I can't seem to keep the bar centered over the middle of my foot. I feel like I'm staying as upright as possible but the bar comes down forward of where I understand it's supposed to be. I've seen videos where they impose a straight line, perpendicular to middle of a the lifter's foot. I don't feel off balance, but I do see that I have more of a lean, possibly leftover from doing Zerchers for many years. I thought focusing on using my glutes would help, but I'm either still not doing it right or it's not helping. Any ideas?
@chisel I think I also see the bar path tracking forward - maybe try to have a more neutral neck (look at the ground about 6 feet away, instead of eyes up/straight ahead). If you’re doing a low bar squat, make sure that the bar position is correct on your back - Alan Thrall/Mark Rippetoe go into some detail on bar position - their videos are helpful.
@lovejoypeaceetc If this is a genuine question she is squatting to about parallel. I wouldn’t call it depth but her questions wasn’t really about depth and more about shifting forward.
If you are looking to compete or post heavy squats on Instagram this is not acceptable depth. If you are looking to run a higher rep program, etc I’d call it around parallel if not slightly higher.
@lovejoypeaceetc The definitive answer should be when the crease of your hip is below your knee. As you can see with this squat her hip crease is right around even with/about an inch above her knee. She would get 3 red lights in a powerlifting competition but it is not terrible depth for 5x5 sets if powerlifting or repping 1 max is not her goal.
@chisel It looks to me like you are moving into the balls of your feet. It’s hard to see where your knees are tracking exactly. Think about trying to spread the floor between your feet. Think of having a towel underneath your feet and pushing it outward so it’s totally flat and not bunched. Hard to explain in text but hopefully that makes a little sense.
@chisel You also might benefit from either a) ditching shoes entirely, or b) squatting with either squat shoes or a small plate under your heels. It might sound counterintuitive but my squat form (I also shifted forward a bit) improved significantly when I wore an actual pair of squat shoes with the heel elevated.
@genxgen229 I'm still hesitant to squat shoeless. I feel like I'm going to slip in socks. But it's something I can try before buying squat shoes. The plate under the foot is something else I can try before new shoes.
Looks like heels rising can be due to calf tightness, so I'm also going to be better at stretching them in case that's the culprit.
