This is how you do a correct squat.

[timosyy]

http://www.goldsgym.com/health...-squat-simplified.html

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Sigh... Think we could get them to take it down if we posted that at all the legitimate fitness websites and had everybody send Gold's an email? Christ, that is a terrible video.

 

[KingGheedora]

I'm guessing that's incorrect because he's not going down far enough, and he's looking up instead of forward? I'm a squat n00b.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
I'm guessing that's incorrect because he's not going down far enough, and he's looking up instead of forward? I'm a squat n00b.

also, not enough info

 

[SpottedCow]

Well he played football he must be qualified.....

 

[EvilYoda]

I like that the series is called "Strong Start"...sound like "Starting Strength" to anyone?

 

[Eric62]

Were I come from that's called a pussy squat. No joke!
But yes, most football players squat that way...

 

[RESmonkey]

well, maybe u dont need full RM for football. i know u need it for oly lifting.

 

[StageLeft]

I think people need to be careful with going below 90 degrees on squats, it certainly starts putting a great deal of pressure on various parts of the knee as one goes lower, but of course this has been debated for decades.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I think people need to be careful with going below 90 degrees on squats, it certainly starts putting a great deal of pressure on various parts of the knee as one goes lower, but of course this has been debated for decades.

Proper squat form doesn't involve dropping your ass to the floor, you simply need to get the crease of your hips below your knees. There is zero evidence that squatting below 90 degrees is dangerous or bad or anything.

As for the video, I guess it's an okay high-bar quarter squat.

 

[matas]

Your thighs have to be be parallel to the floor when you go down I think. But there are things like half squat and quarter squat..

 

[MotF Bane]

Hm, I've seen a lot of people at the school gym who would agree with that lunacy.

 

[brikis98]

I don't know what's more disturbing - how completely wrong that squat was, or the fact that a bunch of people that replied to this thread don't know why it's wrong. Let's review folks:

1. It's not a squat if you do not go to at least parallel. That is, the crease of your hip must end up below your knee joint. Not only is this not dangerous, but squatting to proper depth actually engages your glutes, hamstrings, etc and keeps your knees safer then partial squats (read more here and here). The guy in the video is, at best, doing a quarter squat.
2. Squatting does not consist of just folding your body in half around the waist. You squat between your legs. To do that, you have to push your knees out. Dan John does a great job of explaining this (video is crappy quality, sorry).
3. The guy's heels come off the ground. This is another huge no-no that leads to knee injuries. Your feet must stay completely flat on the ground, with your weight evenly distributed through out the foot. If anything, there should be a slight bias to put more weight on the heel and you should never come up on your toes.
4. The guy is looking up as he squats. This often puts the neck in an unnatural position and can lead to injuries. As with just about all exercises, you should maintain a neutral head and neck position, looking roughly straight forward.

Those of you who ever intend to squat, do yourselves a favor and pick up a copy of Starting Strength. Or, at the least, check out some good squat tutorials, such as the one on Stronglifts or the vides on the Crossfit Exercises page.

 

[HN]

Originally posted by: brikis98
3. The guy's heels come off the ground. This is another huge no-no that leads to knee injuries. Your feet must stay completely flat on the ground, with your weight evenly distributed through out the foot. If anything, there should be a slight bias to put more weight on the heel and you should never come up on your toes.

i'd say he got that part right, about leaving heels on the ground. the part in the video where he does come off his heels is when he was demonstrating how it was bad to let the knees go forward.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Brikis, you forgot that his grip is unforgivably wide and the bar is on his neck, not traps.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: brikis98
3. The guy's heels come off the ground. This is another huge no-no that leads to knee injuries. Your feet must stay completely flat on the ground, with your weight evenly distributed through out the foot. If anything, there should be a slight bias to put more weight on the heel and you should never come up on your toes.

i'd say he got that part right, about leaving heels on the ground. the part in the video where he does come off his heels is when he was demonstrating how it was bad to let the knees go forward.

Ah, my bad, I'm at work, so I didn't have the sound on.

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
Brikis, you forgot that his grip is unforgivably wide and the bar is on his neck, not traps.

Indeed.

 

[Deeko]

For those saying maybe its ok for a football squat - even if half squats were ok for football training (which they very well may be, I don't know) - he A) isn't doing a proper half squat either and B) he isn't training NFL players, he's teaching people in a nationwide gym how to do a "correct squat". So it is wrong on several levels.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

what would rippetoe do??? hah if anything, i would say at least his back is straight and it looks like he's going through his heels. but this is definitely not a correct squat. pretty funny though.

 

[timosyy]

Better squat form advice I overheard once at the gym: "Bar across the traps, go down like you're taking a shit (forces you back on your heels and your knees out), come up with your butt (engages hip drive)." I looked over and the guy he was instructing was going below parallel so it actually looked really good.

Edit: I totally should have made the thread subtitle "Ever wonder how football players squat 600lb?"

 

[Deeko]

Larry Allen reportedly squats over 900. I wonder what his squat looks like.

 

[enwar3]

Originally posted by: brikis98

3. The guy's heels come off the ground. This is another huge no-no that leads to knee injuries. Your feet must stay completely flat on the ground, with your weight evenly distributed through out the foot. If anything, there should be a slight bias to put more weight on the heel and you should never come up on your toes.

I was under the impression almost all your weight should be on your heels.. as in you should be able to curl your toes upwards and still do a correct squat.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: enwar3

Originally posted by: brikis98

3. The guy's heels come off the ground. This is another huge no-no that leads to knee injuries. Your feet must stay completely flat on the ground, with your weight evenly distributed through out the foot. If anything, there should be a slight bias to put more weight on the heel and you should never come up on your toes.

I was under the impression almost all your weight should be on your heels.. as in you should be able to curl your toes upwards and still do a correct squat.

That's what he said. He said you should never come up ON your toes, meaning that you shouldn't shift weight onto the front of your foot at any point in time. I think you misunderstood this as "your toes shouldn't come up."

 

[MotF Bane]

Just watched some 170 lb kid at the gym "squatting" 410 lbs. Quarter-squats at best. He and his buddy spot each other, hands on the body, not on the bar. That seems to be the general rule for this gym, nobody goes deep, spotters never spot the bar, et cetera.

 

[timosyy]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
Just watched some 170 lb kid at the gym "squatting" 410 lbs. Quarter-squats at best. He and his buddy spot each other, hands on the body, not on the bar. That seems to be the general rule for this gym, nobody goes deep, spotters never spot the bar, et cetera.

Correct single-person squat spotting = pretty much hugging the guy from behind and pulling him up iirc. I don't know what you mean by "spot the bar"? The hands would be on the body from what I have in mind.

Tbh the squatter could just rest the bar on the pins as well.

 

[MotF Bane]

Originally posted by: timosyy

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
Just watched some 170 lb kid at the gym "squatting" 410 lbs. Quarter-squats at best. He and his buddy spot each other, hands on the body, not on the bar. That seems to be the general rule for this gym, nobody goes deep, spotters never spot the bar, et cetera.

Correct single-person squat spotting = pretty much hugging the guy from behind and pulling him up iirc. I don't know what you mean by "spot the bar"?

Do you own a copy of Starting Strength? Page 56 of Second Edition. I'll paraphrase - hugging the lifter applies forces onto his body, which changes how he is trying to lift. You haven't taken any of the weight off of him. The idea of spotting is to reduce the effective weight of the bar, so you put your hands palm-up under the bar, so you can lift upwards on the bar. That is spotting the bar.

Edit: The pins at the bottom you mean? That would mean the rep is lost completely. Spotting would be if you have 90% of what it takes to finish that rep, but you need the last 10% of force to finish it. The spotter provides that last 10% so it can be finished.