It's still all about me

You know, this is the first time I’ve ever really seen you squat. You’ve got a very unique form. Not great depth, but you’ve still got a lot of flexion at the hip. Where do you find you usually get sore?

lower back, my injuries come when I get too upright and my back rounds. Here is a vid from last Jan which was a lot better IMHO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSkXkOnktMA

Honestly, I don’t like the look of your old form. You’ve got an excessive arch in your lower back and I’d wager you’re doing harm to your abdominal recruitment patterns (instilling an improper length/tension relationship). I used to lift the same way (very arched back, anteriorly rotated pelvis) and it showed up strongly on the track.

Your new form combines excessive (though less severely so) arching at the top and couples it with what is probably too steep of a torso angle. Your lower back should not be the primary thing getting sore from squats.

I don’t know if I’d have you squatting at this point in time. I’d probably put a lot of emphasis on hip mobility and abdominal coordination.

so what do you suggest? :confused: I actually thought I would stick to about 100kg and work on form.

Ugh, this is a tough question. This may be a case where it’s necessary to take a step or two back to take several forward. I’m going to email you.

i agree with rj, once you take the weight and are about to go Downwards, your hips rotate drastically (sticking your butt out, creating lower back arch) This you want to avoid, Hold your abs tight to keep you hips from rotating back like that. Then that combined with the massive Lean forward of the upper body is what is Killing the Crap out of your Lower back. I dont think i would know of anybody who would not get a sore lower back doing ya squats that way.

One way to correct the Upper body forward lean, is to squat just 2inches away from a Post. Set a broom handle down infront of post to square your Feet, then back off 2inches. Then when you squat, look for the following

  • your nose remains infront of post and doesnt Wrap around the side of the post.
  • your feet remain flat on floor
  • your toes remain just slightly pointed out
  • your knees dont drift past your toes

when 1st doing it, hold onto the post with your hands
then

  • have your hands beside the post without touching it
  • have your hands beside you
  • have your hands on your head
  • do the squat with a bar

Then, you can move right over to the squat rack.
Depending on how long that takes, it may be useful to use that as a warm up for some time?

Oh yeah, also perhaps set up a small bench or medball where your butt can just touch so your get Deeper in your squats. Not to sit on, just to Feel your at the correct depth.

Some ppl get this right in 10min. Others can take weeks. Typically, the longer it takes, the Tighter You are. If you are tight, the squat will tell you exactly where you are, esp if you do a Squat HOld at the very bottom position. And often, lets say your Hip Flexors are tight, and you fix them, you do the squat hold again, and Hip Flexors feel better, but now your Glutes are tight, and so on and so forth.

I hope that makes sence. If done correctly, and you listen to the Squat Hold at correct posture at parallel position, i have never had it fail.

I suggest your knees are going too far forward, don’t let them get in front of your toes, if possible no further forward than the ball of foot.

Thanks for the input, in my defence I did post some squats weren’t pretty I hadn’t videoed any this year and it was worse than I expected. In part that is because I had got into

http://stronglifts.com/why-your-lower-back-rounds-during-squats-how-to-fix-it/

Bold I can do all that holding the post only at this stage.

RJ has kindly sent some stuff to consider as well.

Gee more shit to sort out :rolleyes:

here is some bar only stuff from today which is a rest day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcecgSAPIPk

overhead squats show my back rounding / flexibility issues and squats are to a box which I will probably use for a fair while. Johnnie Be Good seemed an apt choice for the Black Comedy that is my training. To be honest right now after this squat debacle I’m a bit flat. :o EVERYTHING seems f*&*&d up with my training!!!

Although in both videos you have the tendency to start going up with your hips first instead of your chest (especially with the heavier loads), I agree that the old form is much better/safer in my eyes! I don’t see any major issues with your knees (?). Overall, use the right loads and technique, simple! I am sure you can feel/see what these are… :slight_smile:

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Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10

Grass
2 x 10m sled walkback rec
2 x 20m sled 2 min rec
2 x 30m sled 3 min rec
4 x BFR 5 min rec
1 x EFE 4 min rec
1 x 50m 3 point start

Box Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 75

work 95 x 4s x 5r 1s x 5r

RDL
3 min rec
80 x 4s x 8r

stretch & abs

Rating
7

Running all good :slight_smile: Did 3 x circuit of calf raises, atg as per Bold suggestion and lower back stretches before and after session.

Mon 8 March

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S/set with 2 mins between reps
O/Head squat bar x 5s x 8r
Chins +5kg x 5s x 5r
Dips + 12.5kg x 5s x 5r

Conditioning
Bike 120 mins

reverse
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/nz/dunedin/205126743109864737

Rating
7

Thurs 11 Mar

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0

Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10

Hills
1 x 10m walkback rec
1 x 20m 2 min rec
1 x 30m 3 min rec
4 x 20 sec 9 min rec

Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 75

work 95 x 8s x 5r

Glute bridge
3 min rec
80 x 1s x 8r
90 x 4s x 8r

stretch & abs

Rating
8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6RKppHQtf4 improvement already although got a bit sloppy when fatigued.

Fri 12 Mar

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S/set with 2 mins between reps
Incline DB press 27db x 3s x 6r, 2s x 5r, 1s x 4r
BOR 70 x 6s x 6r

Conditioning
Rower
10 x 3min on 1 min rec

stretch & abs

Rating
7

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+2

Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10

Grass
2 x 10m sled walkback rec
2 x 20m sled 2 min rec
2 x 30m sled 3 min rec
4 x BFR 5 min rec
2 x 50m 3 point start 5 min rec

Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 75

work 95 x 6s x 6r

RDL
3 min rec
85 x 6s x 6r

stretch & abs

Rating
7

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+2

S/set with 2 mins between reps
O/Head squats bar x 6s x 8r
Chins +5kg x 5s x 5r, 1s x 6r
Dips + 12.5 x 6s x 5r

abs

Conditioning
Bike 56 1/2 mins :eek:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/nz/dunedin/661126561716116941

Rating
9 :cool:

Bike ride 2 1/2 min PB for that route :slight_smile:

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Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10

Hills
1 x 10m walkback rec
1 x 20m 2 min rec
1 x 30m 3 min rec
3 x 25 sec 11 1/2 min rec

Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 75

work 95 x 8s x 5r

Glute bridge
3 min rec
90 x 5s x 8r

stretch & abs

Rating
8

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0

S/set with 2 mins between reps
Incline DB press 27db x 6s x 6r, 1s x 5r
BOR 70 x 6s x 6r

Conditioning
Bike 120 mins

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/nz/dunedin/205126743109864737

Rating
8

Auto Reg rating
+2

Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10

Grass
2 x 10m sled walkback rec
2 x 20m sled 2 min rec
2 x 30m sled 3 min rec
3 x BFR 5 min rec

Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 70

work 90 x 4s x 5r

RDL
3 min rec
70 x 4s x 5r

stretch & abs

Rating
7

start of recovery week

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S/set with 2 mins between reps
Chins BW x 4s x 5r
Dips + 5kg x 4s x 5r

abs

Conditioning
Bike 57 mins

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/nz/dunedin/661126561716116941

Rating
8.5

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Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10

Hills
1 x 10m walkback rec
1 x 20m 2 min rec
1 x 30m 3 min rec
1 x 20 sec 9 min rec
1 x 15 sec

Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 70

work 90 x 4s x 5r

Glute bridge
3 min rec
80 x 3s x 7r

stretch & abs

Rating
7

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S/set with 2 mins between reps
Incline DB press 25db x 4s x 5r
BOR 65 x 4s x 5r

Conditioning
Rower
10 x 3min on 1 min rec

stretch & abs

Rating
7