Below I’ve posted a video of a set of 5. When I watch, I see depth being a problem. However, hitting depth with weight on my back feels much lower than if I were to do the “squat pose” that Rip et al recommends starting out.
That brings me to my next observation…do you see my bar traveling forward, too? I wonder if that is a part of my not getting depth. I’m wondering if my upper body needs to be more upright? I’m 6’0” and am wondering if my longer torso needs to be more upright? Or bar lower? I feel like the bar is right below the spine of the scapula.
Any and all all suggestions will be very much appreciated!
I can’t tell 100 percent with the camera angle but it looks like you are at or just slightly above parallel on most of the reps. Could be the upward angle of the camera though.
I’m seeing that your knees move foward at the bottom of the rep which is shifting the bar forward a few inches, causing you shift a bit of weight onto you toes at the very bottom and thus slightly lowering you back angle in the hole.
I say focus on trying to get your knees set foward during the decent and maintain the position during the bottom 2/3 of the rep. I think maintaining the knee position and balance on the feet will help with hitting depth. When you shift foward its moving your hips up a bit which is why I think you are having issues hitting depth. Hope that makes sense!
The bar is quite a way forward of your mid foot . Your heel lifts slightly at the start of the ascent probably because the weight is so forward of mid-foot. Yes, your back should be more vertical, enough that the bar tracks over mid foot, this is pretty easy to watch for on video. I took lots of video with exactly this camera angle when I was focusing on keeping the bar over mid foot.
On the ascent you’re leaning over even further on the first 1/3.
I’d suggest trying to keep your back more upright. Think about leading with your chest (not hip drive) on the ascent.
Try filming some 303 tempo squats with just the bar and check the video between sets (maybe on a non competition squat day).
Thanks, guys. To clarify, when trying to keep my upper body more vertical, would I still not think of the hip drive? I can see “leading with the chest” being a cue to not let my upper body lean forward and make the bar go too far forward, but I’d imagine that I would still want the majority of my power coming from hip drive.
Tfranc and nichols, thanks for your feedback. What do you mean exactly by setting knees sooner? Does that mean to put them in the position (slightly over the toes) on the first part of the descent and not allow them to keep moving after that?
Also, leaning over more would make me feel more “comfy,” but I’m not sure how to lean more without reviving my old problem of the bar more over my toes rather than mid foot. Any suggestions?
Yes, try to get your knees in position during the beginning of the squat (the first quarter) and maintain that position. When you do that you’ll be able to get your torso at the correct angle and then you can focus on maintaining that throughout the lift.
Here’s a clip in which Jordan Feigenbaum talks about setting knees during the first quarter of the squat: https://youtu.be/dMFCKhmcKtI?t=142
When you get your knees forward sooner it puts you in position to allow you to lean over further without shifting your weight onto your toes. Of course there will be a limit to how much you can lean without putting the bar out of position (not over mid foot) based on your torso length and where the bar sits on your back. I recommend experimenting to see how far forward you can lean without losing bar position. You could potentially lower the bar position slightly to give yourself more room to lean, but you don’t want to move it to much and risk the bar rolling down your back during a rep. Hope that makes sense!
