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So I've been training for the last few months, I've been doing squats for a long time but I never had it critiqued by anyone or had a partner, plus it's very hard to look in the mirror if I'm looking up at a 45 degree angle.I brought out a friend who went to the gym and I guided him, "ok, make sure your abs are tight, put your feet at an angle, when you go down make sure you go past the parallel, and when you go up explode. Hold on to the bar with your hands close so that you are keeping the shoulder blades tight, and when you go up look up straight at a 45 degree angle"As I was demoing this, he told me I didn't go past the parallel. I went as low as I could possibly go before feeling a tight pull on my muscle. So that had my curious. I took all the weights off, and did another demo. I still can't get past the parallel. I find myself tilting over to do it properly. I even put a small box under me, but I'm dumbfounded. Heavy weights, light weights, I can't get passed the parallel.Is there anything I can do to get by this? Should I stop doing squats to focus on getting my legs more flexible? I feel okay when doing the squats, but now I feel that I've been doing hack squats instead.
http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/squat-101This helped me a lot.
What part of the article helped you out the most? I figure my hips are good for where they are, I'm trying pretty hard at the wall squats and after doing like 2 I'm out of breath and my knees and legs are so blah that my body keeps tipping over. I'm like, “how the heck can that guy do that??”The warm up is no problem, I make sure I'm heavily warmed up before a squat. Maybe I should concentrate on upper and lower back mobility?So should I keep doing the squats as I'm trying to improve the posture or remove the exercise altogether? My back doesn't hurt so bad.Maybe I should also get a box or a bench and do squats over it (just a light tap from my butt and spring up)? I'm 5'11 so the bench height is pretty low for me.
@cloudybrainDoes your training partner know what parallel is (it's actually rather difficult to determine)? Also are you pushing your knees out on the descent?If yes to both those questions then maybe a box is a good idea to teach yourself where parallel is. Don't feel bad, I have been training for 5 years and I still don't have the squat completely down.
The part that help me was the hip flexor mobility. I didn't realize how tight I was, also I literally started over and started with the wall squats until I had those down then I added the bar and light weights. You get some weird looks from the other gym people but at least you know your squatting In a more correct way and taking steps to prevent injury.
Wall squats are great. You can also do bodyweight squats in the mirror to watch your form at home or whatever. I don't know what weight you're using but focus on quality deep bw squats then move to the bar with weight. Like the article says, don't be “that guy” doing knee bends. I watched a guy last night with 405 on the bar doing about a 4 inch knee bend. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
Wall squats are great. You can also do bodyweight squats in the mirror to watch your form at home or whatever. I don't know what weight you're using but focus on quality deep bw squats then move to the bar with weight. Like the article says, don't be "that guy" doing knee bends. I watched a guy last night with 405 on the bar doing about a 4 inch knee bend. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
"That guy" goes to my gym too. Bar pad, 3 plates aside... slight dip of the knee and that's him done for the day.
Yup. I wouldn't mind if they did that and left. This guy did his kneebends…then the 7 minute rest…most of it on his cell-phone. Dumbasses. I go to Anytime so it's a small gym already.
Well I basically have no problems with the hips, I usually move my hips down first, the only problem is trying to get passed the parallel. I double checked with the mirror and found out I was almost a bit above the parallel but not quite. My body basically dips into a similar position of a starting dead lift. I certainly don't want to be that guy who does knee-bends either.I did a few practice runs by having a bench underneath and that did the trick when I monitoring myself in the window. I have no clue why I do this at all. Like my bench press, I can't lift any more if the bar is like a few inches from my chest in the down position, it has to tap my chest in order for me to actually get it up. Or when doing a deadlift, the plates have to tap the floor. Whats with my body and these taps???
Again cloudy brain, are you pushing your knees out? If you aren't doing this, it is really hard for your hips to break parallel.
Again cloudy brain, are you pushing your knees out? If you aren't doing this, it is really hard for your hips to break parallel.
^^^ Excellent point. If your knees cave inward you'll bend over at the waist too much and the weight puts you on your toes. Force your knees out and it allows your chest to stay high. Keep on your heels.
That is a good point actually, I know I have to keep my knees are out, but I don't know if they actually do go in under pressure. I have a fairly wide stance, a bit farther than shoulder width since I'm 5'11, my feet are pointed 45 degrees outward hoping that my knees would be push out naturally.But as I'm doing this right now, I'm paying attention to my knees, and even without the weights, my legs are shaking a lot when I try to get in the perfect position.I'll be more aware of this next week on Tuesday. Till then I'll be practicing my posture on my free time using wall squats and shaking position next to the mirror. I'll let you guys know if I noticed anything else or if I have any ideas to prevent my body from tilting.I'm assuming there's some tendon or a muscle fiber in there that is weak as shit and would just make the whole foundation topple if I ever wiggle it. I guess I have to find that problem and eliminate it. Hopefully using a box or bench underneath my ass when I squat would be helpful in that aspect.
Have you done any hip flexor mobility work? There's some great stuff for opening up hip flexors over at Mobility WOD, and you could also check out Foundations Training (should have about a 12 minute routine on YouTube for free still) to start to open some of that stuff up and get more mobile.
That is a good point actually, I know I have to keep my knees are out, but I don't know if they actually do go in under pressure. I have a fairly wide stance, a bit farther than shoulder width since I'm 5'11, my feet are pointed 45 degrees outward hoping that my knees would be push out naturally.But as I'm doing this right now, I'm paying attention to my knees, and even without the weights, my legs are shaking a lot when I try to get in the perfect position.I'll be more aware of this next week on Tuesday. Till then I'll be practicing my posture on my free time using wall squats and shaking position next to the mirror. I'll let you guys know if I noticed anything else or if I have any ideas to prevent my body from tilting.I'm assuming there's some tendon or a muscle fiber in there that is weak as shit and would just make the whole foundation topple if I ever wiggle it. I guess I have to find that problem and eliminate it. Hopefully using a box or bench underneath my ass when I squat would be helpful in that aspect.
Most people don't push their knees out naturally, even with a wide stance. It's something that has to be done consciously until it becomes programmed in your nervous system and so your abductors become strengthened enough to handle the load. Once this happens, you will do it without even thinking about it.
Okay, today I did squats again.I paid attention to my knees and kept them out, was probably a problem before, but not now.The bench actually worked immensely. I think it was just a mental problem I have about going too low or something, but I was tapping it each time. I check the mirror and by sitting down I'm well past the parallel. Another thing is that I walked away from it without any pain in my back. Maybe if I do it enough times I'll get it down without the bench. On one set, I removed the bench, and I noticed that something is stopping me from going too low, maybe a fear.. I have no idea.Anyways, I was about to improve my squat by 20lbs.
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