Hi all, it’s Rob.
I posted a video of me squatting 65kg (and another of me squatting 82.5kg with some difficulty). I got a lot of useful comments and learned a lot. I thought it’d be great to repeat the exercise 2 and a half months later 
Here’s my previous post for reference - https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/fo…squat-deadlift
My deadlift is up to 125kg(275kg), and my squat hit 102.5kg (226lbs) this morning.
Here’s what’s (IMO) gotten better for me
- My grip is closer, and the bar is in (I believe) the correct position on my back. Before this, I was trying to put the bar much lower, which meant I had to round my upper back to keep balance. This resulted in really bad bicep tendonitis, it took me way too long to work out why this was happening (thanks to Nate for pointing this out, I did listen to your feedback but I wish I understood earlier!).
- I’ve got a proper pair of lifting shoes (Reebok Legacy Lifters) - I got these for half price on a sale and they’re my favourite piece of gym equipment - the difference is night and day. The raised heel on the shoe helps with depth and I don’t need to use a way too wide stance anymore, not to mention the non-compressable sole.
- Related to point 1, I used to round my upper back quite a lot. I got really bad pain in my shoulders from this, now it’s basically disappeared after fixing the bar position and trying to keep my upper back straight (I still sometimes round for heavy sets, but it’s much less than it was)
I’ve gained around 5kg in the last 3 months (I’m about 79kg/174lbs now), but at 6 foot I haven’t balloned in body weight and I don’t consider myself overweight. After my big weight loss, I’m trying to keep my weight under wraps. I ran into some friends I hadn’t seen in 3 months, they commented that they thought I’d lost weight, so that’s nice.
Here’s the problems I’m having right now
- Knee cave is still a problem, especially when the weight gets heavier. I recently tried narrowing my stance quite considerabely, it seems to have helped the knee cave but it’s not completely gone
- I have a bad habit of rounding my upper back when squatting. I think this is only happening on max effort sets.
- There’s probably a few other things I’m not noticing! Please feel free to point out what you notice. After 3 months of training, there’s still a lot to learn
- I was previously between jobs - now 2 of my 3 training sessions are after I finish work, and there’s a lot of variability in my strength day-to-day. For instance, on Monday I got 100 (3x5), Wednesday I couldn’t hit 102.5kg, and couldn’t get 100kg after that, and today I did 3x5 at 102.5kg. I get up early for work every day and I think I’m just tired at the gym, any suggestions?
- After I narrowed my stance, I experienced more muscle soreness on my lower back. I thought I was rounding my lower back - judging by the videos I don’t think it’s too bad, but is it?
Here’s two videos -
- https://youtu.be/ObjASPbf9t0 - this was the second of 3 sets of 5 I did today. I’m overall pretty happy with this one.
- https://youtu.be/vl4a7f9rq2U - this was the last set of 5. On the last rep, I believe I rounded my upper back, the bar slid forward. I recovered after I got the bar back over mid foot, and everything got easier from there, but I suspect this is why my knees were caving so badly (please correct me if you disagree!). My girlfriend moved around to show me my knee position, so apologies for the inconsistent angle.
I’m stronger than I’ve been at any point in my life, and at a lower bodyweight. My motivation is high despite the setbacks - there’s been a bit of 1 step back 2 steps forward as I’ve learned how to squat better, but I think I’m better off for it. I might have been able to go faster than I did, but I’ve fixed lots of issues, and I think I’m in a good place to keep getting stronger.
Please give me tips! I’ve been doing this for just a few months, I know there’s still a lot to learn.
Hope all is well
Rob