Hey guys,
I’ve been messing with my squat form for a few weeks now (OCD). I firmly agree with the rippetoe style squat, but I am not too comfortable with it doing heavy singles, I have moved the most weight using low bar breaking at the knees almost a low bar high bar hybrid. Also how do you guys start the squat, sitting down or back? Just looking for ideas.
Finally, any tips for shortening depth, I just want to break parallel but after going atg for over a year, 1 inch below parallel feels like a subtle unlocking of the knees.
I just recently started trying to sit down instead of back and its helped my squat performance by a lot. I was having tons of back problems with trying to have the bar real low and sitting way back. It just doesn’t feel natural.
I’m having the same issues you are as far as depth goes. I’ve been doing high bar for some time now and have been transitioning into low bar parallel squats for the sake of moving more weight but can’t seem to stop at parallel. One thing that has helped though is instead of thinking about sitting back or down, i think about “pulling” my butt back with my hip flexors. It sounded weird to me at first but when I tried it with a loaded bar it just made sense. As for depth, I’ve been recording myself from the side to find that sweet spot and hopefully with time I’ll burn that motor pattern in
My first movement is pushing my ass back, then I sit down, then i stand back up.
Get someone you trust to call your depth or you could use a box, just as a depth gauge, not to actually squat too.
1" below parrallel feels like a subtle unlocking of the knees? You should really consider this a good thing, seeing as how in powerlifting you dont have to squat to the floor
Do what is most comfortable, experiment and find your best leverage. Once you have it locked in - practice it a lot the same way every time regardless of the weight. Some guys break at the knees at the start and some start w/ the hips. Either way, do what feels best.
[quote]jhtitleist wrote:
Hey guys,
I’ve been messing with my squat form for a few weeks now (OCD). I firmly agree with the rippetoe style squat, but I am not too comfortable with it doing heavy singles, I have moved the most weight using low bar breaking at the knees almost a low bar high bar hybrid. Also how do you guys start the squat, sitting down or back? Just looking for ideas.
Finally, any tips for shortening depth, I just want to break parallel but after going atg for over a year, 1 inch below parallel feels like a subtle unlocking of the knees. [/quote]
I am sure you have heard this before but it really comes down to what you are most comfortable with. I know I too had been an advocate of Rippetoe’s technique until I started lifting with some Weightlifters and it changed everything. I brought my stance in, pointed my toes forward, dropped my elbows so I wasn’t tipping forward on the ascension, and voila, my new style.
Again though, man. Find where you are comfortable. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily the best idea but I really learned a lot about squatting when I went on Smolov just for something to do. The juxtaposition of the higher reps sets earlier in the week with heavy triples at the end really taught me how to dial everything in for my individual anthropometry.
I do a combination of the 2. I break at the hips first and start moving back but, after about the quarter down mark I stop sitting back and start sitting down more. My squat looks much more like a diagonal sit back and hip hinge up as fast and as soon as possible. I try to think of wedging my self between the bar and the floor whether than just squattin with my legs. I’m not the greatest squatter but, at 215 585 for 2 unequipped its by far my best lift.
I feel like when I sit back first, I get too horizontal with my back, I know low bar your supposed to have a greater back angle but I go overboard. Sitting down I have gotten a 355 squat at 163 bw just a belt. Ill post a video of me doing a slow controlled rep at 315. Let me know what you guys think.
[quote]jhtitleist wrote:
I feel like when I sit back first, I get too horizontal with my back, I know low bar your supposed to have a greater back angle but I go overboard. Sitting down I have gotten a 355 squat at 163 bw just a belt. Ill post a video of me doing a slow controlled rep at 315. Let me know what you guys think. [/quote]
Yeah same here. Last time I tried to think of sitting back I could only manage a hard 325. Since I moved the bar up a little bit and thought of just sitting down and squatting I did 390 and hoping to do 400 tomorrow.