ExRx.net

Ok, so... my apologies for giving you guys a stiff neck in advance. My wife held the camera so she could get my entire self in the picture but I guess at the time we didn't think anything of translating the video into a upright picture.

Here goes though. It really felt like I hit everything I needed to as far as form.

Squats, 135 lb, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd set of 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwsK3LrYPKY

Please let me know what you guys think and be brutally honest.

Great Depth! I can't tell if you have butt wink, but great depth, wow. Awesome.

But, you piss away a TON of energy and back tightness fidgeting around with your feet. Take two steps back, get comfortable and do your set. Once your weights get heavier you will lose reps by wasting this time and energy. (I do something similar, correct it now before it becomes a habit and a cue.)

Don't look around either, keep you head straight and looking forward. Focus on keeping your setup tight, not what is going on on your left.

wow, any deeper you'll go through the floor. Good on ya

not trying to derail, but what the hell is "butt wink?"

That's when the tail bone tucks under at the bottom of the squat. The lower back loses stability at that point so it's best to stop just before it. I can be a symptom of hamstring tightness.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Ahh, I see. Yes, I did feel a bit of 'butt wink' then during my squats. If it's partially the hamstring tightness thing, I'm guessing I should focus on some hamstring stretching during my days off to help?

ah crap that's another thing to add to the long list of things I do wrong. God damn.

2nd video looks like lower back in winking a tad at the very bottom

Depth looks great and your knees are out like a champ
Possibly upper body coudl be tighter at set up and throughout, but I dont see that at this weight causing you issues, like collapsing chest.
To me overall they look great.

your shorts are too long.

(now I'll read other comments to see what I missed)

eta: alright, I'm learning good.

I'll jump in, though I agree with what's been said, more to emphasize a couple of things. Depth is a good thing up to the point (or should I say "down" to the point) that you can't maintain a neutral lumbar spine. If you have to let your low back round in order to go deeper, you're as deep as you should go. Keep that low back tight as you are keeping your abs tight, and you will feel where the bottom should be.

You need to treat the bar with more respect. By that I mean, act as though you have a new PR on the bar, and one misstep will crush you and ruin you for life. Well, maybe not that bad. You can get away with looseness with 135, but you won't when you're squatting bigger weights. When you unrack the bar, you are leaning forward, and lifting it off the hooks be "gm-ing". If you saw someone do that on a rep in a form check, you'd pick it up right away. Set up under the bar in the same relation to the bar as if you were locking out a rep. Picture a line on the floor that's directly under the bar, and center your feet over it. Then get tight and squat the bar straight UP off the hooks. Then and only then step back. I really agree with what Nygmen said about fidgeting and looking around. After you squat the bar off the hooks, take a step with one foot and then the other, and stay there. I know that in the form check you were posing for the camera, but on a real set you won't have to worry about that--just step, step and you are in position. And keep your head straight forward and your neck neutral, not looking up and down. Maybe allow your head to go up a little as you drop into the squat, but not straining back like some do. Keep the muscles of your neck tight, but don't bend it back, nor let it fall forward in relation to your body. Then when the set is done, keep good tightness and walk it in--step, step and you should be there, both feet under the bar, not one ahead of the other. My steps in tend to be shorter than my steps out, so sometimes I'm in danger of missing the hooks, but I try to wait until I hear and feel the bar hit the uprights on each side (not looking back and forth) until I drop down, staying tight like I'm doing another rep.

I ramble a bit, but you're doing well over-all.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

The only time I've ever injured myself on a squat, I was warming up with a 95# front squat. If you stay loose, the right support muscles aren't engaged and you risk injury. I think you were right when you said "act as though you have a new PR on the bar".

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Cool, thanks for the input guys. I guess I tried hard to get as deep as possible and went a little too far, hehe. I'll try to push it up before I do a 'butt wink'. Is it possible to keep the depth though and do some stretches, etc. to take the wink out? It feels really comfortable to get down that low and an easy indication that I've gone down far enough.

Yeah, I definately do fidget way too much. I guess I'm still unsure about where my foot placement needs to be, so I fidget around until I get to the right width and angle with my feet. If I don't make sure I put them correct, I sometimes put them too close together which causes me to not go to full depth. I'll have to really watch myself when getting in position.

The only reason I had the head movement in the last set was because I wanted to get a front angle video and I had never squatted in that angle before. So, i didn't want to hit anything on the way down... which I did anyway, lol. You can hear it actually on the first rep and the immediate head shot over to the left. Readjusted and didn't hit anything on the last rep, but yeah. I can see how that would be an invitation to injury with all that movement.

Overall, thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.

late comment - watched set 3 only.
I support "move less, respect more", and say "YEAH" in support of the comments of everyone else.
treat the bar like it's loaded all the time. big breath and hold, then just necessary movements.
you do good squats.

Practice a bunch with an empty bar, until you can step back instinctively and put your feet in the right spots.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

This, please god this. Fix this problem now.

I was an idiot and didn't fix it, and now my fidgeting is part of my setup cue and I can't change that without starting over...



And I'll be damned if my ego can survive dropping under a 4 plate squat to work on my walkout of all things, lol ;)

Yeah. I was really aware of some fidgeting today. I give better advice than example.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan