How concerned should I be RE: depth?

[DannyP]

So I've been doing/loving @Hanley 's Montana Method, though some of my heaviest squats on the middle day seem a tad shallow. What I can't tell is:

1. Is it just an issue of camera angle, and depth is actually below parallel?
2. Are these at/just above parallel, but since I'm not competing I shouldn't give a shit?
3. Do I have a problem that I need to pay serious attention to?

The two clips here are from this morning, for comparison's sake. One is my "82%" squat at 335, and I'm very happy with this. The second is my "92-3%" squat at 365 (back to 2x BW, yippee!!). Form, particularly on the 365, is a putrid pile of poodle poop, but it's only 5lb off of my all time PR from last summer, so yea...

335:

365:

[Wilhelm]

Those aren't bad depth wise if you aren't competing.
I'd say not below parallel though, if i had to make a call.

Beltless 365 is nice even if it's not all the way deep.
Nice work.

I wouldn't worry greatly if you're not competing.
You may want to take relative depth into account as to if you are getting stronger or not.
If you get 375, but it's even higher, then is it really better than that 365?

365 is high forcompetition for sure.

You may want to try a dead side on camera angle, with camera at between hip and knee height.
For judging depth, that's best imo.
It misses other aspects of the lift, like what are the knees doing (in and out), but if you are concerned to be below parallel, i'd go with that angle until you know what it feels like for you to hit depth.

Then you could take a lighter single weight that you are 100% about depth on, and do it with a different camera placement and compare.
If there is a different look, but you know you are hitting depth, you can calibrate your eye for that different camera angle.

Man, you have the long femurs, right?

You have a good walkout, but you stand there forever.
I'm not saying it's wrong, but i feel like a lot of energy is being used just standing there.

[DannyP]

Thanks, @Wilhelm. I used to film directly from the side, then they changed the layout of the powerlifting room (racks now side by side, not one on each end) and that became too hard. Get what you're saying about relative depth, too (I've looked at enough of my lifts from that angle to know that 335, for example, hit depth since my knees are angled out further than they appear). Long femurs for sure. That dumbass seam going down the side of my pants, that angles upwards, also creates an illusion of shallowness regardless of actual depth.

Further, I agree with you 100% about making sure that they don't creep up gradually. What I've found is that the top one or two singles on that middle day are questionable, and equally so relative to both the rest of my lifts that day/week and from week to week. The rest of the week's lifts are fine. I think a lot of it is psychological; worries over stalling at the bottom cause me to rush the ascent.

Interesting observation about my setup. My walkout isn't always so smooth, so once I finally set my feet it takes me a second to feel entirely stable (tall, thin, exceptionally high center of gravity with that amount of weight on bar). If I start the descent before that, I fear my weight shifting too far forward too quickly. Hadn't really considered that it was costing me energy like that, so will have to try and speed that up.

[Wilhelm]

Maybe it will speed up naturally.
Don't rush things just because i chimed in.

I know my descent happens sooner now, and i just kind of noticed it since i started lifting again.

Ask me again when i'm up to prior weights.

[DannyP]

I'm not going to worry about it too much. The other thing I forgot to say, more to your point about keeping depth from creeping higher: During any "Week 2" middle session, the final two reps will likely be terrible (90% in anticipation of 92-3%; 92-3% because it's close to the limit) but the better gains test will come three weeks later. That's when that same weight will come around again as the 90% weight during a "Week 1" session. If it's equally high, maybe I have an issue, but if I've started hitting depth, then things are working.