Hi,
I was hoping I could get some pointers on my squat.
Thanks!
Ben
The video is set to private. Adjust your settings so folks can view it.
Sorry, settings changed.
Your hips shoot up out of the hole on each rep, getting you a bit more forward lean and shift from your quads to your posterior chain. I’d say work on quad strength and think about driving your head through the bar to keep your chest up. And keep that core tight as possible. One of my coaches would always say that your legs don’t squat, your belly does. As I think about this on my heavy reps, it helps me keep my back position to prevent folding over in the hole.
I’m guessing with a heavier load closer to your 1RM the issue would be even more pronounced.
Looks good to me. What specific advice are you looking for?
Mostly it has to do with leverages and squatting below parallel.
I wish I was looking for some specific advice; it would probably make it easier. Training alone, I’m pretty much left up to my own to figure out what’s going on in my lifts, but I’ve reached the limit of my ability to look at it myself and compare it to what I see and read online, so I’m hoping there’s something that stands out to the guys here.
I do agree my hips start up first and I’m not sure what the reason is. Whenever I squat using the form in the video, they always start first, even with warm up weight. If I try to widen my feet and sit back more, it looks better, but I have to really arch my lower back to keep my back from ending up horizontal, but then I run out of room and can’t reach parallel.
I’m definitely more comfortable squatting like in the video, so I guess I’m wondering if there is something specific, like my quads, which was suggested, that is holding me back, or if I need to re look at my whole technique.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks, Knobby, I do need to work on keeping my core tighter. I like what you said about squatting with your belly.
Looks pretty good man. Maybe some high bar assistance work to bring the quads up, but all in all solid.
Alright, that’s two suggestions for quads. I’ll work on that! I think over the last couple of years I went a little to far over into good mornings, GHRs, RDLs, etc for squats and neglected my quads. So much, that I anticipated everyone here would be jumping to tell me to do more post chain work.
Really good points!
My point is that his squat is OK.
To me it looks like the start of form breakdown that will be exaggerated once he goes over 90%. Tougher how’s your squat look when you go heavy?
Maybe we should also see what his squat looks like with lighter weights.
The point of the video that I posted is to show that there are much stronger lifters who use a similar technique so it isn’t necessarily wrong. Not everyone’s squat is going to look the same.
I think you are both right. I don’t think my squat is horrible and there are guys a lot stronger than me who do the same thing, but the videos of them all seem to be near max attempts. I also think it may point to a weakness somewhere.
Here is a video of a little lighter weight. Only 30 lbs lighter, but it’s the only other one I have on my phone right now.
The double motion gets more pronounced as the set goes on, which leads me to think something is tiring out and causing the change in form. It very well may be my quads, as they are relatively weak.
As for when I near my max, I don’t have a video, but I believe it is the same. I know in my last max attempt. I felt the bar path move forward in the way up, but was able to consciously shift my weight back a bit and finish the lift.
On my next squat day, I’ll do a couple singles and work up to 95% or so and see how that looks.
Chris, I’ll leave it there. You have your thoughts on the OP’s video and I have mine.
Tougher, more food for thought:
It’s because your posterior chain is relatively stronger than your quads. When you do lots of reps, something is going to break down eventually. However, you seem to cutting depth slightly on this video.
The example in that video doesn’t resemble the OP’s technique, Jeremy has the bar too far forward. I agree that is incorrect. The bar path should be vertical, if it shifts forward then you are likely to fail the lift.