Squat Rx #2

[Cooks195]

At the same time, others have overheard this and said they don't know what they're talking about, my squats are fine, one of them was a great natural squatter who could rep out with 405 20 times. Basically, to get below parallel I have to do this, but I never start my hips first. No matter how I try I can't change it.Maybe I need to raise my head up at the bottom because I'm watching my self in the mirror. But have you ever seen that some people just have this and can't get around it?

[Cooks195]

John, thanks. I have a problem with my squats, maybe. I am lanky, thin, about 6 foot 175 and my legs are long. I have a natural lean forward, i.e., even with just the bar I would lean forward. However, I never round my back, always arch it correctly. but if I get too upright, even with the bar, I could fall backward. I have had some people come up to me-those who have never squatted and only use a smith machine-and say I'm going to hurt myself.

[Sultan1992]

Schon scheisse wenn man kein Englisch kann

[chemnuke]

This is an amazing set of videos. In a sea of misinformation this is the one set of videos that is long enough and knowledgeable enough to actually be helpful and keep us from killing our shoulders and knees.

[RealBigLittleTim]

@TerminallyPsychotic This is a common problem. Look into the "Safety Squat Bar". It has two handles that allow you to hold the bar on your shoulders without putting them behind your neck. It's been a blessing for many people who can't do squats anymore due to the tightness in their shoulders. Good luck.

[johnnymnemonic2]

@TerminallyPsychotic I'll have an article up at Dave Draper's site entitled "Getting Under The Bar" - there might be some useful tips there for you.

[bigtttymer]

was the video shot in a wind tunnel?

[casper123]

Most helpful squatting tut i've seen so far, excellent & explained very well. Thanks.

[Pakman12344]

really confused by head position. Rippetoe is adamant that you should keep your head down while you want the head to stay up. Which is correct?

Also Rippetoe encourages the hip drive which leads to a sort of mini-GM at the end but you are dead against it. Again, who is correct?

[Cornampoo]

@Pakman12344 both want you to keep your neck straight regardless of the head position. No bending back or forward. Rip doesn't support head down, just LOOK down.

Hip drive is just a cue to help people concentrate the force through the hips. He doesn't encourage a mini good morning at all. Did you read the book?

[carlitos1259]

HI! Is 50-60kg a good weight to begin squats with? If done properly,of course...I am 185cm and have 85kg How long will it be till I reach 100kg?

[danfrost313]

@carlitos1259 I'd say start with even lower to make sure form is 100% correct. You can injure yourself fairly easily if you don't have good form and try too heavy, too fast. I started with 40kg, in 3 weeks I was on 100kg squats, now my max is 110kg, and increasing each week.

[Darkside4Dummies]

The sound quality does get better.

4:50 - 4:53 is by far the best squat for anyone who wants to know what a real squat looks like. It sucks to see other videos where the views are 3 or 4 times as greater with inadequate instructors giving squat lessons...

[WestcoastSurfer]

Nice video but the fucking noise is louder than your voice. Wanna re record? ;)

[tesa5000]

is there a waterfall in your gym? :/

[ubermice]

shit sound quality

[ermac254]

i would never do 3:11 some douche bag would kick me in the crotch.

[SuperPETERaerts]

great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dreamsnicotine]

On your ascent, chest up, push through your heels, imagine using your heels to smash through the floor. Drive, drive, drive up, up, up with your hips. Your body is one solid unit. IT IS NOT A LEVER.

Good form. Let weight lifting improve your life.

[dreamsnicotine]

zm5431: Go back to the last weight where you were able to keep excellent form throughout each and every rep. Load bars onto shoulder. Push your shoulders back to create a "shelf" where the bar can rest in a groove. Instead of holding the bar in a bench grip, grip the bar as if you were scooping water out of a bowl. Keep your elbows pointing back. Chest up. Tighten your core/abs(NEVER RELAX). On your descent, consciously remind yourself to shove your knees outwards, shove your knees outwards.

[dreamsnicotine]

Exactly what I needed. Good bye to good mornings.

[zm5431]

my form is good with light weight but once it gets heavy my knees go in and I do a good morning out of the hole. anything i can do to fix this?

[vongSTAA]

I imagine the best thing to do would be to lower the weight and try to concentrate/focus on your form, then slowly bring the weight back up over time.

[CuEins5]

What's the Name of the Squat-Technique at 4:20?

It sounds like "garbled Squats"

But i can not find anything like "garbled Squats"

[reptile308]

goblet squat

[CuEins5]

Thank You

[unrealalexk]

goblet

[RisingStars]

don't quite qoute me on this, but i recall rippertoe talking about how it is okay to deteriote your back angle in order to learn proper hip drive. Not exactly a good morning, but in one of the videos his trainer's hips rise a little bit faster than the head and shoulder.

[iMagnusX]

To learn, not to use as optimal squat technique. Good addendum, though.

[expatinasia]

Yes. I saw the same video and I agree.

[Korensun]

I have a serious flexibility issue, I tend to lose my arch at the bottom of the squat and good morning my way up on heavy weights.

when do you suggest to perform the stretches drills? at the end of the workout? on the off days?

[johnnymnemonic2]

Yes.

[cheesedips]

how do improve hip flexibility in order to reach depth?

[dylanesc]

one of the few guys on poser-tube who has real knowledge

[ShaneBoy]

great video. Learn some usefull things now.

[StillOnThatPlayerShi]

where are you located

[pwestlax8]

yeah, I definitely do that when I start to get closer to my max. Thanks a lot

[allstarguard23]

Ya, he should definately make a deadlift or Bench press vid

[huthut91]

Great vids.

[kimsaeter]

Great stuff man! Do you have any videos for the deadlift aswell?

[edoardo82]

great videos serie! You helped me in the full squat technique! thanx from italy

[HeadDominion]

wow your gym is sooooooo coool it has at least 5+ squat racks. My gyms sucks. it has only 1 squat rack but the wait isn't too bad lol

[tyciol]

I was going to ask about the eccentric good morning to concentric squat in the first video, but waited and was glad I did as you ended up doing it, JUST AS PLANNED.

[grogface]

I have the same problem Catafo. Try have someone spot u by pulling you chest up and keeping your lower back in line with it.  It gives you a feel for what you should be feeling.

[CATAFO]

The main issue is that I just don't feel my muscle is going into the squat at all. I basically bounce at the bottom and struggle my way up. I've never tried PL style. Should I be squeezing my glutes in my squats on the way down? I don't really know what to do! any advice is appreciated! My best deadlift is 405x5 and my best back squat is 225x3 so something is wrong!

and much thanks for the videos, very helpful.

[johnnymnemonic2]

Most people start out with a much better DL than SQ and later the numbers tend to even out.

Everything should be tight as you decend. Now, that doesn't mean that you squeeze your cheeks so tight that your lower back is rounding and you look like you're going to soil yourself, but you do need to be tight ALL OVER.

[CATAFO]

hey, thanks man. I haven't been tight at all in my hip region, just my back. I'm gonna work on that and I'll let you know how it goes, gonna go through the rest of this series first too! I tried for 245 today at the end of my session and missed it twice, very frustrating! Do you think the ankle thing is a problem, or is it normal to just bend the knees to max extension and push them out/sit into the squat to get to the bottom?

cheers mate

-Jeff

[johnnymnemonic2]

#1, #2, #3 (both parts), #4, and #10 and see if any of those help you.

I'm not sure what you mean by "ankle thing".

Generally, IMO you want to think about breaking at the hips rather than at the knees. Now, I know some recommend the opposite and I think I've discussed it on the blog, but if you have knee/ankle issues, then I think it's a pretty safe bet to say you should focus on hip, rather than knee flexion to start the squat.

[CATAFO]

sorry to be unclear, I meant my ankle flexion reaches its limit and I kind of push my knees out to sit into the squat to reach the bottom. I've seen most oly lifters with crazy ankle flexiblity where they easily stay upright and sit to the bottom of their squat. Your response addressed the issue anyway.

thanks for the responses man, I'll check out the vids

[CATAFO]

hey watched those vids, 3 had some great info, thanks! All of the advice in that also applies to olympic back squat where you want maximal knee bend?

[HeadDominion]

this is soooo cool. i do tend to good morning out of the squat on the heavier sets this is awesome. it's sad my PT don't know so much about squatting.

[CATAFO]

My deadlift is very strong, my upper back is somewhat weak, and my leg press is moderately strong.

With all that info in mind (and thanks if you've read this all and can give me some advice!), -my back squat problem is that I feel like my power is cut off. I do a full squat, my ankles stop moving before rock bottom and I push out my knees a little to make it. Sometimes I lose a little arch, often I come forward a little and GM it.

[CATAFO]

hey johnny,

I do olympic back squats as an assistance exercise for the olifts. I have lacking hamstring flexibility but I'm not sure how big of an issue it is, I've tried stretching em lately and am gonna do a full out mobility attack in the near future. As far as my actual hamstring and glute strength I don't really know, but my sumo deadlift is stronger than my conventional - however my lockout for max conventional deadlifts is the limiting factor.

[JonsK16]

You don't receive enough praise for the wealth of knowledge you've brought online to newbies like me. Thanks a lot for helping me perfect my form (especially with GMing out of the hole).

[klined]

i agree and the series has a great title too

[wildeyed]

I don't think this is caused by a posterior chain weakness because:

1)A 315 lbs GM is much more demanding of the glutes/hamstrings than a 315 lbs squat. If this is a glute/hamstring weakness, you shouldn't be able to GM the weight you are squatting.

2)Your quads don't seem to do much work here. Your knees extend, but the bar doesn't really move much while this happens, thus they aren't really contracting against much torque.

[johnnymnemonic2]

Not necessarily a posterior chain "weakness", but an "activation" issue.

Most people (not talking about PLers here) who GM the weight up are putting a lot of stress on their lumbars and using their lower back to get the weight up, NOT their glutes and hamstings.

[stymiejake50]

I was wondering do you reccomend wide squats?

I am 15 and looking to add weight to my squats I'm not sure exactly how to do it.

Can you help me?

[johnnymnemonic2]

Wide squats? I like wide stance squats too. Stance depends on preference and goals though. If you are a PLer, generally speaking, you'll go wide (not all PLers do though).

[bsr35802]

Quick q: my friend has the Gm-ing out of the hole issue but on a minor level. He comes up about 95% correctly, hips moving as the head goes up. But at the very top/end of the motion, his knees lockout before his back is perpendicular to the ground. I was lead to believe that your knees should be fully extended at the same time as your back straightens out. If this is true, what can he do to improve?

[johnnymnemonic2]

A lot of the drills/exercises given might help, but locking out everything at the same time is largely a coordination issue. Practice, practice, practice.

[gsot99]

When i squat i find that my form (my back stays more upright and does not lean forward as much) is much better when i take a wider stance. The narrower my stance is the more i lean forward as i squat. Is this due to the mobility of my ankles, hips or what? As i tried bodyweight squats with narrow stances on the balls of my feet and i can easily squat and keep my back more upright, but obviously I cant squat with weight like this. I also feel more balanced with a wider stance.

[johnnymnemonic2]

Without seeing your squat, I can't tell, but I'm willing to bet that your hamstring flexibility is lacking.

[stevebc]

Great video. Actually, the problem is doing a knee extension and _finishing_ with a good-morning, not vice versa. But we all get what you mean.

A lot of people in my powerlifting club recommend strenghtening the ab (core) muscles to prevent "falling forward" in the hole, what do you say about that?

[johnnymnemonic2]

I'm not understanding the first comment. Of course the problem is knee extension without hip extension. Did I say something else? I'm seriously asking.

I think your abs can never be too strong and the rectus and tansversus abdominal muscles work to compress the abdomen and maintain a rigid core. So yes, I agree.

[stevebc]

Ah sorry man, I misunderstood. Can the problem be based on strong quads and weak posterior chain? That is my case, together with tight quads/hip flexors. It seems logical that the strongest muscles flex first, thereby the early knee extension and late hip extension. Can this be true?

[johnnymnemonic2]

It could be weaknesses/imbalances, poor activation issues, poor form, or a combination of all of those.

Your quads could be flexing first because your legs/hips are too weak to move the weight and you end up extending the knees and then using your lumbar to finish - not saying that's what it is necessarily, but could be.

[nvcn86]

i envy this guys flexibility!!!

if i try to squat so low just like that, with back that straight, i just fall over ;_;

great video anyway.

[SuperDuckQ]

This video was great. I have been experiencing some lower back pain lately (I'm two month's into Rippetoe's Starting Strength, which puts a huge emphasis on squats), and after some advice on a lifting forum found that I was doing a Good Morning just as you have described. Thanks for the videos, they're a great help.

[favbas]

Hmm. Didn't even realize I had this problem, but I most certainly do. Thanks yet again.

[tbbuccaneer87]

thanks for the response. well if thats not really an issue, then what would my issue be considering i can't get in the squat position with any weight? i know flexibility for me is probably an issue and possibly weak hip flexors i dont know.

[johnnymnemonic2]

I'd talk to a health professional and then I'd work on my flexibility, practicing sitting in the hole until you could get deep enough with good positioning and a reasonable degree of comfort.

[johnnymnemonic2]

JMO by the way. I hope you can work it out.

[tbbuccaneer87]

great videos so far. question for you. i've got a leg length discrepancy and its made my hips uneven. is that something that will prevent me from squatting? now i can squat on the smith machine but thats not really saying much because i can't squat at all without it.

[johnnymnemonic2]

I'm not a doctor, but a lot of people have a slight leg length discrepancy and/or some scoliosis and get away with it unless they are doing some serious training and allowing imbalances to compound.

Like I said, I'm not a doctor and you'll just have to see how your issues affect, or don't affect, your form and make training adjustments accordingly.

[ssredwave]

Do you have an answer for this.... My flexability on the bottom end sucks but i sometimes skip on the streching because it feels like my hip point contacts my quads. This was making me believe some of the pros doing good morning during a deep squat was necessary. Any common problem here? I havent gone to higher squat rx # vids until I put the first couple in action.

[johnnymnemonic2]

The videos aren't really in any particular sequence, so please check them out. I give some hip flexor stretches in more than one of them.

If you squat low bar, you are going to squat with the hips further back and have more forward lean. No matter what though, you don't want the hips coming up without the bar also rising.

[leifthetrain]

you rock!

[CRAZYPOPTARTII]

Hey Johnny Thanks for the videos I will take time and watch everyone.I would appreciate it if you could also do a vid about rehabing the rotator cuff and strengthen it beyond what people normaly do,In other words from what I have seen many people never do any rotator strengthening or maintinence excersises.

[johnnymnemonic2]

Gee thanks. I think you missed the point...

I love the book Starting Strength btw...

[scorpioblack06]

But the hip drive is important to get our of the hole and the hips will move a little faster than the shoulders as a result. The exaggerated good morning position is obviously bad form but hip drive is key for novices. Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe gives better advice on how to squat.

[dexbot]

Awsome and very helpful. Thank you!

[richie1916]

thank you very much for some high quality advice on technique. need more videos of this quality on youtube

[SabaZs]

i mean Rx #4 ...

[SabaZs]

very, VERY helpful man. thank you so much. reading about it is way different then seeing... I'm taking a camera to the gym and analyzing my mistakes ASAP.

one question bout the box squat that has been bugging me. whant should relax when you sit on it and is it OK to tilt a little bit forward while beginning the eccentric portion of the movement? (whole body tilt forward)

[johnnymnemonic2]

The only thing that you can relax when on the box are the hip flexors - if you relax anything else, you're risking injury. It's pretty tough to explain, and I'll try to do a future squat rx on box squatting specifically.

A little forward lean is inevitable. Just don't let it get excessive. If your hips are rising faster than your head, then it's excessive IMHO. I hope that's an answer...

[SabaZs]

thanks.

looking forward to squat Rx #3

[tmmeyer23]

Well done!