Squat Form Check

Hello T-nation forums! Ive been struggling with my squats for what feels like an eternity and I am constantly plateauing at 90kg. So I have decided to ask the big boys for help.
I tried to learn “the rippetoe squat” but it just ended up with me doing a two part good morningish movement.

I tried out Chris Duffins queues from his “how to squat” video and to me it feelt pretty good, but looking at the video it kinda looked a bit weird. Am i divebombing them? I used a belt here because I thought that i might be failing to stay tight.

Last set 80kg:

I’m not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt.

I think most importantly, remember that your body is unique and you will develop your own squat. Other people like Rippetoe have recommendations on how to do it, but no two people will ever look the same.

If you’re plateauing at 90kg/200lb, then you need to get stronger. Obviously. If you can’t continue progressing, then either regress and start with Starting Strength (the program, not necessarily the exact movement) or go where you’re from and follow 5/3/1 for a while. Those are pretty good.

Right now it looks like you’re dropping quite fast, and putting most of the weight on your quads.

So really, what are your goals?

If you’re training for mass then slow down a bit (don’t glo slowly, just control it), and maybe consider front squats for your quads. And eat. And gain weight. That should do it.

If you’re training for strength, then you should consider sitting back a bit more. Not a ton - if you’re squatting raw then you don’t sit back as much as a geared lifter, but more so than you are right now.

In that case, I’d do glute-ham raises (GHR’s), hip thrusts, back extensions, and goodmornings/RDL’s. You should be doing GHR’s anyway - a taller skinny guy needs to protect his knees and these will strengthen your hamstrings, which will help keep them healthy. Do 3 sets to failure before every workout as part of your warmup. This will add up and seem like a lot at first but that’s fine because your hamstrings can never be strong enough. Read this if you want more information: The Glute-Ham Raise from A to Z

For the other accessory movements, like hip thrusts (How to Hip Thrust - Bret Contreras), back extensions ( 150 Pound Back Extensions for Glutes & Hams ), and goodmornings or RDL’s (do RDL’s if you’re inexperienced. They’re “safer.”), you can do them throughout the week. None besides the GM/RDL are very stressful.

You want your lower back strong so you don’t round it, and your upper back strong so you don’t collapse. Rowing should be good for the upper back.

Basically, it depends on your goals. Your squat doesn’t look horrible. But you should slow it down, and squat the way you should to achieve your goals.

Again, for mass, slow it down a bit, and consider front squats, since no one really squats expecting to put on much hamstring mass. And eat. And eat more. Just gain weight. You’re young enough and small enough that you won’t get too fat if you’re smart.

And for strength (powerlifting), sit back a bit. Shift some of the weight onto the posterior chain, and you can strengthen those muscles with GHR’s, back extensions, hip thrusts, and other weighted hip hinges such as goodmornings or Romanian deadlifts.

Either way, consider squatting more frequently. If you’re not recovering well then do an easy squat, like goblet squats. Frequency usually makes a skill come faster.

And either way, your lower back should be taken care of with those movements ^^ but your upper back will strengthen your squat no matter what kind you do or what your goals are, so do lots and lots of rows, and some vertical pulling like chinups. (Chinups will give you a better idea of how weak/fat you are, but rowing is more important for shoulder health.)

Using a belt if you feel it’s necessary is fine, but try to not become dependent on it. Oh, and when you breath, make sure you breath into your stomach, not your chest. Your shoulders shouldn’t rise when you breath. It’s all into the stomach. You want to push out and brace it. Don’t think about sucking in and flexing to show off your abs. Do the opposite and pretend you’re pregnant by shoving out and flexing it to protect your baby.

That’s a lot. And I didn’t condense it very well. But you get the idea. Your squat will always be unique so follow your goals, practice it often, and consider taking a few steps back to make sure you’re doing it right.

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Thanks for the reply, Ill keep this in mind. I am currently doing the greyskull linear progression(adding 2kg each session on the big lifts, 1kg smaller lifts), I should have been way past 90 kg at this point but atleast my other lifts are progressing nicely. In short Ive had a real hard time with the technique.

Yes Im aware how to breathe and I get all nice and tight without the bar but as soon as i add the bar it feels like i cannot get as tight, maybe its just my mind playing tricks on me and i am braced.

Should i try to have my lumbar extended when sitting back? Or should i focus on that when im in the hole?

Looks okay to me. You could use a better belt…

I believe that linear progression is what was used in Starting Strength and almost every other L.P. program ever. Who or what is Greyskull? Just wondering - never heard of it before.

OK well obviously keep in mind that there is a very big difference between doing it properly without the bar, and with the bar. That’s not sarcasm, but if you can do it without the bar, then 1). you are capable of doing it with the bar and 2). that’s completely worthless.

Grab the bar exactly where you want to, squeeze the hell out of it and keep doing so, squeeze your upper back and “arch” your upper back, get underneath the bar by putting your feet where they need to be and then lowering your body underneath it, and then push yourself into the bar. Unrack it, take a few steps back, and continue to be squeezing your hands around the bar, and your upper back. And now as far as breathing, for a while, I too noticed that it was easier to breath into my stomach without any weight than it was once I got a bar on my back. If that’s your case, just practice it. There’s really nothing else to do. I find that it’s slightly easier if you are straight up, so if you’re leaning forward excessively (at the top) then straighten out for that big breath. And then you just hold it until you’ve come out of the hole.

As for as the lumbar extension, you don’t want to round your back at any point in the lift, but since a person typically rounds at the bottom, you’d probably be paying more attention to it then.

If this is an issue for you then you can try box squats since you don’t need to worry about depth, and it will teach you to sit back and you can just focus on tightness and your back. Don’t drop down as fast on a box squat though because the compressive force on both ends of your spine won’t do much good.

Deadlifts, and other assistance movements for the posterior chain will help with back rounding though - if those muscles are stronger they’ll help hold the spine in the right place.

You didnt’ really mention this but what are you squatting for? At least primarily. Size or strength?

But all in all, like I said last time, your squat really doesn’t look the bad so if you feel good about it then I’d just continue practicing getting tight.

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What is your goal?

Sorry should have been more clear. Im training for strenght.

Sorry was tired when i replied, Im training primarily for strenght.

If youre interested in the program Im using: https://www.powerliftingtowin.com/greyskull-lp/

Did this instead of Starting strength because of horror stories about people ending up with massive legs and tiny upper bodies

Yes I could, I cant afford my own at the moment so Im using my gyms. Do you have any recommendations?

Have you tried squatting with a bit of a wider stance? Right now, your knees are pushing forward. Narrow stance isn’t really taking advantage of posterior chain the way a wider stance will.

Dive bombing a squat, provided you can control it, isn’t necessarily the worst thing because you do get better reaction from stretch reflex. Some coaches advise, for strenght only, to lower the weigh as quickly as you can without losing control.

Try different widths for your feet. Ideally, you want to keep your knees from tracking forward.

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Ok thanks I will try this. Should i try to point my toes out or keep them forward? If i remember correctly it was difficult for me to keep my knees out if I took a wide stance and pointed my toes out, maybe it was to wide?

Edit: I remembered wrong, but still toes forward or out?