You are coming out the whole with your legs moving first. When you come out of the hole you should drive your head back which moves the hips forward and begins the ascent.
[quote]nhiron wrote:
You are coming out the whole with your legs moving first. When you come out of the hole you should drive your head back which moves the hips forward and begins the ascent. [/quote]
Exactly. You’re using a deadlift technique to get the weight up. Another image, in addition to lead with your head first, is to pretend you want to push through the bar with your upper back.
I concur with most people, form is pretty good, set-up could use work. You are starting too rounded over. I used to this (and sometimes still do unfortunately) but watching Captain Kirk squat helped me a lot. He would get basically set and then he would try to raise his chest up as high as he could while the bar was still on the racks, basically trying to stand as erect as possible. It was almost like he was doing a lat pulldown with the squat bar to get started. At the same time he would roll his elbows under the bar as others have suggested.
You want your nipples pointing straight ahead, when you start yours are pointing to the floor. So try to get the bar as low as possible on your back, elbows under it, chest up as high and neck straight up and down. Drive the base of your neck back into the bar, you may be one of those people that when you look up it actually makes the base of your neck move forward which puts the bar in the wrong spot.
Ignore the dude who said too much bravado, you are squatting and you are trying hard. You need to do that in the beginning to learn to channel your intensity, as you get more experienced you will be able to channel it better. Good luck and keep lifting hard
[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
nhiron wrote:
You are coming out the whole with your legs moving first. When you come out of the hole you should drive your head back which moves the hips forward and begins the ascent.
Exactly. You’re using a deadlift technique to get the weight up. Another image, in addition to lead with your head first, is to pretend you want to push through the bar with your upper back.[/quote]
Thanks for the tip.
The funny thing is that although i “know” all of this it nevers seems to be stuck in my head at the most important moment. Like I always think it for the first rep (and hence it looks better) but after that i seem to blank and start trying to injure myself!!
[quote]Hanley wrote:
I might widen my stance out a bit too, i would imagine it would be eaiser to stay more up right with a wider stance no?
[/quote]
You are right. Most lifters with a slightly wide stance add strength and stability to the lift. Only thing is you might feel more pressure in the hip joint.(if the pressure in hip is discomforting, it is indication you have too wide stance for your body).
Correct foot position is one in which you can maintain the arch in the lower back and keep the upper body upright.
Also, it might help if you position your feet at an angle of 30deg to 60deg (turning feet outward) as opposed to keep them straight.
Just a note of caution:
If you implement any changes to your lift technique, it is best to slowly build weightage. Go gradually over time from light to heavy. Implementing changes close to your max/heavy is the surest way to invite injury and end the whole fun.
Just in case…
Fix what? Aside from maybe getting a different view (to see if knees drift inward), your squats look solid.
Prior to your descent and before you rack the weights, make sure your knees are locked. While this adds no effort to your workout, this will save you heartache come contest time. The refs will be looking for locked knees at the beginning and at the end of the lift.
beef
you’re not driving forward with your hips. as soon as you start comin back you, drive your hips forward, hard. make love to the squat rack, sorry had to do it.
Another thought that has worked for me personally. I watch a specific point on the wall the whole time while I squat and then at the very bottom make a consious effort to squeeze the glutes which always helps me activate the glutes into the movement.
Looked good to me. All I say is keep up hitting good depth and get stronger.
Thanks a mil to everyone who gave input on this thread. I took alot of the advice on board today and i squatted 155kg for 3 reps with ease and good form, and probably could have got 5.
What I changed from last week…
-Before unracking the bar I sorta pulled my selfin front of the bar more (as if i was trying to place it lower on my back) so my upperback would already be arched whenI put it in the normal postion. This was a HUGE help and made a noticable difference right away.
-Pulled my elbows as far forward and under the bar as i could. I think this, combined with what i said above was the main factor as to what kept me more upright and just in a better general postion.
-Squeezed the bar as tight as possible. I got this tip off Jim Wendler on the EFS lower body dvd. The extra tightness just made the weight feel so much lighter.
Thanks again to everyone and I hope this might have helped anyone with a similar problem!
I have the same problem. My butt goes up first and then I kind of do a good morning. It sucks. The funny thing is my quads are huge. They’re definitely my best body part. I used to bike ride a lot before I started weight lifting. Right now I can only squat 225 lb for 7 or 8 reps, but since my form sucks, I dont wanna go up in weight.
I read the article “Falling…” and tried those tips, but nothing. Its really annoying that I can leg press 18 plates for reps and cant squat a decent weight. Do you guys think I have weak hamstrings?? I can only deadlift 300… If so, why are my quads big? I wouldnt mind my numbers if I had smaller legs.
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Dig your shoulders into the bar at set-up, really sink them in.
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Hand placement should be as close as possible to create the “trap shelf”
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Head up, chest out, and rack the weight STRAIGHT up (with heels) before walking the weight out.
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Proceed to walk out, and it wouldn’t hurt to make sure your feet are exactly even and where you want them before descending.
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Re-adjust your head up/chest out position before descending.
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Maintain a tight as possible arch, and sit back to utilize the glutes and hamstrings.
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Do some heavy weighted GHR work and also unilateral work.