit a new max and failed. Of course the strength is my major issue, but I bet I am doing a lot of things wrong with my technique. Could you please check it and tell me? I should probably sit back more, but I feel more natural this way. Is it supposed to feel unnatural to perform a powerlifting squat?

Hard to judge what your form is like on a failed rep. Take a lighter weight and record a clean rep and you will get some good feedback.

OK here you go. The 2nd squat is probably faster, just recorded bad. I think I am leaning forward but still push in the knees. Maybe I am more quad dominant than hip dominant? Or problem with mobility?

From those clips it seems to me like you’ve got technical issues holding you back, not a weak muscle group. First you seem to begin the lift violently, almost as if your upper body collapses under the bar to begin the movement. Try to work on breathing deep into your gut, keeping your chest up, and sitting back to begin the lift. Go down to depth slowly and more controlled, and “show your crotch” by making sure your knees stay outside your toes. Like you said you’re definitely leaning forward on the second clip, and it kind of almost turns into a good morning. Make sure you are keeping the weight on your heels at all times throughout the lift. The best thing you can do is drop the weight for your volume work and make sure you are hitting every rep with your head and chest UP. What does your current program look like?

I just finished the base mesocycle from Smolov routine, so this was my new PR attempt. I haven’t failed a single day in the base mesocycle so I thought I could add up more than prescribed 45 lbs :frowning: I will try to do something with the back tightness. I feel like I can squat more this way (Not good in the long run I guess), but yeah, the weight is somewhere in the middle to front foot, definitely not the heel. Switching to intense mesocycle now (= more volume = more space to experiment). Thanks for the reply.

Feet are pretty close, but main thing I see is keep your chest up before you start the squat don’t lean as far forward before you even begin

II keep the feet close because my ankles colapse in :confused: Probably need to stretch inner thighs more? I will try all the advice written here next training :slight_smile:

What kind of shoes do you squat in? Might want to invest in some chuck taylors or old school skateboard shoes, something with thin fabric and a flat bottom. Will help you stay on your heels. Also the best thing you can do for your squat is gain some weight. At 6’4" you’re at a disadvantage but if you beef up that torso your squat will go up

I have quite hard time gaining muscle. I want to make an advantage of it and cut down to 93kg (205lbs) weight class (I would like to compete once), because guys of my height and strength are usually heavier considering I have a lot of fat to lose. The shoes are Adidas Powerlift 2.0, I used to squat barefoot, but this feels way better, especially when high bar squatting. I will try to force it next time and push back more.

Actually I lost around 4kg (~10 lbs) through the base mesocycle, gianing around 20kg (45lbs) on the squat. On purpose, of course. :smiley:

Man you are over extending your tspine insanely and you rotate your hips back at the beginning of the rep and as you descend your hip flexors tighten up in this position. This its causing you to go from crazy arched to caved in as you get lower and lower because you have to reset as you get lower. It’s clear as day. Especially in the first video of the mulisquat clip. When you do this you can’t brace your core worth a shit and with a max effort weight you will cave. Especially when your bar path is as bad as your is in that side video.

Not trying to be rude honestly. Keep your chest and ribcage drawn nuetral or slightly down even and brace the core (imagine trying to press out all the way around and try to break your belt apart) and upper back hard breaking the bar over your back. Your knuckles should be white you squeeze the bar so hard.

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To me it looks like your back is rounded rather that straight or arched from the get go and you’re bouncing at the bottom. I try to avoid both of those things. I’m 6"5 so I know squatting can be tricky for tall guys…

Do you feel like you have good control on the way down?

Reed: That actually makes a lot of sense. There is no way to hit paralel with such an arch, that must be the reason why my back starts to round. Squatting tomorrow, I will let you know how it went.

Balle: That 315 squat was just a warm up, normally I control it, the problem is that my hips shoot up, knees cave in and back rounds a little bit. I will definitely try Reed’s advice, that might solve the problem with hips and back.

OP watch this video over and over until you figure it out. I honestly believe the biggest reason I went from a 600lbs raw squat to a 700lbs raw squat in less than a year is because I figured this out perfectly. It literally changed everything.

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Great video! I think I had seen it before but haven’t taken it to heart enough. Seems like a very good hint for the OP.

There is a horror show happening with the balance of your hips in the bottom of the hole. I guess it’s a mobility issue but you need to get it sorted before it plays hell with your joints.

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Reed, thank you so much! Tried the new technique today and understood everything! Everything they said about keeping neutral back, head down, bending the bar, keeping weight on the hells, EVERYTHING!!! It feels so much better, I am way more tight, my back is no longer rounding when the weight gets heavy. Also I place my feet wider and go with thumbless grip, but I am going to experiment about that. THANK YOU! Going to post a video next time I squat again.

EDIT: Also it requires less mobility he he :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, it didn’t go so well. I set my base mesocycle PR as 420, which lead me to squat 355x5 in the final set and I managed to do only 3 and on top of that, they were as deep as you see the first one in the video (approx, so basically a half squat). My glutes were sore from the previous box squat session and my abs were extremely sore, too (From school, P.E.), I am also sick so I sleep very bad, so it might be a reason, but I dont think so, it is probably just lack of strength. I started focusing on strength like one year ago and I’ve been training for 2 years overall. It"s pathetic, I am lifting weights that 14 years old kids lift, probably should give up and begin just lifting for healthy strength, not performance, because considering my weight and age, there is zero potential if I continue to progress like that. Apart from crying, here is the video, just a light weight to show the technique (I have to get used to getting lower, it is less natural that it was before). Is there any major issue? I think I should sit back even more, my knees are getting too far forward (Which I guess leads to loss of power?)

Exact video that came to mind!

Well, I ve been practising for a while and cannot make it work. I just squat like 15% more the way I do in the video with knees forward and curved bar path. When I sit back, I just lift less with less depth. No idea why, maybe my glutes are weak or something, but I feel like my glutes grew more than my legs overall, so I have really no clue. I have never seen a powerlifter squatting like I do (I fixed the back issue tho), but for me, it seems more efficent.