Squat Depth

[DPriest442]

Struggling to get just a bit deep. Think I might need to widen my stance

[Wilhelm]

That does look below parallel though.
Not like you're losing training effect by cutting ROM.

But i would agree, if you are doing meets, you want that clearly convincing depth, especially on your opener.
And depth can creep up on near max attempts.

Squat looks really good to my eyes, btw.
Knee angle looks pretty much fixed all the way through.
I end up needing to push mine out on the ascent.

[DPriest442]

That does look below parallel though.
Not like you're losing training effect by cutting ROM.

But i would agree, if you are doing meets, you want that clearly convincing depth, especially on your opener.
And depth can creep up on near max attempts.

Squat looks really good to my eyes, btw.
Knee angle looks pretty much fixed all the way through.
I end up needing to push mine out on the ascent.

That looks below parallel? I've always been crap at figuring at what exactly the top of my knee is and what the exact crease of my hip is

[mgil]

@DPriest442, I think this is at the bottom:



The last few inches of your squat are making things bunch up at the bottom. I think your stance might be too wide. Hard to say. I do think a few small tweaks get you solid depth.

[Wilhelm]

To my eye,"just."
But i wouldn't trust it to get all whites in a meet.
All reds a possibility.
It would likely look better in a singlet.

It is fine though if you're not competing.
I would not call it high for a gym lift.

Looked at the pic @mgil posted.
The crease of your hip is obscured.
I'm guessing it's below the black line your pants make.
"borderline" , not meet worthy, but not bad in a non meet context.


Made my best guess as to where your hip crease might be.
Probably the top one is closer than the other two, and maybe farther back.
Edit, that lower one is way off forward for sure lol
A well trained ref would be better at this.
But the guideline for lifters is to have "convincing depth."

[Wilhelm]

Ok, looking at the larger pic, it looks like possibly your knee is inside the toes.
Maybe, if it your knees were out more, you could drop your torso more between your thighs.

Watching it at speed, that was my first thought, just wanted to see you drop in more.

[DPriest442]

@DPriest442, I think this is at the bottom:



The last few inches of your squat are making things bunch up at the bottom. I think your stance might be too wide. Hard to say. I do think a few small tweaks get you solid depth.

Too wide? Funny; the when I showed my squat to others I was told I might need to move it out wider. It's currently a few inches outside of shoulders

[Wilhelm]

Ok, looking at the larger pic, it looks like possibly your knee is inside the toes.
Maybe, if it your knees were out more, you could drop your torso more between your thighs.

Watching it at speed, that was my first thought, just wanted to see you drop in more.

It's a fairly wide stance already.
As per my last post, check if your knees are tracking fully out over your toes.
feet may be wide, but knees narrower.
Harder to tell from the side, but i think it's a possibility.

Think of the two as a unit.
Knees out will have your femurs angled out more too, giving you more room to drop in.

It's also possible i'm full of shit, but that's what i think i'm seeeing.

[DPriest442]

It's a fairly wide stance already.
As per my last post, check if your knees are tracking fully out over your toes.
feet may be wide, but knees narrower.
Harder to tell from the side, but i think it's a possibility.

Squatting in my home and watching my legs, this is definitely happening. My feet are wider and more turned out than my knees.

[Wilhelm]

There you go.
Make some room and i bet you'll drop right in.

I mean, it looks like you have all the momentum going to do that, and it just stops.
Just keep tightly braced for that extra depth you may not be used to.

[DPriest442]

There you go.
Make some room and i bet you'll drop right in.

I mean, it looks like you have all the momentum going to do that, and it just stops.
Just keep tightly braced for that extra depth you may not be used to.

Not sure what you mean. "Make some room"?

[mgil]

When the feet are too turned out or the stance is too wide, then the knees will collapse inward a bit at the bottom making things bunch up.

[DPriest442]

When the feet are too turned out or the stance is too wide, then the knees will collapse inward a bit at the bottom making things bunch up.

So I should take a narrower stance with feet more forward?

[mgil]

When the feet are too turned out or the stance is too wide, then the knees will collapse inward a bit at the bottom making things bunch up.

So I should take a narrower stance with feet more forward?

It’s worth a shot. Segment lengths, joint formations, etc. make saying “do this and you’ll be fine” difficult. What I see in the video hints that your stance may be too wide, but you’ll have to experiment a bit and see.

[Wilhelm]

Not sure what you mean. "Make some room"?

Room for your torso to drop in between your thighs.

[Wilhelm]

We are not exactly the same, but here i have a narrower stance than you, toes are still pointed out, but not drastically, then my knees match my toe angle.
fwiw, this is what i mean by the torso dropping in between the legs.
I'm not trained in this, biomechanics, segment lengths etc... but my best guess is you wouldn't be precluded from doing basically this if you get your thighs out of the way

[mgil]

@DPriest442 it looks like @Wilhelm beat me to it. I did some light squats to illustrate the knees out and what I’d consider sufficient depth to convince most reasonable judges.

I’ve been box squatting mostly of late so these are a touch higher than normal for paused work. While the barbell is light here, it’s indicative of what my depth is until around the 90% and above range.

[DPriest442]

@Wilhelm
@mgil
This was my topset today; was supposed to be 142.5kg x 3 @ 7 but I think the new stance made things a bit harder

[Wilhelm]

Could be a little harder because you are getting a little more depth.
I can't figure out how to pause it w/o getting the big green arrow that blocks the view, but reps 2 and 3 look pretty clearly deep to me.

Rep two especially it looks like you are dropping in nicely.
I think a still would show a significant difference from the first vid.

Often when you change a stance, it will not feel as strong at first as what you are used to.

What did you change?
I'm assuming you got the knees out over the toes, right.
I really can't see much because i'm an idiot and can't figure out imugr video to get the view mgil isolated, or get rid of that blasted green circle on pause.

But i'm pretty confident that 2nd rep was nice and deep.

[DPriest442]

Could be a little harder because you are getting a little more depth.
I can't figure out how to pause it w/o getting the big green arrow that blocks the view, but reps 2 and 3 look pretty clearly deep to me.

Rep two especially it looks like you are dropping in nicely.
I think a still would show a significant difference from the first vid.

Often when you change a stance, it will not feel as strong at first as what you are used to.

What did you change?
I'm assuming you got the knees out over the toes, right.
I really can't see much because i'm an idiot and can't figure out imugr video to get the view mgil isolated, or get rid of that blasted green circle on pause.

But i'm pretty confident that 2nd rep was nice and deep.

I wasn't really paying too much attention to my knees. I think they wore more over my toes, but the main change I made was bringing my stance narrower and turning my feet slightly more forward