Please critique my squat

[djeclipse]

BiggT Thanks for the quick reply. I have been reading a lot about form on squats but I really don't know if i am actually executing them properly. How do you know if you are breaking from the hips? Not trying to be funny or anything but I just go down, it seems like the hips and knees move at the same time.

I don't sem to have a problem getting low, I actually surprise myself just how low I am able to go with the squat, I am only 5'-6" and sometimes the bar will actually tap the stops on the squat rack (they're not adjustable) when I am fully down.

My core could be week, probably my abs are week. I just started training again 2 month's ago and I probably have some week abs. I do dead lifts and really feel them in my lower back the next day. I tried doing weighted hypers on the same day as dead lifts (my back day) and my back was sore for a week so I dropped the hypers in favour of the dead lifts.

I will add weighted setups to my routine instead of regular high rep no weight sit ups. What am I looking to get for reps, sets of 10, 15? How often should I be doing them?

I did find that as I got tired the weight seemed to move me forward and with the lighter weight it didn't see to be a problem.

For form I have been waiting for someone in the gym that has the knowledge to actually help me with my squat form, but I haven't seen anyone. At the gym by my work there is a power lifter that is always there, maybe I will ask him.

I really want to get proper form on all the major lifts before I start doing the madcow2 5 x 5 intermediate program.

Thanks again.

 

[Guinness5.0]

How do you know if you are breaking from the hips?

You consciously make your hips go back first. It's not like you move your hips, then 5 seconds later your knees move - it's subtle but definitely noticeable. You'll feel it if you try.

 

[BiggT]

Anthrax,

I think the sacral rotation in this video is so slight that it really is not even an issue. He is tight and he is in control of the weight, and the rotation is really, really slight. To me, it is not an issue at all. As long as it does not get more pronounced as the weights increae it is not a problem here.

Here is how I look at lifts....I'd say that lift was 99% perfect. When adding weight to the bar and trying to get legitimately stronger, somethings will not be 100% textbook, they should be pretty close, but the only way to make something absolutely 100% is to use token weights. If you do this and get so freaked out about every little facet of a lift, you turn in to one of those dorky tecnhical lifters who never squats with more than 225, and thus makes zero progress and is small and weak for their entire lifting career. I am a stickler for form, don't get me wrong, but there is a difference between the form of say a fitness geek and somebody pushing themselves.

Guiness's form is 99% tight I would say, as far as that video, I wouldn't change it if he can keep upping the weights and keep his form basically like that without any noticable breakdown. I think if he threw on 405, the sacral rotation would be an issue, but if he keeps gradually progressing while training his core, I really don't see it as a problem, and the rewards he will get from gradually using heavier weights are much more important than being too too dorky and not going above token weights just to have 100% flawless form.

The form is good, and as long as it stays that way as the weight is upped, I don't see it as an issue.

DJeclipse....

It really sounds to me that you need to bring up your core stability. Start with decline situps and back hypers as a warmup three times a week, do the situps full-range....once you can do 3 sets of 20, I'd add weight, when you get all 3 sets of 20, add weight again. If you're training the DL, you need to train it, if all you want is core strength and good, stong erectors, I really think heavy good mornings are second to none.

 

[Protobuilder]

You must spread some Karma around before giving it to BiggT again.

 

[djeclipse]

You consciously make your hips go back first. It's not like you move your hips, then 5 seconds later your knees move - it's subtle but definitely noticeable. You'll feel it if you try.

I will try doing this next time. Though it still seems like they're both moving at the sametime. I will concentrate on making my hips move first. And thanks for letting me jack this thread. I would like to make my squat look like yours, and maybe one day I can do sets of 5 with the same weight... though that day is a long ways away, lol.

BiggT, agian thanks. I can already do the 3 x20 for sit up's with no weight, I will add a 10lb weight on my chest and see how that goes. Why do you suggest doing them before a workout? I would think that doing sit up's and hypers before doing squats or deadlift, or even standing military press wouldn't be god with already tires midsection.. no? What about doing them after the workout?

 

[BiggT]

You can do them after, I like them to get the core nice and warm and ready to lift some heavy weights. With good conditioning, it won't affect your workout if you do them first.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Honestly, when I squat with a narrow stance, with my feet forward, going all the way down, it hurts my back. If I squat using more of a generic power squat, as Mark Rippetoe advocates in Starting Strength, my back feels fine.

 

[Madcow2]

The only thing I see is on the first rep notably and maybe slightly on the others - I see your right heel come up as your are coming out of the hole (maybe the left does too as the camera blocks it out). Your weight is too forward too early, and obviously you can't be driving off your heels if one of them comes off the floor. Granted this might not be indicative of your standard technique but you need to think about where the weight is on your foot and if you are driving with the heel or evenly at all, the heel should not be lifting.

 

[Cynical Simian]

You must spread some Karma around before giving it to BiggT again.

Word. I'd been trying to reconcile the squatting articles/tips I'd read (some Oly, some Pl) into an odd hybrid that had me at various points between the two from workout to workout or even set to set. BiggT, I really can't thank you enough.

 

[coolcolj]

I think its not too bad for an OLy squat

sitting back a bit more to make it more like an athletic fullsquat is another option. More forward lean though, but not too bad due to the oly shoes. Oly shoes do allow you sit back more without falling over

depends on what you want to target more. I alternate between the 2, but when the weight is heavy my body just reverts to olysquats autmaticly. I tend to GM more in athletic full squats

That link to the that poliquin stretch post in my journal a few pages back can help if your heels are coming up