Hey all,
I recently got back into lifting after a close to 2 years hiatus. I am working up to my old weights slowly and while I’m at it, I’ve been trying to improve my form. The lift I have the most trouble with is squats and this forum has been of extreme help to me in the past.
In particular, I would like an critiques/ my depth (is it deep enough for a fed like USAPL)?
As a beginner, I’ve had a hard time judging for myself as I have pretty large legs for a 170lb’er. I’d very much appreciate it if more experienced eyes/brains took a look.
Also, any other critiques that may help improve my squat the next time I step under the bar would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, as always!
315x3:
Squat 285x9:
I compete in the GBPF (British affiliate of IPF) and I can say you comfortably meet the minimum depth required. Your squat technique looks very good, particularly for someone who’s had a 2 year layoff!
I think a possible weakness is your core strength, bringing that up would help your squat a lot. I think you suffer from a similar problem to me, you have really tight ankles and calves so to compensate you externally rotate your feet quite a lot. At the bottom position you can see this places a lot of torque on your ankles and puts your feet in a less than optimal position. You want your feet flat and to drive straight up through them. Stretch your calves a lot and work on ankle mobility.
I think in your squat you lack upper back tightness. You place your hands close together which inherently creates some upper back tightness, but you need to really squeeze your back hard and think about driving your upper back into the bar. Your upper back should be very sore after a squat session! This is where the cue “drive your back into the bar” comes from.