Incredibly Weak Squat

ive always been horrible at squats despite the fact that i have been squatting ever since i started training and doing it 3x a week since around november. My bench has been higher than my squat until only a month or two ago.
 
I don't have any recent videos with heavy weights to see if my form changes when its hard or something but i do have a video of an old warmup set to critique and i can try to get a new one asap.
 

heh youtube is taking longer to process than i would of thought; heres the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpxKmD-Wjk

but i dont know what its doing atm

bump plz it appears to work

Form looks good.  I like doing it the starting strength way where you look down and drive the bar with your hips though.  The only way to get stronger at squatting is just keep adding weight on there, and pushing it.  It's not an easy lift, but it's a damn good one!

"True genius, in many fields of human endeavor, is often revealed in elegant simplicity."

- A smart man

Journal: http://www.wannabebigforums.com/showthread.php?t=117358

You have good form but I second what Bri said.

yea actually i normally do look down i don't know why i didn't there. I've been squatting properly for quite some time now (2+ years) and i suck. The most ive ever done is 275 for one rep with that form there.
 
Also is how low im going considered ATG or parallel?

That's pretty much as ATG as ATG gets unless you are more flexible and can go down farther, but that looks like a good range for you.

any other opinions out there?

yea thats an old warmup ill try to get a new video with heavier weight soon although i think its still going to be light as all 3 of my lifts have dropped about 30 pounds apiece since about a month and a half ago and its very disheartening as ive had to restart from scratch doing madcow 5x5 two times in a row now b/c my lifts dropped below my prior four week maxes. I think getting really sick for a week and then cutting weight afterwards to blame.

I know i was told before to follow a strength based routine but thus far i have been getting linear degression as opposed to progression. Perhaps a different strength routine or something else entirely would help so basically any advice on what type of workout to do while on a low carb diet would be greatly appreciated.  

Hold on, how much do you weigh and what amounts are you squatting? Need some details before you beat yourself up to much.   Guys always get caught up on weights vs the feel/pump, from your avatar photo you quads appear decent.  One thing I would recommend is get a good spotter and throw on the weight, just make sure your spotter knows how to spot when squatting....under the armpits and around the lower chest.   I'm gone for a few days so it may take me a few days to respond but squatting heavy is a ton of mental.   Keep pushing.

Height 5' 8" Weight  200 lbs Body Fat 16%
Bench 315-Squat 365-Dead 405
Chest-46"/Bicep-16.5"/Waist-37"...UGGH
Thigh-24.5"/Calves 16"

    

hey if your weak at em you could do leg presses to help with quads

219 weight trying to lower 217 now. 2 months later. lol.
250 bench
305 squat
345 deadlift

Some of the most successful squatters in the world look forward / up.

I don't agree personally with the whole "look down" while learning to utilize hip drive, it can easily result in excessive leaning, if the core / torso cannot withstand the stability of balancing the body's external load placed over the centre of gravity, it can easily lead to falling face forward. I've talked to other successful powerlifters and strength coaches who have the same opinion.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

Im good at leg presses in comparison to squats (i can legpress more than alot of my friends who squat more) but no its not like i dont squat heavy as a matter of fact ive failed my past couple of workouts on them and probably look like a noob dropping the weight off my back. Also ive gotten a lot of feedback that leg presses dont really matter much so i tend to lay off them.

As far as squat goes the best ive ever gotten is 240x5 and put up 275 once when my friends and i decided to do a mock powerlifting comp by doing the big 3 (3 attempts on each). Also i tell my friends to spot how told above just that was a warmup there so they werent really paying attention and some of them dont always listen to it anyway. I actually get into constant arguments with the tall one about spotting b/c he always wants to spot by grabbing the bar and as me and him both have seen that his method doesnt help in any way at all unless he can high pull 200+ pounds.

So yea personal best = 275 at 185 when i crazy bulked and ate WHATEVER i wanted; strength went up big time but so did fat. Right now im in the high 160s and i just barely got 210x5 monday.

Also when i do heavy weight my legs feel like they want to go inwards and i think this might be my problem with abductors although a couple weeks ago i tried doing some abductor machine and was able to max it out for pretty much however many reps i want; maybe it was geared down for older women who know nothing about lifting idk. Anyhow should i start incorporating abductor work?

bump on the last questions

Thanks!

It's weak adductors, not the abductors. Just concentrate on "shoving" out the knees for the time being, until they get stronger.

can someone else please confirm this as ive read conflicting views of this online and dont know which is true.

You can just lighten up the weight and focus on the form, once you get your form working right try moving up faster while keeping your legs in proper position.  Keep in mind you need to get good depth to properly utilize your posterior chain and involve the hamstrings.  Focus on the weight on your heels and soon enough you should bring that squat up to where it needs to be.

http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/Seos-Log-2008-m442008.aspx

vdk_au


It's weak adductors, not the abductors. Just concentrate on "shoving" out the knees for the time being, until they get stronger.

^ This.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

thank you

from my video, am i using a low bar or high bar squat position?

It's hard to see properly so I can't say.