Back Squats

[Rick Barker]

Greg-

I have a lot of trouble staying upright during squatting of any kind. I'm posting links to several back squat sets at increasing weights. I'm curious if at any point my form breaks down enough that the movement loses its utility. Basically, if I were squatting in your gym, would any of these sets cause you to say, "That's too much, back off and do it right." This is, of course, assuming that ANY of the sets are correct. If they aren't, please tell me that as well. Sorry for so many sets. I've altered the links so that the videos will play right from the beginning of the set, and I hope it doesn't take too much time to watch. I never know where to draw the line between "This is a good hard heavy set" and "It's just too much weight." Thanks in advance.

45x3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWeIi...=youtu.be&t=31

135x3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv3Hv...=youtu.be&t=29

185x3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLNA0...=youtu.be&t=30

225x3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYS-z...=youtu.be&t=36

245x3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryz3i...=youtu.be&t=47

[Greg Everett]

I only watched the 45 and 245 videos. I wouldn't worry much if you were training in my gym. I would only say the following -

1. On the warmup w 45, you're actually trying to sit too directly straight down with the hips initially. Your movement down w the 245 is more natural and that's what you should try to emulate on your warmups.

2. When you stand on the heavier weights, work on not pushing the knees back so far - this will be unavoidable to an extent as it gets heavy, but that push back will force the trunk to lean over for balance. It's pretty minor in our case and really only even stands out in the last rep of that set. Basically work on extending the knees and hips together rather than leading w one or the other.

Overall, though, this is a good job and I definitely wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

[Rick Barker]

Thanks a lot. It's nice to get the eyes of an experienced coach.

Rick