Squat Form Check

[jlmoss]

So excited. About to hit 2 plates in squats.

Could ya check my form please?

[youtube]youtube/KDRkgT7QzHM[/youtube] -- How am I supposed to do the youtube tags?

http://youtu.be/KDRkgT7QzHM

[hoosegow]

It doesn't look bad, but I don't think I've ever seen someone lean forward to start a squat. I really thought you posted the wrong link and was going to watch a good morning. FIX THAT! Keep your body tight coming out of the hole.

[jlmoss]

Yeah, that did look weird while watching it back but isn't the squat supposed to lead with a sitting motion?

I think I've tried keeping my back straight when leading with a sitting motion and sort of threw me off balance.

*edit* Or rather lead with the butt first.

[stuward]

That link is weird. Try this.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/KDRkgT7QzHM[/youtube]

Edit. Doesn't work any better on my post. Ironman, is there something wrong?

I thought on that second rep you were going to do a good morning. You started bending over before you bent you knees. Focus on sitting back. The knees and hips should work together.

[Khronos8]

@jlmoss: what Hoose said, stay upright as you go down. Significant butt-wink at the bottom too. (where you tuck your pelvis underneath you). Lumbar flexion under load... been discussed ad-nauseum on this board.

Disclaimer: I have the exact same problem! So... if you figure out how to fix it, let me know.

[JasonJones]

@jlmoss: what Hoose said, stay upright as you go down. Significant butt-wink at the bottom too. (where you tuck your pelvis underneath you). Lumbar flexion under load... been discussed ad-nauseum on this board.

Disclaimer: I have the exact same problem! So... if you figure out how to fix it, let me know.

Not that I'm suggesting that lumbar flexion is a good thing*, but it's really end-range lumbar flexion that's necessarily problematic and injurious. Stuart McGill talks about this in some detail when he was studying the spines of powerlifters, most of whom ultimately lift with some degree of flexion in their spines. Injury occurs when the spine is flexed fully, partial flexion, skillfully employed, avoids injury. End range flexion with just the weight of your torso and insufficient muscle support will injure you far more assuredly than partial flexion supported skillfully by powerful trunk musculature, which is why people will throw out their backs picking up a pencil.

I don't fully understand the science of it, but it seems that back extensors at the right angles are able to successfully compensate for additional shear forces caused by small amounts of spinal flexion. Unless you lean forward and change those angles, which is why I bring it up. Take a look at an olympic lifters ATG snatch or front squat. You might see some spinal flexion, but what you won't see is any significant forward lean.

In terms of how to fix it, hammer the heck out of your hamstrings and especially your glutes. Tight hip flexors and a weak posterior chain not only make it difficult for your body to get into a proper biomechanical squat, they also ensure you lift with your quads and not your more powerful glutes. Do some mobility work for those tight hip flexors, and do some rock bottom front squats and slightly-wider-than-normal deep back squats. Throw some sumo deadlifts in there too.

Specifically at jlmoss: I think I see some external rotation happening with your feet there (can't tell for sure from the camera angle). If that sounds familiar, roll your piriformis on a tennis ball stat, and do a lot of glute activation before you get under that bar.

Dictated but not read.

__________
*seriously though don't perform squats with lumbar flexion with any kind of serious load unless you are a competitive lifter. Why take an unnecessary risk?

[Oscar_Actuary]

sitting back + keeping back upright = falling on your butt (unless you are a russian dance)

I think of sitting back with a bit of forward lean as normal for powerlifter, while olympic/frontsquat/highbar is more dropping strait down into the hole, with back pretty close to vertical.

Perhaps Mr Moss' issues were more of the sequence of movements. But, I'm pretty sure if he let 220 lbs get too far ahead of him, he would have taken the heels off the ground (re: checking tape again)

My credentials?
work in progress

[jlmoss]

Awesome, thanks guys.

I'll work on not doing a goodmorning squat or rather less of me bending over and more sitting out of the gate.

I'll also work on mobility. I suspect that I am really bad as far as mobility is concerned. I read a while ago but can't remember where it was posted abotu a series of mobility exercises with tennis balls, pvc pipes, and all that stuff. Anyone have that link anymore?

I think I've come across at least one of them. http://www.mobilitywod.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; At least I plan to use the compression/band techniques there for helping along my 'tennis elbow' or whatever since it's in the anterior portion of the bend int he arm, not the bony posterior.

I'll search that site for the mobility work you suggested.

Thanks again all. I appreciate all of your help!