I have found that by going wide, almost sumo wide, for squats, I can hit parallel much easier. BUT I also lose leg drive, or more driving my ass up out of the hole, b/c I’ve got such a wide base. What stretches can I do for my hips to hit parallel on a more neutral stance?? FYI, I have long-ass femurs and I’m 6’1, 165lbs.
Low back lunges stretch the hip flexors, Tnation had an article on it recently.
A video of your squat would help for starters. Maybe you don’t need to stretch but just learn to squat properly.
That said doing defrancos limber 11 will help with mobility.
285lbs. I went w/ a wide but not sumo stance for more strength, but then couldn’t hit parallel.
305 lbs. Def. didn’t hit parallel.
You don’t look at all stable so I would not classify this as a mobility issue. Just that you have been adding weight without hitting depth and now shit has broken loose.
Drop the weight, hit depth, pause in the hole… then build back up.
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Bingo, bango, jingo, jango.
@scotttonfire
Too much weight, not enough technique. The reason you’re not hitting depth is because your form starts to break and your body compensates by going “oh shit”.
Take 185-225, to depth and give it a nice 3 count pause in the hole. Shoot for 3x5. Continue to do your normal training but use the paused squats to depth as an accessory.
Also eat and do standing abs. Lots of both 
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Uh not sure if its your wrestling shoes or whatever mat that gym has under its racks maybe it’s my eyes but it looks like your feet are sinking into the mat…
Also noticed your entire upper body is trimbling with very little upper back tightness and stability of drop the weight and focus on brining up some of your weaknesses
Also as others have said eat and drink about a gallon of whole milk a day for a month and see what kind of results you might see
Jokes aside, I would say your hip mobility shouldn’t be so high up on your list of concerns when it comes to “maxing squats”. Don’t get me wrong, you ought to work on it but not just for “maxing squats”.
As for any advice I’ve to offer… In what way is it harder to hit parallel with a narrower stance? Not wanting to speculate but the first thought in my head was you thought by shortening the range of motion, it’d be easier to move more weight. On top of that, it sounds to me from your initial post that you simply need to learn how to squat right, drop the weight and pay your dues. Trust me, no one wants to see someone “max” out on barely 3 plate squats. Build strength, not test strength.
From one not so advanced guy to another, start by building your foundation. From both videos, it is evidently clear that you have little to no foundation as they’re without a doubt, not even remotely close to parallel. And just so we’re clear on the whole depth issue, I subscribe to the train of thought of “If you’re hitting all 3 whites, you’re going too deep.”(at a meet at least) so I’m not being a nit picky depth nazi.
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Thank u for your reply nit-picky depth nazi. lol. Point taken about narrow not being stronger. I’ve played around with foot post’n, and I can’t hit depth w/ a shoulder-width or narrower stance. However, when I go wide it’s easy to hit depth. Why? I don’t know- maybe cuz my long ass femurs, or my hip flexibility- hence the reason for the post. Watch me at 255lbs. below and you’ll see I do have a foundation, but at these higher weights, my form clearly falls apart which I’m not embarrassed to show b/c I want to learn.
Still looked a little high on 255
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First of all: don’t go all defensive, brother. We are all shit sometimes. You need to understand your mistake and work on it. I had an issue with my butt coming off the bench when benchpressig and Vincepac1500 helped me open my bloody eyes for the retarded shit that I was doing. The guys in here know a thing or two about a thing or two so listen to them.
So, the squat form: it looks terrible right from the start. That is not stable what so ever. Look at Lilliebridge, Zahir, Malanichev and all the top guys. They squat with 1000+ lbs and look like a walk in the park. That’s what you need to aim for. Go under the bar, brace your abdominal, pull the bar into your back, lock your head in a neutral position and squat it. It’s that simple. You look like you are going to break in half. I broke my bloody back from doing stupid shit. Don’t be like me. Put one plate a side and start doing tempo squats with a box that is below paralel. Do that for like a month increasing the reps, then do paused reps without the box until you feel like you can hold a donkey on your back in the bottom position without caring. Only then can you get a program and start going for your max effort squat.
Leave your ego at the door, build some strenght and size, come back stronger than before. That’s how this sport works.
Even tho I am rude as f to you, I want you to be better, stronger, faster.
Good luck, brother.
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This. Still pretty high man.
Work on your walk out. This videos might help, helped me refine my squats quite a fair bit.
EDIT: This too.
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First lighten the weight until you find your groove. Then after your work sets, add 50 lbs to the bar and walk out set up, hold and walk back in. Work up to a 30 sec. hold. After a few months of this your body will no longer dance.