Full Squat Trouble

[mattnxtc]

if ur struggling with squats...try starting out with leg press as its easier to get in the right form needed.

Also being a soccer player you should be more flexible...I played up through the beginning of college and 6 years later I still have decent flexibility...if you dont then you need to start lookin to stretch more to improve your flexibility as taht will take pressure off ur legs

[skunkworks]

theblackkeys,

Try to keep the knees in the same direction as the toes. I could see something like that causing a bit of ITB irritation.

FWIW it took me a good month of working out 2-3x a week before I finally figured out squat form. I had to constantly go back and watch video online, read books, evaluate myself in a mirror, etc. Totally worth it.

[theblackkeys]

[ QUOTE ]
theblackkeys,

Try to keep the knees in the same direction as the toes. I could see something like that causing a bit of ITB irritation.

FWIW it took me a good month of working out 2-3x a week before I finally figured out squat form. I had to constantly go back and watch video online, read books, evaluate myself in a mirror, etc. Totally worth it.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I've been at it for over a month 3 times a week. I think I just assumed I had it down. So much for that.

Anyways,
TOO MUCH INFORMATION: GROSS-I'm recovering from food poisoning, today was my first solid poo day [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img], so I decided to workout after missing two workouts. No energy at all today.

I did a few reps of bodyweight squats while admiring my tush in the mirror from the side. My butt goes under as usual. Then I tried to get into the full squat bottom position and stay there with my arms pushin my knees out. First few tries were a little stiff, but at some point I got down and only had a slight butt-come-under action. When it does that my back is straight. I then did a few reps of the bar, butt was coming under still.

So then I upped it to 95 to see if a little downforce would make me stretch more. I guess that worked a little, but not completely.

So I said eff it and tried front squats for the first time. I think that helped me get lower because my back was more upright. Could that be my problem with back squats? I don't ever feel like I can keep my back that upright doing a back squat, because I'll just fall over. Should I try box squats?

[theblackkeys]

[ QUOTE ]
if ur struggling with squats...try starting out with leg press as its easier to get in the right form needed.

Also being a soccer player you should be more flexible...I played up through the beginning of college and 6 years later I still have decent flexibility...if you dont then you need to start lookin to stretch more to improve your flexibility as taht will take pressure off ur legs

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't see why soccer should make me any more flexible than other athletes. I've always been a thick guy though, most soccer players are lanky.

[skunkworks]

theblackkeys,

There's a certain amount of forward lean that you have to have when getting deep down into a full squat to keep your balance, but it should be a slight, subtle change in the angle of your upper body. Just enough to make sure that you don't fall backward, but not so much that a majority of your weight is on the ball of your foot (should be mainly on your heels). You should look something like this:



His stance is fairly narrow here (Olympic style). I keep my feet a touch wider than that. Can you clarify what you mean when you say "butt-come-under" action?

Also, it sounds like you may need a little more flexibility in your hamstrings to get all the way down without throwing everything out of whack. That should come with time as you continue working on the squat.

[theblackkeys]

[ QUOTE ]
theblackkeys,

There's a certain amount of forward lean that you have to have when getting deep down into a full squat to keep your balance, but it should be a slight, subtle change in the angle of your upper body. Just enough to make sure that you don't fall backward, but not so much that a majority of your weight is on the ball of your foot (should be mainly on your heels). You should look something like this:



His stance is fairly narrow here (Olympic style). I keep my feet a touch wider than that. Can you clarify what you mean when you say "butt-come-under" action?

Also, it sounds like you may need a little more flexibility in your hamstrings to get all the way down without throwing everything out of whack. That should come with time as you continue working on the squat.

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My pelvis tilts, so that the top of the pelvis moves posteriorly, while the bottom moves anteriorly. It looks like my butt moves under my body more toward the front.

[theblackkeys]

I'm goin to stretch on my off days. Any suggestions besides static stretches?

[skunkworks]

In Starting Strength, there's a picture of a guy doing an interesting demonstration of knee position where basically he gets down into a deep squat position and puts his elbows on the inside of his knees while his hands are in a "prayer" type position. This forces the knees outward into the right tracking position and actually helped me with a bit of flexibility to get my knees pointed in the same direction as my toes when I'm deep in position.

Make sure that you're not trying to look up. Ideally your eyes should be focused on a point several feet in front of you. This will help with your balance so that you don't tuck your butt under your legs too much.

Squat poster from startingstrength.com

Picture #3 is the "prayer" position I'm talking about.

Picture #4 is a good example of making sure that the front of your knee doesn't creep too far out over your toes (a common way to hurt your knee, I know this personally).

Picture #6 is a great example of how you should be "sitting back" into your squat.

[theblackkeys]

when I try to get into that prayer position, I usually have to set up wider than I like. Is that how it felt for you?

[skunkworks]

I keep my heels shoulder width, with my toes just a little past that (since my feet are angled 30 degrees out). You should be able to get into that prayer squat position from there if not one or two inches wider, depending on whether you have freakishly long forearms.

You own a copy of Starting Strength, don't you? If I still could not get into good position like this, I might think about squatting to just below parallel for one or two workouts while maintaining good form, then trying to drop it down a bit lower each time after that until you feel good. How much are your squat work sets and what are your stats?