Here's my squat vid

[BiggT]

this is not the best of advice for a full squat like the one you are performing. your knees can go ahead of your toes, just keep everything tight and don't drift around. if you are loose the forces go straight to your knee, rather than through it, as a full suqat should transfer forces around your legs and hips very efficiently.

like i said, keep everything tight, keep you head up in a neutral position, UPPER BACK TIGHT, elbows NOT flared out (try to pull hte bar into your traps), and SIT IN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS.

This is absolutely correct.....what I think is that a lot of people are going through the checklist for a PL squat, which again isn't bad advice, just not appropriate for someone doing oly squats.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Yeah the first thing I thought was that your butt's too far back and you're leaning too far forward with your torso. You'd wanna stay more upright and, as has been said, sit b/t your legs more.

I wouldn't worry one bit about your knees - mine come forward more than yours. I'd bet that once you get more upright your knees will come forward even more.

Take a look at what your elbows are doing - notice how they get forward on you. I'm wondering if you're keeping your upper back nice and tight. The 'chest up' cue comes to mind.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Yeah the first thing I thought was that your butt's too far back and you're leaning too far forward with your torso. You'd wanna stay more upright and, as has been said, sit b/t your legs more.

I wouldn't worry one bit about your knees - mine come forward more than yours. I'd bet that once you get more upright your knees will come forward even more.

+1

Jim, you mentioned that you do hip flexor stretches in GSP's journal. How frequently are you doing them? (Or, to be more direct, if you're not doing them thrice daily, try that and see if it helps you keep your torso up more.)

 

[redguru]

Thanks for correcting me If I'm wrong, I'd rather people voice it than not.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Thank you for the advice guys. It's much appreciated, and for all the histrionics flying around here lately, it's what makes this board invaluable to me.

For those that can't view it - and maybe those that can - yes I'm trying to do full squats

like i said, keep everything tight, keep you head up in a neutral position, UPPER BACK TIGHT, elbows NOT flared out (try to pull hte bar into your traps), and SIT IN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS

I know the sit on your nuts feelilng from my front squats, so I'll keep trying both to try and get the groove.

NICE eleiko set. if you are going to use your eleiko bar on the squat rack, tape the rack clips so that it doesn't damage the bar! i'm so jealous

Thanks, I just got it. The rack has little rubber padding on it to protect the bar. Considering I'm about thrice your age I figure I'm entitled

Yeah the first thing I thought was that your butt's too far back and you're leaning too far forward with your torso. You'd wanna stay more upright and, as has been said, sit b/t your legs more.

]I wouldn't worry one bit about your knees - mine come forward more than yours. I'd bet that once you get more upright your knees will come forward even more.

Take a look at what your elbows are doing - notice how they get forward on you. I'm wondering if you're keeping your upper back nice and tight. The 'chest up' cue comes to mind.

I didn't pay much attention to my 'bows. Good observation, to be honest I haven't concentrated much lately on what my upper body's doing lately. I think this might be due to some ab weakness as well, which is why I'll have to start doing the dreaded weighted situps.

This is absolutely correct.....what I think is that a lot of people are going through the checklist for a PL squat, which again isn't bad advice, just not appropriate for someone doing oly squats.

True 'dat. I think I might have some bad habits from reading about PL squats when I first started. Have to break out of the mind set, it's tough though.

Jim, you mentioned that you do hip flexor stretches in GSP's journal. How frequently are you doing them? (Or, to be more direct, if you're not doing them thrice daily, try that and see if it helps you keep your torso up more.)

Only before I squat, which is currently 3 x week, much less per day. Plus I do sit a significant portion of the time at work so they do have tendency to get tight. I'll try to step this up as well.

Why can you not squat more weight?

That's why I'm here. To learn and try and get better.

 

[fortunatesun]

More commentary, which mostly echoes what others have said now that I've re-read their posts:

I think once your back is 100% you're going to be glad you got that GHR machine. Your quads seemed to take the weight much easier than your hams.

Core exercises like you and others have said. Needsize crunches are good here. The static weight gives you practice feeling what keeping everything tight actually feels like.

The problems of chest up and arms flaring may be at least partly solved by bringing in your grip on the bar. I used to be guilty of this as well. Wider grip makes you feel like you've got an easy handle on things but bringing your hands in closer helps stabilize the bar, draws your shoulders together, which helps keep things tight, and keeps your head up.

All in all good vid though. Hope my nitpicking doesn't detract...

 

[Jim Ouini]

Not at all FS, your points are well taken. I too have thought about why my glutes/hams are my weakpoint, especially since my RDL/deadlift outpaces my squat, although that's just hip extension, right.

I think I may try some pause squats too.

 

[fortunatesun]

Pause squats are great! I get a bit nervous sometimes at maximum weight about getting down deep enough in the hole and exploding back up. Doing pause squats demonstrates to myself that I'm going to have things under control.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Any thoughts on what weight to use on pause squats? I do them now when on my warmups actually, up to about 70% 1RM. Then some regular singles up to my working weight.

If I were to incorporate them into my routine, maybe I do regular, front and pause squats M-W-F, or some such thing.

 

[fortunatesun]

lol - I do them after reg. squats. If I'm doing 3's or 5's or whatever, I lower the weight and do the same number of reps. 70% actually sounds about right. Maybe a little higher but it also depends on how much energy is left in the tank.