Squattin

[Birds]

As long as you have safety bars in place at the right height, you're not going to break your neck. The body tips over forward and you end up on your knees with the safety bars taking the load, before this happens.

If you feel like this, you need to tilt the head up higher, chest out further and shoulders back further.

[L33SH]

yeah I used to get that a bit until I started really using my rear end to power up, and stopped wearing heeled shoes

I wear powerlifting shoes, so maybe I need to focus on using my rear to power up as you say if I start squatting again.

[UNR33L]

I hate the sound of moving dem safety bars

[L33SH]

I hate the sound of moving dem safety bars

gotta twist them as you move them!

[UNR33L]

if they're in the wrong spot, I just dont go as heavy lol

I'm lazy though.

[TTT]

I wear powerlifting shoes, so maybe I need to focus on using my rear to power up as you say if I start squatting again.

If you are tipping forward when coming up, it means that your hip/rear is already rising faster than you can handle.

you either lack upper back strength or need to practice squatting more upright.

Front squats are good for this.

[L33SH]

If you are tipping forward when coming up, it means that your hip/rear is already rising faster than you can handle.

you either lack upper back strength or need to practice squatting more upright.

Front squats are good for this.

I tried to do front squats as I cant back squat due to my injury but I couldn't even front squat the bar. Can't seem to get any upper body strength going on.

[TTT]

Sorry I didn't know you had an injury.

Why couldn't you squat just the bar? too heavy or injury related? mobility?

[L33SH]

Sorry I didn't know you had an injury.

Why couldn't you squat just the bar? too heavy or injury related? mobility?

yeah too heavy, I just couldn't get the mechanics of balancing the bar in front of me.. yet I was back squatting 65kg

[TTT]

Try a broom stick to get the movement right.

How were you holding the bar?

Like this?

or like this?

Cross arm is a weaker position if you have a weak upper back.

[Mitcho_7]

You should easily be able to front squat the bar. Keep your head and elbows high.

Just try bw with a broomstick til you get comfortable doing it

Edit: TTT suggested broomstick as well, great minds think a like

Crossed arms sucks, I prefer the other way

Edited February 7, 2014 by Mitcho_7

[TTT]

I use hands under too (Clean grip) but I only really have 2 fingers under there (index finger and middle finger).

Easier on my elbows/forearms and allows me to get my elbows higher.

Just don't choke yourself out.

Edited February 7, 2014 by TTT

[L33SH]

Try a broom stick to get the movement right.

How were you holding the bar?

Like this?

or like this?

Cross arm is a weaker position if you have a weak upper back.

top pic

[TTT]

and what happens? tip forward? fall back? can't get depth?

Front squats generally require much more knees forward position when at the bottom.

[L33SH]

and what happens? tip forward? fall back? can't get depth?

Front squats generally require much more knees forward position when at the bottom.

Yeah tipping forward. Birds would be able to explain it better than me

[TTT]

I doubt the weight is too heavy being an empty bar.

I reckon you're probably "sitting back" like you would in a back squat.

This pic is exaggerated but you can see how far forward the knees are to keep the upper body upright.

[Birds]

Yeah tipping forward. Birds would be able to explain it better than me

Only seen you attempt it once and I forget where the point of failure was.

I'm not very good at front squats myself...arms don't quite have the flexibility for it yet.

[TTT]

If you want upper back strength, rack pulls (or deadlift from boxes where the barbell is above knee height to begin with) and farmers walks are great exercises.

[Mitcho_7]

I actually find front squat positioning/mechanics much easier to get good depth but obviously cant do as much weight.

Keeping your elbows high and head up are really the only cues I use. As soon as the elbows drop its about 20x harder I find

Edited February 7, 2014 by Mitcho_7

[NickR33]

my injury is between L5 and S1 so even though I wear a belt it, I can't get it low enough to support that area. It's right down at the top of my glutes.

what TTT said about falling forward is really good advice. It took me a long time to learn how to sit back into a squat and use my glutes instead of shifting my weight forward and using my quads.

I was a lot stronger squatting from my quads in the beginning. Any time I felt the weight get heavy I was shifting weight onto my toes. Wasn't helped by the oly shoes I was wearing. This was until I started having crippling knee pain. Its was so bad I was hobbling around and couldn't sit for long periods without them aching.

So I ditched the oly shoes and practiced sitting back, having the weight on my heels. I would actually lift my toes off the floor as I squatted to make sure I didn't come forward. Later I also switched to a low bar position which also helped and I do a lot of front squatting as assistance. Very difficult to not sit back when front squatting as TTT suggests.

This fixed my knee pain but makes it really hard to buy pants/shorts as my ass is heaps bigger! lol