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Barbell Squat form check, please ...

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All Pain No Gain

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Hello everyone,

Can I get a Squat form check please? I am able to see three problems (please tell me if you see something else).

(1) Sometimes my squats feel incredibly hard, and when this happens, I don't reach full depth for some of my reps. Today (Dec 13, 2020) I lifted 220 lbs for 3s x 5r. It felt a bit hard, like the weight wasn't moving properly. My last squat session was on Dec 8, 2020, and that day the weights moved pretty well (215 lbs for 3s x 5r); they looked much faster compared to today. I should mention that that week, I did three squat sessions (Mon, Wed, Fri) with 215 lbs, the same weight on all three sessions.

(2) My heels come off the floor in many of these reps. May be ankle mobility is an issue. Maybe that is one reason to do low bar squats (reduced knee angle). I never trained the low bar squat, and it is a bit more technical I guess. I tried the low bar and it didn't feel natural. Maybe I should practice that more. Or is the problem here my worn-out shoes? I know I should get lifting shoes, but I can't afford them now.

(3) When I looked at the video from the front, my knees seem like they "cave-in". How much of an issue is this?

I am fairly new to lifting. Started in August 2020. Goals/information in my previous post (don't want to make this post any longer).

Today's Squats (Dec 13, 2020):


Squats (Dec 8, 2020):

 
I saw the 220's sets and I saw that the depth is not consistent (but most of those are still at/below parallel). It looks like my squat when I start to train it too.
At 215 your form looks better and the depth is a bit deeper too.
I feel like you fall to the bottom then use elastic force to drive you up.

Some recommendation:
- Stretch the calves, it helps me with the depth.
- Do pause squat, lots of it. Treat it like a stretch/mobility exercise.
- Dig the shoes. Try to squat with no shoes for awhile. It's not that hard.
 
I feel like you fall to the bottom then use elastic force to drive you up.

I would agree with this. I think your form is pretty good, but you'll need to learn to use tension better. Get tighter, use tension to control your descent, and use tension to push back up. Torso tension is part of that as well -- taking a breath and bracing your abs hard... everything should be tight in from your shoulders to your pelvis, then your legs will have something solid to push. I would say do a session with 200 lbs and slow it down a bit -- really feeling the weight, working on tension -- in a way it may feel like you're making it harder, but really you're getting better traction so you can get stronger. You can also speed it back up once you've mastered the tension and can add explosive force to the expression of strength... but until then, I'd say go a little slower for your reps. Good work though, keep it up!
 
Good advice here. Yes, focus on your descent and unracking. Is there a reason you unrack with a staggered stance? I believe a little more control on the descent will help you find your groove, as the others have stated.

The shoes may also be an issue. Shoes with squishy soles are generally a no no for heavy squatting. You use high bar, and Olympic shoes would certainly help with depth and ease some ankle mobility issues, however you should still aim to loosen the calves/Achilles. I like flat soles shoes because the surface is quite sturdy to push off but soft shoes will have you leaking energy and prevents you from rooting your feet strongly. Form doesn’t look bad through.
 
I saw the 220's sets and I saw that the depth is not consistent (but most of those are still at/below parallel). It looks like my squat when I start to train it too.
At 215 your form looks better and the depth is a bit deeper too.
I feel like you fall to the bottom then use elastic force to drive you up.

Some recommendation:
- Stretch the calves, it helps me with the depth.
- Do pause squat, lots of it. Treat it like a stretch/mobility exercise.
- Dig the shoes. Try to squat with no shoes for awhile. It's not that hard.
Hello q.Hung, thanks a lot for looking at the videos. Yes, I do use a bit of stretch reflex. Initially my squats looked like pause squats, and I was told to use some "bounce". This is perhaps why I fail to reach full depth in some of my reps. And thanks for the suggestions, I will incorporate more pause squats, maybe do my warm-ups that way! Actually, someone said my squats looked like pause squats back when I was doing 175 lbs. Doing that now at 220 lbs feels much harder and scarier!
 
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I would agree with this. I think your form is pretty good, but you'll need to learn to use tension better. Get tighter, use tension to control your descent, and use tension to push back up. Torso tension is part of that as well -- taking a breath and bracing your abs hard... everything should be tight in from your shoulders to your pelvis, then your legs will have something solid to push. I would say do a session with 200 lbs and slow it down a bit -- really feeling the weight, working on tension -- in a way it may feel like you're making it harder, but really you're getting better traction so you can get stronger. You can also speed it back up once you've mastered the tension and can add explosive force to the expression of strength... but until then, I'd say go a little slower for your reps. Good work though, keep it up!
Hello Anna,

Thanks again for the form check. Really appreciate the help. I agree, I have been told this before that my descent is a bit fast and that I should control it. I will lower the weight and do a few sets without the stretch reflex during non-squat days. Hopefully that works. And to be honest I am a bit concerned going down slowly, I feel like I might get stuck in the hole without the "bounce". When I was doing 175 lbs, I could go down, reach full depth, and come up (my squats looked like pause squats). However, my bar path was horrible. Here is a slower descent - please have a look at this September video - 175 lbs. As the weight got heavier, it got a bit harder to come out of the hole with a slight pause there. But I guess I should focus on my form a bit more than how fast I can put more weight on the bar.
 
Good advice here. Yes, focus on your descent and unracking. Is there a reason you unrack with a staggered stance? I believe a little more control on the descent will help you find your groove, as the others have stated.

The shoes may also be an issue. Shoes with squishy soles are generally a no no for heavy squatting. You use high bar, and Olympic shoes would certainly help with depth and ease some ankle mobility issues, however you should still aim to loosen the calves/Achilles. I like flat soles shoes because the surface is quite sturdy to push off but soft shoes will have you leaking energy and prevents you from rooting your feet strongly. Form doesn’t look bad through.
Hi Philippe,

Thanks very much for the form check. The staggered stance during unracking makes me feel a bit more balanced. And yes, I think I need to learn to better control my descent. I will definitely work on getting a pair of lifting shoes. Any chance you can take a look at Set 3 - front angle? My knees tend to cave in. Is it something I need to be concerned about or is that much acceptable? Thanks!
 
I would agree with this. I think your form is pretty good, but you'll need to learn to use tension better. Get tighter, use tension to control your descent, and use tension to push back up. Torso tension is part of that as well -- taking a breath and bracing your abs hard... everything should be tight in from your shoulders to your pelvis, then your legs will have something solid to push. I would say do a session with 200 lbs and slow it down a bit -- really feeling the weight, working on tension -- in a way it may feel like you're making it harder, but really you're getting better traction so you can get stronger. You can also speed it back up once you've mastered the tension and can add explosive force to the expression of strength... but until then, I'd say go a little slower for your reps. Good work though, keep it up!
Hi Anna,

Any chance you can take a look at Set 3 - front angle? My knees tend to cave in. Is it something I need to be concerned about or is that much acceptable? Thanks!
 
Hi Philippe,

Thanks very much for the form check. The staggered stance during unracking makes me feel a bit more balanced. And yes, I think I need to learn to better control my descent. I will definitely work on getting a pair of lifting shoes. Any chance you can take a look at Set 3 - front angle? My knees tend to cave in. Is it something I need to be concerned about or is that much acceptable? Thanks!
Honestly, I don’t see any knee cave. Your knees come in but no valgus. I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s not at a point of concern.
 
When I was doing 175 lbs, I could go down, reach full depth, and come up (my squats looked like pause squats). However, my bar path was horrible. Here is a slower descent - please have a look at this September video - 175 lbs. As the weight got heavier, it got a bit harder to come out of the hole with a slight pause there. But I guess I should focus on my form a bit more than how fast I can put more weight on the bar.

It was slower but it still didn't use tension to control it. You should feel a little bit like you're pulling yourself down, not just throttling the effect of gravity. Practice with just the bar and you'll begin to feel it. No need to pause unless you're programming paused squats for a specific reason.
Any chance you can take a look at Set 3 - front angle? My knees tend to cave in. Is it something I need to be concerned about or is that much acceptable? Thanks!
I agree with @Philippe Geoffrion, looks fine for high bar squats. If you were doing the Starting Strength style of low bar squats, I'd say focus more on holding the knees out, but that is one component of a complete method/system that doesn't need to apply to all styles, IMO.
 
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