Squat 325x5

[d0uevenlift]

I'm nearing the end of a draining volume block, and usually this is where my form would start to break down. And since we've got YouTube video embeds working (thanks, Manveer!), I figured this would be a good opportunity to see if it works.

[mgil]

Looks pretty good. Hands comfortable?

Have you considered finding a spot 4' in front of you and staring at it regardless of your back angle?

[Manveer]

Your form looked good when we lifted last week. These look good too. Only small thing is that you seem to "squish" at the bottom. I think your squat would be a little more efficient if you could stay tighter in the hole (heyoo).

[d0uevenlift]

Looks pretty good. Hands comfortable?

Have you considered finding a spot 4' in front of you and staring at it regardless of your back angle?

I stare about 6-8' out, but I still have this nasty habit of slight thoracic flexion and jerking my head up on the ascent. So, my head jerks up, but eyes stay down on the spot I stare at. It tends to happen with heavier weights.

Your form looked good when we lifted last week. These look good too. Only small thing is that you seem to "squish" at the bottom. I think your squat would be a little more efficient if you could stay tighter in the hole (heyoo).

Thanks dood. I feel it when that happens. I basically let the weights smash me down when I'm tired and then I rely on the stretch reflexing to get me going out of the hole, instead of muscular contraction actually doing it. I've gotta work on this.

[fishwife]

I stare about 6-8' out, but I still have this nasty habit of slight thoracic flexion and jerking my head up on the ascent. So, my head jerks up, but eyes stay down on the spot I stare at. It tends to happen with heavier weights.

They look pretty good, and you seem to know what your issues are.
It looks to me like the squishiness is a chain reaction from the thoracic relaxation. Whatever you need to do to keep your scapulas tight/elbows up and chest out, that's what you need to do.

[CoconutChris]

This all looks pretty good.

Only observation I see that hasn't been mentioned is horizontal bar displacement. Tell-tale signs here are that the weights spin backwards as you lock out the rep, and the bar returning to its initial position over your heels. Better thoracic control might help this horizontal displacement, in the sense that if you didn't have a tendency towards thoracic flexion, then this probably wouldn't occur. But I think the pliability of your soles has more to do with it. I'd be interested to see if this happened when you used Olympic lifting shoes too.

[d0uevenlift]

They look pretty good, and you seem to know what your issues are.
It looks to me like the squishiness is a chain reaction from the thoracic relaxation. Whatever you need to do to keep your scapulas tight/elbows up and chest out, that's what you need to do.

I definitely have to actively work on this. It's especially bad when the weight is light--my thoracic spine is even more relaxed. The weirdness and wobbliness of my thoracic spine has been a constant mess and was also pointed out to me by KOTJ in the past. It's amazing that I can't fix it right away, and frustrating.

This all looks pretty good.

Only observation I see that hasn't been mentioned is horizontal bar displacement. Tell-tale signs here are that the weights spin backwards as you lock out the rep, and the bar returning to its initial position over your heels. Better thoracic control might help this horizontal displacement, in the sense that if you didn't have a tendency towards thoracic flexion, then this probably wouldn't occur. But I think the pliability of your soles has more to do with it. I'd be interested to see if this happened when you used Olympic lifting shoes too.

Thanks, CC. I think that's the thing--when I start, the bar is over my heels, as I descend the bar gets more where it should be (over midfoot), then when I stand up again, it's back over my heels. I squatted in Romaleos for over a year and the problem was even worse because I was getting tipped forward so much that the bar would always drift over my toes, so when I lock out at the top the plates are spinning a hell of a lot more than they are now.

Here is a view from the week prior where I recorded a little higher to see where the bar was on my back and what it's doing (rolling up and down my back, most noticeably in reps 4 and 5), and I'm still struggling with that little dip I do with my head/chest to initiate the squat--a remnant of an SSC telling me in person "Lean over, lean over more!" when I first learned to squat. I'm told that narrowing my grip a little and chalking my back might help, but that seems like a band-aid fix to what seems to be my real problem--thoracic flexion as a result of relaxation.

[Murelli]

I'm told that narrowing my grip a little and chalking my back might help, but that seems like a band-aid fix to what seems to be my real problem--thoracic flexion as a result of relaxation.

Not really. Your grip width on the squat will limit how tight you can get your upper back, so narrowing it might solve the problem for good or transfer it to your elbows. Your grip width on that 9-9-2017 video seems wide, narrowing and getting those elbows a little more forward (glued to the side of your ribcage, as Baraki puts it) might help your problem.

I also had problems with squishiness on the hole. Grip width and pause squats really helped, along with the mental cue "Tight! Tight! Tight!" all the way through the rep.

[tdood]

Like other said, I immediately thought your upper back could be tighter and in better extension. You might want to try scooting your belt a tiny bit higher and bringing grip in a little. It's not a band aid, it might just be what you need to do. Overall the squats look really good, nothing that should prevent you from safely making progress.

[d0uevenlift]

Not really. Your grip width on the squat will limit how tight you can get your upper back, so narrowing it might solve the problem for good or transfer it to your elbows. Your grip width on that 9-9-2017 video seems wide, narrowing and getting those elbows a little more forward (glued to the side of your ribcage, as Baraki puts it) might help your problem.

I also had problems with squishiness on the hole. Grip width and pause squats really helped, along with the mental cue "Tight! Tight! Tight!" all the way through the rep.

Like other said, I immediately thought your upper back could be tighter and in better extension. You might want to try scooting your belt a tiny bit higher and bringing grip in a little. It's not a band aid, it might just be what you need to do. Overall the squats look really good, nothing that should prevent you from safely making progress.

I'm really glad I brought this up in this forum. Izzy was the one that told me to narrow my grip and chalk my back, and it turns out he was right. "Go as narrow as you can without causing shoulder pain," is roughly what he said.

This thoracic flexion/squishiness has been a problem for so long. At my last meet on my 3rd attempt squat, you could really see how awful it was--it's like I initiate the squat with my shoulders/thoracic spine first before anything else moves.

I'll be working on this really hard this week and post a follow-up video. Thanks, all. Greatly appreciate the feedback.

[d0uevenlift]

I tried really hard to keep my upper back tight today. I still have a little bit of that problem where I hunch over to initiate the squat, but I'm hoping it's less severe now. It's hard for me to look at this objectively, which sounds stupid, I know. You watch it, and it's there or not. But I keep watching and thinking, "Yeah, it's there. But is it bad? I'll watch it again, it's not that noticeable. Nope, wait, saw it again. It looks kinda bad."

The bar rolling down my back seems to be from a slight shrug I do at the bottom coming out of the hole. It shoves the bar up an inch or so when I'm on the way up, and when I lock out, the bar rolls/slides back down. I don't feel that when I squat, but it's definitely noticeable on video.

I included my top single and my second set of eight (at 285lbs, I mislabeled it at 280) from my training session today.

Here's to hoping my thoracic squishiness has shown some improvement:

[Manveer]

Try keeping your elbows down more so they're in line with your torso. Might help any bar movement.

Otherwise put some weight on the bar.

[Murelli]

What Manveer said - press the arms to the side of your ribcage. You'll feel the difference.

If you're shrugging is because you still have the ability to further tighten your upper back, so you can still tighten it more before taking the bar out of the rack. Have you narrowed your grip width? Because from looking at your hands I get the feeling that you can't narrow it further without getting wrist/elbow pain.

[d0uevenlift]

Otherwise put some weight on the bar.

Would you say that I need to put the right weight on the bar and lift it the right number of times?

What Manveer said - press the arms to the side of your ribcage. You'll feel the difference.

If you're shrugging is because you still have the ability to further tighten your upper back, so you can still tighten it more before taking the bar out of the rack. Have you narrowed your grip width? Because from looking at your hands I get the feeling that you can't narrow it further without getting wrist/elbow pain.

I'll give this elbow thing you guys are talking about a try. I can also narrow my grip even more when I don't have my wrist wraps on, but then my wrists hurt from overextension once the weight gets heavy enough. Shitty trade-off.