Thank you - it did feel deep and I thought it was too deep watching back, so will work on that.
Davidm you always reset. Always. That is a habit he has to practice no matter what. Always. Not resetting will cause you to rush. What you are doing is getting a breath and tightening up. That is paramount to getting strong.
Davidm you always reset. Always. That is a habit he has to practice no matter what. Always. Not resetting will cause you to rush. What you are doing is getting a breath and tightening up. That is paramount to getting strong.
Depth was good. Don’t over think depth Pat Hughes.
What he was doing was not an Rippetoe squat. Rip teaching hip drive does equate to a horizontal squat. Rip teaches to maintain the back angle, not to let it go horizontally. The hips cue is just for initiating the squat out of the hole that’s it.
I mean does not equate
Another quick update on this - worked up to 120kg for 1@RPE8. I think this looks better than previous, though depth may be questionable. Any comments welcome, thanks!
Pat,
I’m a bit late to the party here in this thread, but these look MUCH better than your initial post. Your back angle out of the hole is greatly improved, and you’re doing a much better job with the “master cue” of keeping the bar over midfoot. Great work.
You’re still letting your hips shoot back a little on the way up to finish the lift, though, but nowhere near the good-morning squat that you were doing before. As other posters have said, you need to drive your hips UP, not back, and drive your chest UP with your hips. One cue that I’ve used in the past to help keep my hips from shooting back is to “keep knees forward” out of the hole. Sometimes if you get too caught up in thinking “hips up,” all your body processes is “hips” and you end up shooting them backwards anyway. Thinking “knees forward” helps take your mind off your hips.
Like a previous poster has suggested, it definitely wouldn’t hurt to incorporate some assistance movements that force you to stay more upright and in your quads. This will likely help with some of the issues you have. I do not think your technique is nearly problematic enough to warrant a reset.
I think your depth here is borderline but fine - I wouldn’t worry about it too much unless you’re planning on competing.
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Thank you Nate appreciate the response and the tips - I’m currently running PowerBuilding I, the second half has the option of front squats so will be getting much more in. Glad I don’t need a reset, that’s reassuring. Many thanks!
Hi there - checking in on my form after making some adjustments, want to ensure I’m still on the right track. Have managed to up the weight, this is 1@RPE8 with 130kg, any comments much appreciated
Lots of progress! You’ve got a nice rigid trunk now. That’s very good!
You’re hips are still shooting back but not nearly as bad as in your first video.
I would keep concentrating on “knees” and/or “legs” when you drive up from the bottom. Forget about “hips”.
Furthermore you can think about pushing the shoulders into the bar. This can prevent you from tipping forward. (the weight still moves to the front of the foot is my impression)
Depth looks good I think. If you’re not planning on competing I would fret over it too much.
Hey Pat,
Pretty good, but this looks a little closer to the technique in your OP than the second set of videos you posted, unfortunately. It’s not terrible, but your chest is lagging out of the bottom. As a result, your hips come up faster, your back angle gets flatter, and you end up doing a slight good morning to finish the rep. You can certainly add weight to the bar like this for a while, but at a certain point, the weight will get heavy enough where this technique is not sustainable.
Watch this video (feat. Leah). It doesn’t exactly apply to your situation - your elbows don’t come up like she describes in the video, but I think a lot of what she talks about may apply to you. You could really benefit from getting your upper back and shoulders set tighter and stronger, and maintaining this throughout the rep. When you’re coming out of the hole, think about the cue “proud chest” and drive your traps back into the bar hard. This should hopefully help you keep your chest moving up with your hips a little better.
Also, hammering front squats, as was previously suggested in this thread, would be a good idea in addition to the cues I gave. If your chest caves, you’re likely going to dump the bar or have to really fight to not do so. Getting stronger at front squats, which will strengthen your quads and upper back, and incorporating the cues I listed should help resolve this soon enough. I still don’t think you should “reset” necessarily, but I would advise you to not focus on adding weight to the bar if it causes your form to break down like this. Instead, focus on executing technically sound reps for the time being, and adjust your RPE based on how much weight you can squat while maintaining somewhat solid form. A slight change in back angle is perfectly fine (and normal for most people) but your current technique is a little problematic.
Good luck!
Edited to echo Rho’s advice - I suggested a while back to think about keeping your knees forward out of the bottom as well. If you haven’t tried this cue, definitely try that as well if you haven’t already. If you have been trying this and it hasn’t been working, try the proud chest and and driving your traps back into the bar cues. Cues that work for some people don’t always work as well for others.
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Thank you for the comments both, appreciate it.
@rho agree the weight is still moving forwards - will work on focusing on keeping knees forwards.
@Nate_B Thank you, I will review the vid. Admittedly I don’t particularly focus on getting my back tight, more on getting the bar in the right position so will focus on that moving forwards - I think I need to remind myself that getting into a tight squat position shouldn’t necessarily be comfortable. Have begun incorporating front squats into my routines so will continue to do so. Do you think practicing high bar would help at all, given the need to keep the torso more upright?
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@rho is probably right that driving the traps/shoulders back into the bar is a more preferable cue to “proud chest” in this situation. If I could’ve only suggested one, that’s the one I would’ve had you try, but I thought I’d throw both out there and see which stuck. Like I said, some cues work better for some individuals than others, but the concern that you may be susceptible to over-cuing “proud chest” is a valid.
No, I don’t think practicing high bar would be particularly helpful. It’s not that you need to squat with your torso more upright, but rather you need to maintain the torso angle you establish during the descent of the squat. You can still cheat a high bar squat the same way you cheat a low bar squat by shooting your hips back out of the hole to keep the bar over midfoot - it’s much harder to do this with a front squat. Your issue is a combination of bad motor habits that have been reinforced over time (likely over-cuing “hip draahve”) and, consequently, a strength imbalance between your quads and hips/low back - I was in the exact same place a while ago. The technique cues you’ve been given along with doing more quad dominant squat variations and assistance work should help you immensely.
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I had the same problem when the squats got heavy. I lowered the weight and did paused squats. really helped clean my technique up.
Thanks man I’ll try these too
@mparker84 nah I never film my warm ups, I’ll film some though and post them