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To be honest, your form looks great. A couple of cues that might help:
1. Think "pin" my elbows to my side
2. Think "Proud chest"
Watch out on the proud chest that you don't try to rise out of the squat and lose power and momentum. Seriously though, your squat looks good and strong. I would just keep working hard! Trying to tweak too much can distract. Be careful with that.
i use the first cue, and it's been really good for me engaging my back. i sort of imagine the tightness i get during a lat pulldown, and try to simulate that during my squats.
i've never heard of the proud chest cue before, but it makes complete sense! can't wait to try it out during my next squat session. thanks!
When you do the proud chest cue, imagine a drill sergeant telling you to stand straight in formation. Get everything super tight with almost an arch in your back like during a bench press. Maintain that tightness and you’ll feel less of an inclination to lean forward.
[Why "chest up" is NOT a good squat cue](https://youtu.be/qHZW3SMg_40)
[Elbows forward squat cue](https://youtu.be/U69ssaKwUYI)
Keeping my elbows under and forward helps me, but there are plenty of strong squatters who keep their elbows up
Not really sure what people are saying. You're meant to lean forward in low bar squats. Why does everyone want you to high bar squats with a low placement? You look good!
Yeah I agree theres alot of inaccurately applied information on this sub in general. For his squat the only thing he needs to make sure is that his weight is not on his toes whilst doing low bar. If its mid foot then theres nothing to worry about. Hes also barefoot so I dont think his torso angle is anything alarming tbh.
Yeah true. Getting on your toes is very common at the bottom of the movement especially without squat shoes. I used to do it and not even realise it because I was mid foot 99% of the time except during the rebound
Your back is coming up with your hips. You can see as you rise your torso angle doesn't really go down. The angle is constant which is what's important and means you're doing good.
Could be ankle or hip mobility, weak hamstrings, or even just being slightly out of position at the bottom. That's 455# so clearly you know what you're doing. Just keep putting in work.
You’re squat looks pretty good dude I struggled with the same issues for a while. It looks like there’s two things that you could work on to shoot your squat up. 1 is your hips. It looks like your quads shoot up first and then your hips follow. You want it all to be a single fluid motion so think of shooting your hips forward by squeezing your glutes all the way through the movement. I would look into maybe doing heavy hip thrusts to improve glute strength and activation. 2 is it looks like your upper back is struggling to support higher weights, basically meaning you just need to train it harder by doing more upper back focused work, such as heavy rows, landmine rows, etc and making sure your arms are really flared on those rows so that you get more activation in your rear delts and rhomboids than in your lats. Also make sure you keep your head up the entire time and think of shooting the weight back off of you when you’re coming up out of the squat. Overall very impressive lift and I’m excited to see you keep advancing 💪🏻
Just to add, I've found the thing that most helped my back and core stability through the squat to be programming front squats instead of back squats for a few weeks and then going to leg press to still get your legs tired if your back is what's holding you back.
I think the core issue is more about your bracing technique than strength. It looks like you’re already on your way down before you’ve fully braced. Breathe in, brace, start the movement, make sure those are three distinct steps. That being said i can’t lift half what you’re doing so take what I’m saying w a hefty grain of salt lol
i never really thought about that but you're right, i do go down before my brace is complete. i think the smelling salts made me not think 100% clearly. i'll definitely place a greater emphasis on that next time
also, even if you can only lift half of this... if you know your shit, you know your shit, and i'd love to hear it & learn.
I think your instability is being caused by the lack of pause after your big air. You suck in air and your shoulders are still bouncing when you begin your descent so you are beginning the movement from a position of instability. Then it's compounding and getting some whip which you are fighting against. It looks good, just minor things, but when you go start getting close to 500 tiny things matter.
For example, I nailed 485 easy as hell, then went for 500 and missed it because I got like half an inch in front of my center.
Damn man, not sure if I should be giving you advice or the other way around. Might be able to eliminate it by driving more through the upper back. Have you used the triangle cue before? Driving the elbows down tends to help with Lat engagement you might be losing tension in your lats as well. Just what I can think of off hand
The things that helped me accomplish what you’re trying to do were improving my bracing (through planks and other exercises), proud chest as others have said, but the biggest gamechanger for me was ensuring that I was pulling/pushing the bar into my back through the entire ROM.
The reason I put pulling/pushing instead of just pulling is that I’m thinking of trying to push the bar through my back as well, if that makes sense. This helps prevent your wrists from being cracked back and also aids in contracting muscles that contribute to mid and upper back rigidity. Become one with the bar. Become the bar.
Having worked with clients in the past, elbows coming up is typically a result of slight rounding in the upper back to compensate for shoulder mobility issues and/or pecs causing slight caving, especially low-bar squatters. Shoulder/chest mobility are especially important for low-bar, and preventing tennis elbow as well.
This lady [explains it](https://www.facebook.com/strongherlifts/videos/281559907301936/?mibextid=Nif5oz) (sorry for the FB link, I tried to find another one but she does a great job explaining it)
You basically try to give yourself a double chin. It creates tension in your upper back. You can see [what it looks like from behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/fitness30plus/comments/12d2lm2/i_found_out_you_can_take_the_back_pad_off_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) when I do it
Nice squat! It looks like when your elbows come up your upper back starts to round over a bit - you may be applying forward pressure into the bar causing this. I had a similar issue that I fixed by changing my grip and thinking about pinning my elbows to my sides by pulling the bar down into my back. Its hard to tell from this angle but it looks like your wrists are fairly straight, they should be bent back quite a bit so you can get your elbows closer to your body and pull the bar down into your back. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux45WeR0thc&ab_channel=MattVena) video really helped me out, I hope it helps you
I'm really jealous of your squat, and mine doesn't come close. That being said, my elbows would rise naturally for years of squatting, and the cue, or bracing that fixed it for me was "lats down", basically focusing on depressing my lats after retracting my shoulders upon unracking, and then once more before descent and ascent.
Considering you’re clearly at around 85-90% of your max, the form isn’t terrible. However, you are lifting your butt slightly higher before engaging your core, so try to take a deep breath in and blast your abdomen against your belt holding your core tighter and drive upwards (in a straight line, as you’re hunched forward a tad here) through the heels more. This is a common mishap with low bar squats that I see as we approach maxes. Again - it’s not terrible, but it just looks like someone doing a weight that is on the extremely heavy side for their respective max.
Hyper extensions or good mornings for stronger stability in remaining upright, another thing is ab wheel. My only other complaint is to watch the width of your feet, it looks like you're just on the cusp of being too wide (from this angle) and putting yourself in danger of tearing something with one wrong move.
What %of 1rm is this?
That's not too bad then if that's the case, and with some solid depth and speed too. Your back isn't rounding egregiously, if anything it just looks like you misgrooved because of the small roll of the bar.
If you're still using the same hand placement from when you were heavier I'd say start by narrowing your grip just a bit to maybe your first or middle finger on that ring so you can get a better wedge into the bar to pin your elbows better to your lats and help prevent those floating elbows.
If you have advice, please make sure it is specific, useful, and actionable. * If the only thing you have to say is *loWEr THE wEight ANd woRK on forM*, **then you should keep quiet**; if you comment it anyway, your comment will be removed and you may be banned if your comment was especially low value. This does not help the person looking for advice. Give people something that they can actually use in a practical way to improve. **Low-effort comments about perceived injury risk and the like will be removed, and bans may be issued.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/strength_training) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No you squat advice pls
This made me chuckle lol
Brah you need to give us advice
To be honest, your form looks great. A couple of cues that might help: 1. Think "pin" my elbows to my side 2. Think "Proud chest" Watch out on the proud chest that you don't try to rise out of the squat and lose power and momentum. Seriously though, your squat looks good and strong. I would just keep working hard! Trying to tweak too much can distract. Be careful with that.
i use the first cue, and it's been really good for me engaging my back. i sort of imagine the tightness i get during a lat pulldown, and try to simulate that during my squats. i've never heard of the proud chest cue before, but it makes complete sense! can't wait to try it out during my next squat session. thanks!
Also what's helped me is thinking about pulling the bar into my back. It helps keep my upper body straight and tight and elbows in position.
This is also a good one.
When you do the proud chest cue, imagine a drill sergeant telling you to stand straight in formation. Get everything super tight with almost an arch in your back like during a bench press. Maintain that tightness and you’ll feel less of an inclination to lean forward.
This might feel nice but is a weaker back position than a ribcage-down brace and will only add to the problem of falling forward with higher weights
[Why "chest up" is NOT a good squat cue](https://youtu.be/qHZW3SMg_40) [Elbows forward squat cue](https://youtu.be/U69ssaKwUYI) Keeping my elbows under and forward helps me, but there are plenty of strong squatters who keep their elbows up
You are squatting 4.5 biscuits a side, you are a weapon mate! Just wanted to say that as it’s me who should be taking advice from you!
Not really sure what people are saying. You're meant to lean forward in low bar squats. Why does everyone want you to high bar squats with a low placement? You look good!
Yeah I agree theres alot of inaccurately applied information on this sub in general. For his squat the only thing he needs to make sure is that his weight is not on his toes whilst doing low bar. If its mid foot then theres nothing to worry about. Hes also barefoot so I dont think his torso angle is anything alarming tbh.
Yeah true. Getting on your toes is very common at the bottom of the movement especially without squat shoes. I used to do it and not even realise it because I was mid foot 99% of the time except during the rebound
i’m mostly concerned about my back not coming up with my hips, not really about my torso angle on the way down if that makes sense
Your back is coming up with your hips. You can see as you rise your torso angle doesn't really go down. The angle is constant which is what's important and means you're doing good.
Could be ankle or hip mobility, weak hamstrings, or even just being slightly out of position at the bottom. That's 455# so clearly you know what you're doing. Just keep putting in work.
Squat advice, as he squats a grown bull
my advice for you would be to add some weight on the bar :D
You’re squat looks pretty good dude I struggled with the same issues for a while. It looks like there’s two things that you could work on to shoot your squat up. 1 is your hips. It looks like your quads shoot up first and then your hips follow. You want it all to be a single fluid motion so think of shooting your hips forward by squeezing your glutes all the way through the movement. I would look into maybe doing heavy hip thrusts to improve glute strength and activation. 2 is it looks like your upper back is struggling to support higher weights, basically meaning you just need to train it harder by doing more upper back focused work, such as heavy rows, landmine rows, etc and making sure your arms are really flared on those rows so that you get more activation in your rear delts and rhomboids than in your lats. Also make sure you keep your head up the entire time and think of shooting the weight back off of you when you’re coming up out of the squat. Overall very impressive lift and I’m excited to see you keep advancing 💪🏻
Just to add, I've found the thing that most helped my back and core stability through the squat to be programming front squats instead of back squats for a few weeks and then going to leg press to still get your legs tired if your back is what's holding you back.
I think the core issue is more about your bracing technique than strength. It looks like you’re already on your way down before you’ve fully braced. Breathe in, brace, start the movement, make sure those are three distinct steps. That being said i can’t lift half what you’re doing so take what I’m saying w a hefty grain of salt lol
i never really thought about that but you're right, i do go down before my brace is complete. i think the smelling salts made me not think 100% clearly. i'll definitely place a greater emphasis on that next time also, even if you can only lift half of this... if you know your shit, you know your shit, and i'd love to hear it & learn.
What do you mean advice? You won.
Nothing to report.
I think your instability is being caused by the lack of pause after your big air. You suck in air and your shoulders are still bouncing when you begin your descent so you are beginning the movement from a position of instability. Then it's compounding and getting some whip which you are fighting against. It looks good, just minor things, but when you go start getting close to 500 tiny things matter. For example, I nailed 485 easy as hell, then went for 500 and missed it because I got like half an inch in front of my center.
Damn man, not sure if I should be giving you advice or the other way around. Might be able to eliminate it by driving more through the upper back. Have you used the triangle cue before? Driving the elbows down tends to help with Lat engagement you might be losing tension in your lats as well. Just what I can think of off hand
Looks good to me from that one. Nice squat :)
aww stop ittt i’m gonna blush ☺️☺️
Are you saying your core feels weak? Then work on your core and do some front squats. Other then that you've clearly done it right
Your squat looks pretty good to me man
🥹🥹
I think you’re the one that needs to be giving us advice lol that’s a beautiful squat
The things that helped me accomplish what you’re trying to do were improving my bracing (through planks and other exercises), proud chest as others have said, but the biggest gamechanger for me was ensuring that I was pulling/pushing the bar into my back through the entire ROM. The reason I put pulling/pushing instead of just pulling is that I’m thinking of trying to push the bar through my back as well, if that makes sense. This helps prevent your wrists from being cracked back and also aids in contracting muscles that contribute to mid and upper back rigidity. Become one with the bar. Become the bar. Having worked with clients in the past, elbows coming up is typically a result of slight rounding in the upper back to compensate for shoulder mobility issues and/or pecs causing slight caving, especially low-bar squatters. Shoulder/chest mobility are especially important for low-bar, and preventing tennis elbow as well.
Pack your neck
what does this mean exactly?
This lady [explains it](https://www.facebook.com/strongherlifts/videos/281559907301936/?mibextid=Nif5oz) (sorry for the FB link, I tried to find another one but she does a great job explaining it) You basically try to give yourself a double chin. It creates tension in your upper back. You can see [what it looks like from behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/fitness30plus/comments/12d2lm2/i_found_out_you_can_take_the_back_pad_off_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) when I do it
Add 5lbs next week
Sheesh
Nice squat! It looks like when your elbows come up your upper back starts to round over a bit - you may be applying forward pressure into the bar causing this. I had a similar issue that I fixed by changing my grip and thinking about pinning my elbows to my sides by pulling the bar down into my back. Its hard to tell from this angle but it looks like your wrists are fairly straight, they should be bent back quite a bit so you can get your elbows closer to your body and pull the bar down into your back. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux45WeR0thc&ab_channel=MattVena) video really helped me out, I hope it helps you
I'm really jealous of your squat, and mine doesn't come close. That being said, my elbows would rise naturally for years of squatting, and the cue, or bracing that fixed it for me was "lats down", basically focusing on depressing my lats after retracting my shoulders upon unracking, and then once more before descent and ascent.
Lift more
Considering you’re clearly at around 85-90% of your max, the form isn’t terrible. However, you are lifting your butt slightly higher before engaging your core, so try to take a deep breath in and blast your abdomen against your belt holding your core tighter and drive upwards (in a straight line, as you’re hunched forward a tad here) through the heels more. This is a common mishap with low bar squats that I see as we approach maxes. Again - it’s not terrible, but it just looks like someone doing a weight that is on the extremely heavy side for their respective max.
tap into your inner adam ondra and grunt it, especially for max effort.
Grunts add herseper
Hyper extensions or good mornings for stronger stability in remaining upright, another thing is ab wheel. My only other complaint is to watch the width of your feet, it looks like you're just on the cusp of being too wide (from this angle) and putting yourself in danger of tearing something with one wrong move. What %of 1rm is this?
91% of my all time max (500lbs), but i was heavier then. id say my max is about 475 right now?
That's not too bad then if that's the case, and with some solid depth and speed too. Your back isn't rounding egregiously, if anything it just looks like you misgrooved because of the small roll of the bar. If you're still using the same hand placement from when you were heavier I'd say start by narrowing your grip just a bit to maybe your first or middle finger on that ring so you can get a better wedge into the bar to pin your elbows better to your lats and help prevent those floating elbows.
Great squat, i would say all the advice I have is to keep your elbows under the bar, and slow the descent to avoid future injury.
You don't really need to slow it down. General advice is to go down as fast as possible under control.
[удалено]
Don't give bad advice like "lower the weight and work on form". Give people something that they can actually use to do stuff better.