Squat Form Checkup

Been meaning to put together a video to get my squat checked. Made a few changes over the past couple of months.

Something went badly wrong on the first PR single, think I got too excited or something and launched out of the hole.

Heres the video.

Cheers.

EDIT: if the video isnt showing up its at youtube com /watch?v=RyA_Ojnn5yI

Hey bro, I suck at squatting so can’t offer much advice, but nice work on the 2xPR!! Also what are those shoes you lift in?
Your form looks very consistent and though depth is hard to judge on camera, it looks legit. Do you utilise much bounce out of the hole?

Like the guy above said, your form looks consistent throughout. It didn’t really look like a struggle. My only observation is that it appears as if you’re breaking at the knees rather than the hips; you’re not really sitting back. It also looks like you could pull the bar harder down on your back. It’s like it’s just there like a convenient resting place as opposed to actively pulled into your back. Try to feel like you’re bending the bar on your back.

Dude! holy F!

Have you ever come a long long way in a short period of time, I’d like to say i’m very proud of you, but you’ve done it all yourself.

PS, I’m Larry10, they changed my display name when I had my first article published.

Super happy you got those shoes man, they’re helping a lot.

What made you start squatting to parallel instead of past? they look great, just wanted to hear where you were taking things.

i’ve gotta jet, but i felt really bad when I got uber busy with work, training and having a gf who gets pissed when i spend what little down time i had on the laptop and not on her.

Hey, thanks for the feedback guys.

Panzer, the shoes Im lifting in are adidas adipowers. Had to order them from the states and they were on the expensive side of things but they made a world of difference. Also Im trying not to so much bounce out of the hole as use more stretch, I think I bounced on the first PR which lost my tightness.

ouroboro_s, Ive never put too much thought into breaking at the knees vs hips because with the long legs I have sitting back caused me to lean forward too much. It may be worth thinking about though if theres a good reason to change. Also its not really possible to see but what Im doing is really pulling my upperback tight and then finding the shelf on my traps.

Mathew, hey mate good to see you back around. Just yesterday I looked at the first video I posted, without all the help I got especially yours I would have been struggling I think. Regarding the change to parallel it was more that as I got tighter in the squat it was more of a natural place for me to stop, my hamstrings in particular get very tight around that point. Ps, hows your progress been?

Cheers guys.

[quote]BreathIn wrote:
Hey, thanks for the feedback guys.

Panzer, the shoes Im lifting in are adidas adipowers. Had to order them from the states and they were on the expensive side of things but they made a world of difference. Also Im trying not to so much bounce out of the hole as use more stretch, I think I bounced on the first PR which lost my tightness.

ouroboro_s, Ive never put too much thought into breaking at the knees vs hips because with the long legs I have sitting back caused me to lean forward too much. It may be worth thinking about though if theres a good reason to change. Also its not really possible to see but what Im doing is really pulling my upperback tight and then finding the shelf on my traps.

Mathew, hey mate good to see you back around. Just yesterday I looked at the first video I posted, without all the help I got especially yours I would have been struggling I think. Regarding the change to parallel it was more that as I got tighter in the squat it was more of a natural place for me to stop, my hamstrings in particular get very tight around that point. Ps, hows your progress been?

Cheers guys.
[/quote]

My progress has been very good, in terms of improving my numbers, it’s not the time for that right now, I’ve been really brining up my glutes and relearning my squat again so I don’t squat so quad dominant, which has led to a ton of knee pain. I’ve ben doing a ton of split squats, lunges and step ups, and hip thrust variations. It’s been going well and I’m just starting a 6 week peak to bring my squat back up to 500, then from there I’ll decide How I want to progress to 550, then 600.

I was more than happy to help before, and I honestly don’t see many technical problems with your squat, you’re flowing well. But, and I can’t sugar coat this, they look high. I’d bring them down a good 4’ and get comfortable there. It sucks, it really does, i’ve had to do it multiple times. But it’s a pride thing, men squat below parallel raw. Above parallel you’re cheating, it’s ok to do it if that’s what you want, but be aware, and be aware the glory of your accomplishments will be tarnished.

You say as you get to parallel you really feel your hamstrings. How tight are you? have you been stretching? have you been doing the warm up I showed you? Did I show you that warm up?

I just want to make sure you know your progress is extremely impressive, I hope you have your sights set on 405 and eventually 500.

How are you training right now? Program wise? what have you been using?

I took the approach of going from training ATG to “hitting parallel” and ended up regretting it. Now I’m having to start from scratch with a drastically reduced max and doing weights which should be easy but actually challenge me.

What I found with aiming to hit parallel is over time as the attempts got bigger, my mechanical memory of parallel would actually change and I’d cut them an inch or two high, subconsciously cheating to get the max. It’s easy enough to video them and spot the error… but by the time you do this, the squat is gone and done. This unintentional cheating increased over months and now I have badly shorted quads and a fucking useless squat to back it up hahaha.

Excuse the rant, what I’m saying is aim to squat BELOW parallel… because in the near future when you enter a meet with a big gym squat, you will be far more likely to breeze through the depth and can actually cut them a little higher than you train - depending on judges.

Not taking away from your progress though - you are doing well!

Also good to see you around again Matthew.

[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
I took the approach of going from training ATG to “hitting parallel” and ended up regretting it. Now I’m having to start from scratch with a drastically reduced max and doing weights which should be easy but actually challenge me.

What I found with aiming to hit parallel is over time as the attempts got bigger, my mechanical memory of parallel would actually change and I’d cut them an inch or two high, subconsciously cheating to get the max. It’s easy enough to video them and spot the error… but by the time you do this, the squat is gone and done. This unintentional cheating increased over months and now I have badly shorted quads and a fucking useless squat to back it up hahaha.

Excuse the rant, what I’m saying is aim to squat BELOW parallel… because in the near future when you enter a meet with a big gym squat, you will be far more likely to breeze through the depth and can actually cut them a little higher than you train - depending on judges.

Not taking away from your progress though - you are doing well!

Also good to see you around again Matthew.[/quote]

Hey man, I made the same kind of mistake myself, it wasn’t that bad though, and i’m happy I made the change.

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:

[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
I took the approach of going from training ATG to “hitting parallel” and ended up regretting it. Now I’m having to start from scratch with a drastically reduced max and doing weights which should be easy but actually challenge me.

What I found with aiming to hit parallel is over time as the attempts got bigger, my mechanical memory of parallel would actually change and I’d cut them an inch or two high, subconsciously cheating to get the max. It’s easy enough to video them and spot the error… but by the time you do this, the squat is gone and done. This unintentional cheating increased over months and now I have badly shorted quads and a fucking useless squat to back it up hahaha.

Excuse the rant, what I’m saying is aim to squat BELOW parallel… because in the near future when you enter a meet with a big gym squat, you will be far more likely to breeze through the depth and can actually cut them a little higher than you train - depending on judges.

Not taking away from your progress though - you are doing well!

Also good to see you around again Matthew.[/quote]

Hey man, I made the same kind of mistake myself, it wasn’t that bad though, and i’m happy I made the change.[/quote]

Haha yes but your squat would have been big to begin with ;)… mine wasn’t / isn’t! I also became way too quad dominant, ie my hamstrings and glutes were pretty much dormant.

You’re giving excellent advice, wish I’d listened to everybody who told me to keep squatting deep.

Hey guys, looks like its time to follow your advice and really get back into the habit of squatting deeper!

Still following the lower body warm up, along with foam rolling. But I have almost intentionally let my hamstrings get tight to help rebound in the squat, maybe too tight. Going to have a go at filming this week again and try get that extra depth.

Currently training on 5/3/1 by the way. 405 is the next target, then on from there.

yeah man, def loosen up the hamstrings, if you want to let something get tight, let the quads get tight. Hamstrings contract isometrically and aren’t a prime mover during squats… but it can mess up your form.

Great squats either way, can’t wait to see the next video

Ok so I really focused on loosening up before squats today.

Squatting at this depth again will take awhile to get used.

For some reason following the last triple I got a really bad headache in the back of my head, same thing happened after my top single last week. No clue what that is about. Wanted to hit a single anyway though.

Heres the vid.

You break at the knees first which is great for your build (I am similar), but I feel like you should be breaking them outward, and not forward. Give it a try.

[quote]mg3 wrote:
You break at the knees first which is great for your build (I am similar), but I feel like you should be breaking them outward, and not forward. Give it a try.[/quote]

Do you mean to try and force the knees outward as hard as possible at the start of the squat?

Hey man,

those look much better, great job, and 305x3? that’s solid man

I wish 305x3, I think its more like 275x3.

Squatting 3 times a week at the moment so I think with continued stretching and practice I will be able to consistently hit a deeper squat.

gotcha bud, either way, it’s solid, and next year you’ll be doing those reps with 365

That last video looks great. Sweet squat rack too - having one at home is pretty much the best thing in the universe.