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Hey Eric,

I would appreciate it if you watched my squat vid and gave me some advice.

Thanks MaRvO.

Ok. Well I watched it several times. As usual as I go back and watch it more I might notice other things.

Probably you will benefit just as much by doing certain things besides the actual squatting itself.

It seems like you defenitely need to work on mobility and ROM. Probably lower back, hip flexor, and ham stretching after your workout will help as far as lengthening the muslces and maybe some dynamic stretching before you workout. The good thing about dynamic stretching is it can get the muscle a little more pliable but also it is in the realm of mobility work so it can loosen up any tight joints like the ankles.

Also, I don't know if you are doing this or if it is just the way you are, but don't overexagerate the lower back arch. Go for a neutrual or "natural" back. In other words tighten up the arch you already have. Engage the glutes during this.

Are you using the valsalva technique?

Now for the actual squats you are breaking parallel consistently. But you tend to drop you shoulders down at the end. Some of the time you are practically folded in half! That must be tough to get out of. I can't tell for sure why you are doing this. My gut is that you are trying to compensate for the feeling of not going deep enough so you bring your shoulders down to get this illusion of depth. (I used to do that so I know what I'm talking about). What matters is where you butt is. You need to concentrate on keeping your upper back and shoulders back. I could be wrong about the reason you are doing that. It could be a correction for the bar being out of line. I can't tell. The bar should basically stay on a line with the midline (give or take) of your feet.

I think perhaps you may benefit from box squatting 3 or 4 inches below parallel so you can work on that while also keeping the lower back from rounding under. You can do speed work with that, btw, but I would recommend getting used to the box squatting before you try to do it fast.

Also some work with the load in the front may help you learn to stay a bit more upright. I like to do front loaded plate squats...you squat with a plate held out in front of you (high reps).

For the rest of it read this:

http://www.bodybuilding.net/44452-132-post.html

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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.

Just wondering Eric, what sort of education do you have? You seem to have your anatomy and kinematics of the body down pat so I'm assuming you do something related. Physiotherapist? If you don't mind me asking that is. I tried some of those squat tips as I have some of the same problems of rounding out a little bit at the bottom. They work!

BTW, Marv don't be insulted by his criticisms, I dont' think I've seen an occaision where he hasn't had at least a page of writing on any vid posted. lol You're doing awesome man.

Thanks, IW. I have knowledge of it but I certainly don't have it down pat...not by a long shot, owing to the fact that I haven't worked with and observed enough people, which is where the real deal comes in. I come from a medical family but the truth is it's about dropping hundreds of dollars on books and hundreds more other books to help you understand the first books. A lot of reading, experimentation, observation. Last but not least, although I never say anything I haven't tried and/or experienced for myself, regurgitation from those who do have it down pat.

Some of this stuff I have said is of the simplest level so I would want to insult a real professional by claiming I am anything but an amateur. Not bad for free though

Thanks for pointing that out. Marv asked for tips so I know he will take it for what it is. I wouldn't call any of it criticisms, I would call it assessment (for what it's worth). I know in my heart that a well tuned eye could find at least a page to write about my squats or anything else. But the truth is so many of these problems are common that a lot of the same stuff can be said until more specific info comes.

Gday Eric,

Thanks mate, I appreciate you taking the time to give me some advice. This is the first time I have filmed myself. I really need to pull my shoulders back. I notice my middle back go forward especially on the first warm up. I also see the lower back round out at the bottom. Ok so a more natural arch to start with. I will start stretching out the glutes hammies etc after training. I definatly felt more upright when I was still front squating. I like the sound of the plate squats to pull the shoulders back, I will start doing these mate. I am using the valsalva technique, although I find I need to breath at the top on heavy sets. I have never done box squats but I will start. Eric do you look at the floor 6-10 feet ahead? Eric what dynamic stretching do you suggest b4 squating, apart from gobblet squats?

Thanks again for taking the time to give me some free coaching your a legend.

MaRvO.

First off, on the plate squats the biggest place you will feel them is in the abs. You hold the plate straight out in front of you so you can see why that would be. It's a an intense isometric ab contraction...and that's a good thing. The best way in your circumstance to use them is as part of ab strength/stabibility training. So treat them like an ab thing. Do higher reps. That way you use them as a accessory and activation thing and not as something that will be of detriment to squatting. But yeah, they help you with "uprightness" and the only other thing I can say is to really pay attention to you glutes. Actually tighten them up a bit while descending. Forget the "quad dominant" and "ham dominant" stuff...think ass dominant. That will make all the difference when it comes to squatting.

Front squats and goblet squats are obviously a similar thing but this puts the weight much further out so you don't have the need of a heavy weight to get the effect you want plus at the same time there is no appreciable leg fatigue in it.

Unless you actually feel that your glutes are tight I doubt you will need to stretch them. Just the opposite, actually. Looking at you, although I can't tell for sure, it looks like you need the common combination of hams, lower back and hip flexor stretching. I would also highly recommend some hip adductor (inner thigh/groin) and some piriformis and ITB band stretching.

Yes I look at the floor six to ten feet ahead. Try not to lead with your head. Instead think in terms of the shoulders. I don't know who coined this, I'm pretty sure it was Rippetoe: Relate to the bar, not to the floor. You are not trying to push the floor down, after all, but the bar up. It's seems like a weird distinction because instinct makes you wants to just drive down with your legs. And of course there is going to be tons of leg drive involved.

But one of the biggest revelations you will make is that squats are about the hips not the quads or hams or any one leg muscle. Try to push the shoulders into the bar to initiate the lift. This is something that box squatting really allows good practice of.

If you begin box squatting you should definitely post a vid because there are some common errors that most people make on that.

I take breaths at the top when needed and I take may big breath at the top before descending, control the exhalation until past the 'sticking point' and then let the rest go quickly.

You can do lots of different things for dynamic stretching but I find the best thing is to do something that is actually hip dominant and multi-joint. If you are careful you can use that excercise I gave in the link to Hop's journal but you do it in a dynamic fashion where you drop down into a squat position in a controlled but dynamic way while increasing the depth each time you go down a little bit at a time.

Another good thing is to do bodyweight dynamic lunges (regular lunges) or reverse lunges where you concentrate on the stretch in the hams and the increasing range of motion. This gives more stretch than a squatting technigue would so in cases where you need to work on loosening up it's good. I wouldn't recommend any dynamic stretching of the lower back muscles.

Now you will probably get to a point where you don't need to do anything but drop into some dynamic squats to loosen up if anything. The dynamic stretching, however, helps as a warmup so it's not any skin off your nose to do a little here and there.

And yes goblet squats with the same type of deal.

Eric I assume you mean drive the shoulders into the bar to initiate the lift when in the hole.I think I need to concentrate on this too as somtimes it feels and looks like my hips rise a little faster than my shoulders and it throws the weight forward on to the toes.This usuall happens when fatigue kicks in for me.

Thursday 10th Dec
Dynamic Day

Squat 77.5kg 10x2
Bench 60kg 10x3
Deadlift 95kg 15x1
Chins 30kg 3x5 bw1x9
HangLegRaise 2x12, 1x13
Calve Raise 430lbs 3x5

Gday Eric,
You are right about me lowering the shoulders to give the illusion of depth. I raised the pins in the power rack a notch. The more natural arch felt better too. The plate squats (5kg)were a great way to warm up today. I should of filmed today to check technique, but it felt much better. I hope this improvement in technique allows the weights to escalate. I will have to watch some westside b4 I try box squats. When I do I will post a vid for your assesment. I will film squats again on sunday and see how they look. I will work on the stretching this week.

Thanks for taking the time to give me advice Eric I really appreciate it.

MaRvO.

I didn't notice your hips rising first in the vid, at least.

One thing I think I saw, but it's hard to tell, is the bar position changing. It looked like during the warm-up you had the bar about as low as it could possibly and then I noticed later it seemed to be set a little higher in more of a neutral position (not that high or low). I'm also going by the fact that you started out with more of a forward torso position in the beginning set and you were more upright in the later ones. I attribute that to changes in bar position. Subtle changes in bar position have a big effect so if you notice this to actually be true make sure you pick on position and stick with it. Lower bar will mean more forward torso.

For the caving over, it may also help to get your hands in as close to the bar as possible. I can see that you are not doing that extremely wide hand placement but at the same time the more you can get your hands in and the elbows more forward the easier it is to keep the chest up (also, of course, stick the chest up in the first place). Do what you can with that advice I don't expect you to do things with your hands that are just not possible for you.

Also, and I seem to mention this to everyone, try to control the descent just a bit more. When you get to the heavy stuff, if you drop to fast, you are expending more effort decelerating the bar which makes it extremely difficult to work on anything else.

Lastly, your set-up is a little bit akward. You're doing widestance but that doesn't mean you need to get up under the bar initially this way. Can be a bit iffy for the knees to actually walk the bar back in that position and I don't like the look of your feet not being underneat you more when you unrack the bar. Try to get the bar up with a more neutral stance and then step back into your working stance in as few movements as possible.

P.S. this was all meant for Marv. I somehow didn't realize it was Hit who made the comment.

Gday Eric,

Cool I will find a spot for the bar that allows me to remain more upright while still being lower bar position. I started using a bar recently that dosent have Knurling on the shoulder area maybe it allows the bar to slide a little. Do you have a prefrence for squating.
I should be able to bring the hands in a little closer if I dont need to pull the elbows so far back. So the idea is to really pull the shoulder blades together while lifting the chest. Trying to pull the elbows back was probably pushing me forward. I will slow the decent too. Cool I will start with my feet in a more nuetral position. I have alot to work on, Its easy to be alittle extreme with some of Ripps cues.
Its amazing what you can pick up from watching a tape. I will start trying to implement all of your advice and make some vids to see how its all going.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me Eric.

MaRvO.