Squat Check After Injury

[pbjorge12]

Hey Everyone,
After fucking up my ankle, I'm getting back to Squatting. Just interested in getting a critique on these squats.

This was a decently easy set of 205.

It looks like my ass goes back before it goes up. What causes this and should I try to fix it?
This? http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=771&page=2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iqACOQfApA

Also - Depth. How far above/below parallel am I? It looks like I'm going a couple inches below parallel (but when I see similar squats on the crossfit boards they're "too high").

[confuzzl3don3]

Sure looks like you're going deep enough (IMO you could afford to not go as deeper to add some lbs to your squat).

And about the butt going back, yeah that's pretty obvious too. As you read Ripp said in that thread, think of tightening up and pushing up not back. I also think that sticking your knees out and forward at the top 1/3 of going down, then keeping them out there until you are back to the last 1/3 of coming up will force your butt to go up instead of back.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi,

the camera angle is probably fooling me, but aren't your knees moving just slightly towards each other, as you start the drive up ?
That's the impression I have looking at the first set, but, as I said, it's probably just a result of the unusual position of the camera.

IPB

[Webbie]

hard to tell from the camera angle but I would say knees are sliding forward all the way down and it's killing your bounce out of the hole...and your torso is vertical to compensate

[pbjorge12]

How are these looking?
Took them today at 225.
I think I've fixed the knees sliding pretty well... Shit. Maybe not. Just looked at it again and I'm setting them by about 2/3 of the descent. Are my knees to far forward? Your thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQjFg3jaT2g

I figured I'd go up with 10lb jumps until it stops and then do a mild reset? Or should I go up with 5 lb jumps starting from 225? 225 felts pretty easy...

[confuzzl3don3]

They look good but still have a fair bit of butt moving backwards especially on the last 2 reps. You're managing to keep the bar over your midfoot by compensating the back butt movement by allowing your knees to move back too early IMO, but i defer to the more experienced. And dam you squat deep :D

[Steve in ATL]

You are also not keeping your head down very well.

[pbjorge12]

You are also not keeping your head down very well.

Damn. I trained at an Oly-gym for a month and they taught me to look straight ahead when I squat. It seems to have stuck. I'll fix that next session.


And dam you squat deep
I'll probably try and shorten the ROM when the weight gets heavier to get more pounds on the bar. I could probably cut a couple inches off it looks like? The issue is I never get hamstring tightness for whatever reason (I've got tight quads though). At a cert with Rip, I asked him about this and he said I was handling the bottom just fine so...

I'll try and get a more normal video of me that includes my feet. Maybe that will make things a little more clear.

I suppose this is all just nitpicking and I just need to lift and get stronger...

Thanks guys

[TomC]

Your squat looks just fine. Keep your head down a bit more and they will look great. What you really need to do is put on about 50 lbs. This will help your squat out considerably. Really. Drink more milk.

As far as hamstring tightness goes, starting with your warm ups, try actively contracting your hams and glutes, hell your entire leg, as you descend. You might find that consciously putting tension into your legs will help maintain the isometric contraction of the hamstring that Rip talked about and alleviate some of the exaggerated hip-back motion that can creep in as you fatigue.

One more thing, if you film your squats again, please get somebody to hold the camera for you. Have them stand at a 45 degree angle from you and make sure that we can see the knees and the angle of the back. It would make figuring things out a lot easier.

[misspelledgeoff]

i think your most recent set of squats look great. and like TomC said, dude gain some weight. With 50 pounds of body weight I'll bet you'll be squating 4 wheels in no time.

[pbjorge12]

New Check
This time I had my brother film me. I can't say he did a perfect job but its definitely better than before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT46ozl9GIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JSsKmJ97qY (HD Version when it gets processed)

For some fucking weird reason - I was squatting to parallel today instead of below parallel like previously. It was only a 5 pound increase and yet I completely changed depth it looks like? Any thoughts as to why? My only other thought was that wearing the belt for my first set really made me aware of staying tight and as such I wasn't loosening up to reach depth like it looks like I do in previous videos?

Any other thoughts on the depth issues today? Were they deep enough?

Damn. Looking at them now it looks like around 2 reps per set were either JUST parallel or slightly above. Fuck. They were so easy though I don't see an issue with adding 5 pounds to the bar and working on depth next workout.

My press - It looks like the glaring issue is the dropping of the elbows and in turn pushing the bar out front. I'll fix that ASAP. Other thoughts?

My Deadlift - It looked fine to me? Sorry about the bullshit plates - I don't usually workout at 24 hour fitness but i had to today.

[tescott]

Squats look plenty deep enough to me. Tighter than your last video. Better.

After that, my attention span lapsed...

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi,

re: the squat. The thing that caught my eyes was the elastic band of your pants. It looks like it goes down level, but when you come up it raises a bit more on the right side. It seems evident especially on the last two reps of the last two sets.
At normal speed, it gives the impression that you are pushing more with your right leg, and that the pelvis is therefore slightly tilted upwards on the right side.

I'm not sure whether this is indeed the case, or whether it is simply an effect of the camera angle. A video from behind would dispel any doubts.
On the other hand, I'm sure that your brother woudl have noticed this, so I'm probably just seeing things.

IPB

[pbjorge12]

Latest Video at 255
My first PR on the program (I did it last year with poor results and got to 250 about an inch above parallel - My fault as I didn't understand intensity)

For those of you who take issue with camera angles - Don't bother watching as it is horrible and was mostly for my own sake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KzdJgoKlYk

Any more cues you can think of for keeping those knees set? It seems like the first rep or 2 are usually pretty good but then things get iffy. I can lock them in at a lighter weight (225) so is this something to just live with as its only happening at the heavy weights? I can also do a pretty good job of keeping them set if I look at my knees during my worksets - But that is probably a no-no?

[misspelledgeoff]

look like good squats to me. depth looks great. make sure you are shoving your knees out at the bottom. that will keep your knees from sliding forward.

[stronger]

knee slide