Back Squat Form Check

[Jesus Rojas]

Hi guys ! Please check my form, the video include a side and front view. Thanks

 

[Blairbob]

 Look'n pretty good. You seem young, 15-22 and a good size for squatting with good mobility. I'm guessing around 60-70kg and 5'4" or whatever that is in meters.

[GoldenEagle]

 Look'n pretty good. You seem young, 15-22 and a good size for squatting with good mobility. I'm guessing around 60-70kg and 5'4" or whatever that is in meters.

5ft 4in is roughly 1.65m

 

1m is roughly 3 ft 3in.

[Jan Reipert]

thats a nice squat. please do not make the same mistake a lot of really flexible guys i see in the gym do and forget to go heavy. the weight is way too light for you. focus on progression and keep that form

[miko]

Im not trying to be harsh, so please remember that.

 

The first thing is, that you really have to preload the muscles before performing the squat. You drop down and let youre knees and tendons carry the weight. It will lead to knee problems. Activate the core and legs and then do the squat. Id recommend you do not go ass to grass before you are able to control the squat. 

 

The second thing that is happening, is that you are not activating the core and it makes you slightly overextend your back, and when dropping down you should move the butt first and have the knees move to accommodate, DONT move the knees first! Youre not really moving them first, or its really hard to see because the weight is low. Next is that your lumbar, hips or ankels are not mobile enough to go down so low, so you make a butt wink. Its not a lot, but its noticable.

 

The third and most important thing, is that both ankels collapse when you squat down. Your ankel should be pointing straight ahead, and not turned out. It makes you lose torque in you hips and legs, and you start carrying loading in a way that down the line will cause injury. 

 

Finally its a REALLY good squat for someone trying it for the first time! 

[Jesus Rojas]

 Look'n pretty good. You seem young, 15-22 and a good size for squatting with good mobility. I'm guessing around 60-70kg and 5'4" or whatever that is in meters.

You are guessing right, I'm 19 years old, 63kg, 1.67m. Thanks for check my form !

[Jesus Rojas]

thats a nice squat. please do not make the same mistake a lot of really flexible guys i see in the gym do and forget to go heavy. the weight is way too light for you. focus on progression and keep that form

Thanks ! I want to go heavy with proper form but I just have two 5lbs plates, I'm going to buy more plates in the end of November,

I'm going to acquire: 2x20kg plates, 2x10kg, 2x5kg, 2x2.5kg and 2x1.25kg.

[Jesus Rojas]

Im not trying to be harsh, so please remember that.

 

The first thing is, that you really have to preload the muscles before performing the squat. You drop down and let youre knees and tendons carry the weight. It will lead to knee problems. Activate the core and legs and then do the squat. Id recommend you do not go ass to grass before you are able to control the squat. 

 

The second thing that is happening, is that you are not activating the core and it makes you slightly overextend your back, and when dropping down you should move the butt first and have the knees move to accommodate, DONT move the knees first! Youre not really moving them first, or its really hard to see because the weight is low. Next is that your lumbar, hips or ankels are not mobile enough to go down so low, so you make a butt wink. Its not a lot, but its noticable.

 

The third and most important thing, is that both ankels collapse when you squat down. Your ankel should be pointing straight ahead, and not turned out. It makes you lose torque in you hips and legs, and you start carrying loading in a way that down the line will cause injury. 

 

Finally its a REALLY good squat for someone trying it for the first time! 

Thanks for your good critique ! But I'm not sure about what you are saying because I was reading this article about squatting

and there are some interesting points http://completecalisthenics.com/2014/02/08/teaching-the-squat-incorrectly/ and I also know people who squat very well with toes pointing outward, like Philip Chubb does (pictures below), and I also feel my squat pretty natural

without any mechanical problems but maybe it's too soon for make a final statement due to the low load. I'm also think I have a good base due to I was doing Pistols and Shrimps for a lot of time before bought my Olympic bar. Just my humble opinion I'm a beginner in this world of training.

[Blairbob]

 Somebody has been watching and listening to Kelly Starrett. Which is fine if you want to squat like a Powerlifter. If you want to squat like a weightlifter, you squat down. Your knees go forward, your toes will be turned a bit and your ass goes the other direction at the same time. Maybe not as much as Phillip or Klokov, but meh.

Its 55 pounds. 25kg. Whether you choose to do a tempo squat ala Poliquin or go slowly down, fast up like the Chinese or bounce out of the bottom like Pat Mendes is a whole nother issue.

Once you put any load on your shoulders, your core gets activated unless you have some malfunctioning muscles. It's not like you have to think "Turn on core." Unrack 100, 200kg. To merely unrack it your core musculature has to activate.

 

http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=113

 

http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=1826

 

http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=20

[miko]

Toes should NOT point outwards. It only feels natural because you lack ankel ROM. The point is that the force generated from load down through the leg is not going directly through the heel into the ground, it makes a weird twist in the ankel to compensate for lack of mobility. Also when you point toes outward you lose torque which in turn means you lose strength or the ability to generate pushing and stablizing force.

 

Try with feet straight as you can, and see how it feels. They are supposed to be straight

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/q3UGl2rHz18" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Jan Reipert]

Almost nobody squats/can squat with perfectly parallel feet. A little degree of turn out is perfectly fine.

[Alessandro Mainente]

Not so good to my eyes the first video of squats, maybe with 1 milion repetitions less experience is hard to say at the first time

-you are losing the APT during the side view in the lower part of squat

-from a front view is clear that you have a hip problem since your bar is diagonal. in fact looking to the degree of elevation of your knee and hip orientation you are not symmetric

I'm sorry about that bu it's a clear sign of self coaching. In order to teach the squat I'm actually spending about 4 to 6 months to teach the bases of it: mobility, technique etc.

[Jesus Rojas]

Not so good to my eyes the first video of squats, maybe with 1 milion repetitions less experience is hard to say at the first time

-you are losing the APT during the side view in the lower part of squat

-from a front view is clear that you have a hip problem since your bar is diagonal. in fact looking to the degree of elevation of your knee and hip orientation you are not symmetric

I'm sorry about that bu it's a clear sign of self coaching. In order to teach the squat I'm actually spending about 4 to 6 months to teach the bases of it: mobility, technique etc.

Thanks Alex ! What can I do in order to address this problems ? What would you recommend ? stop doing it ?. Thanks

[Jesus Rojas]

What do you think about this series guys ?

 

[Blairbob]

 EliteFTS is a Powerlifting website, so...

[Jan Reipert]

like blairbob said, they teach the squat purely for (equipped) powerlifting purposes. one of the best tutorials if you want to call it like that is the squat RX series:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/johnnymnemonic2#g/c/C03D688F10C4DE1F

 

he goes in depth on different styles and technique issues. it is not perfect but it is a very good start,

[Jesus Rojas]

Based in the content posted here and after reading the links provided by Blairbob, I'm going to look up for my personal safest and effective way to squat. I'm going to fix up my APT problem and reduce my degree of toes pointing outwards by turning it outwards just the neccesary but not exaggerating. I will post a new video with a significant weight in a couple of weeks, in order to diagnose the problems in a more effective way. Thanks everyone !

[Jesus Rojas]

Updated: My first sets of back squat with 63 kg, for critique purpose.

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by chuchodani

[Alessandro Mainente]

To my eyes this squat it's not better then the previous. in fact the same defects still exist in both videos:

1-knees are not held at the same height , this is supposed to be due to hips asymmetry 

2-my hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that your feet have different degrees of external deviation. in fact the distance from the vertical center line from you cog is different for the 2 feet.

my suggestion is stop with squats since you are developing asymmetry training after training and your body is compensating training after training. 

check a physio to endure correction on your posture, meanwhile work on single leg squat and nothing more.

[Jesus Rojas]

To my eyes this squat it's not better then the previous. in fact the same defects still exist in both videos:

1-knees are not held at the same height , this is supposed to be due to hips asymmetry 

2-my hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that your feet have different degrees of external deviation. in fact the distance from the vertical center line from you cog is different for the 2 feet.

my suggestion is stop with squats since you are developing asymmetry training after training and your body is compensating training after training. 

check a physio to endure correction on your posture, meanwhile work on single leg squat and nothing more.

I agree with you Alex ! Thank you very much, I just upload a version with more significant weight in order to diagnose the problems !

[Jesus Rojas]

To my eyes this squat it's not better then the previous. in fact the same defects still exist in both videos:

1-knees are not held at the same height , this is supposed to be due to hips asymmetry 

2-my hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that your feet have different degrees of external deviation. in fact the distance from the vertical center line from you cog is different for the 2 feet.

my suggestion is stop with squats since you are developing asymmetry training after training and your body is compensating training after training. 

check a physio to endure correction on your posture, meanwhile work on single leg squat and nothing more.

I'm going to buy foundation in the beginning of the new year, do you think that foundation work could fix my problems ? 

[Alessandro Mainente]

It depends on the nature of your problem, check if your front splits are at the same level of both legs

[Jesus Rojas]

It depends on the nature of your problem, check if your front splits are at the same level of both legs 

 

My front splits aren't at the same level, actually I'm injured on my left hamstring, it was my more flexible side on the front splits, with left side I was able of reach the floor, and with my right side ( I mean with my right leg in front of me ) I was a couple of centimeters away.

 

PD: Due to my injury, I'm not able to perform the front split, if not, I could post a picture of my front split and you could evaluate the position.

 

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/18683-pulled-hamstring/

Edited December 17, 2014 by chuchodani

[Alessandro Mainente]

Thats the problem . Nothing mystic or impossible to understand and correct. Heal from your injury then correct the imbalances

[Jesus Rojas]

Thats the problem . Nothing mystic or impossible to understand and correct. Heal from your injury then correct the imbalances

Thanks Alex, I'll do it.