How to deal with inconsistent squat form?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been lifting for a year now and still have trouble maintaining good squat form. I understand that it’s a very complex movement and it needs training. My issue is consistency. Sometimes I can squat with damn near perfect form and grind out reps staying very symmetrical. The next time, my hips are shifting laterally to the side and my balance is all over the place, and I look very asymmetrical.

I have a short right leg (which is shimmed when I train) and a slight scoliosis in my thoracic spine which I can’t do anything about. I’m not sure this is causing my problem.

Compare my squat to the leg press for example. In the leg press, I can exert maximum effort and it’s pretty much impossible to break the form, the leg strength is the limiting factor 100%. But when I squat, I feel like the balance/shifting is the limiting factor, not the actual muscular strength if that makes sense?

I feel like it’s difficult to ingrain a good form when I’m dealing with this inconsistency. I’m doing tempo squats to reinforce the good form but I’m not sure that’s enough.

Any help and feedback is much appreciated, thanks.

Is there any chance you can see a coach? If there is an SSC near by you may want to go see them. SS has their squat camp and I think BBM has something similar if those are close. If not you can post form checks on the Facebook groups and get some feedback that way. Squats can be tricky to fix on your own.

Tempo squats, pause, pin squats might help.