Squat Check on my GF

[Raleighwood]

Here is a video of my girlfriend going for a 6RM at 120lbs.

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She get's great depth, but it's painfully obvious that her knees are shooting forward at the bottom. This happens at lighter weights too.

I am having a tough time queuing and explaining to her that she needs to sit the hips back, while leaning forward to keep the weight over mid-foot. But, nonetheless, she keeps allowing her knees to shoot forward in the hole.

Do you have any queuing tips or drills to keep her shins vertical? Perhaps, deloading a bit and building strength on a paused box squat?

Also, her back is late to extend, making the last part of the rep a GM. This is mainly due to this heavy attempt, but it does pop up sometimes with lighter sets. Would you recommend any accessory work to strengthen that part movement, or just more squatting at a lighter weight?

Thank you.

[Cards]

lower back and core work may help with the GMing out of the hole. Make sure she's keeping a very tight upper back .

[brihead301]

Usually the "knees out" cue helps eliminate forward knee movement for me. I'm no squat expert, but I know what works for me. Possibly have her try that.

[Dan Fanelli]

Have her slow things down and go with a box squat... See if that helps.

[AdamBAG]

Don't squat in running shoes. Have her take the shoes off and either squat in a flat shoe (like a chuck taylor, skate shoe etc.) or a shoe made for weightlifting that has a wood/solid heal. Hell, assuming the floor isn't slick socks only would be better than running shoes. Don't change anything else until you do this. Running shoes are designed to roll forward. You don't want that when squatting.

[SDS]

I point my toes up....kinda smash them up into my shoes. I think this helps me stay flat on my heels. I think she needs to slow down a tad too cause it kinda looks like she's just dropping down uncontrolled.

[nickp8]

You can have her squat with a broom stick facing a wall (Toes right at the wall). Dave Tate has recommended this for sitting back because if your knees shoot forward they hit the wall, if you try and GM it your face hits the wall. It works really well. Then to teach sitting back with weight use a box.

[kmagnuss]

Great tip right there!


You can have her squat with a broom stick facing a wall (Toes right at the wall). Dave Tate has recommended this for sitting back because if your knees shoot forward they hit the wall, if you try and GM it your face hits the wall. It works really well. Then to teach sitting back with weight use a box.

[Sean S]

Her initial descent looks good. If you freeze it when she is ~halfway down things look OK. If she basically dropped straight down from this point she would be good. The problems is that she collapses forward from this point on. It even looks like her weight shifts to her toes in the hole. Here are the two adjustments I would make.
1) Point the toes out slightly more and push the knees out hard the entire time. From that halfway point down if she simply pushed her knees out and sat down between her legs much of that forward shift would be corrected.
2) Tell her to focus on keeping her weight centered on her feet (not excessively on the toes or on the heels), especially in the hole.
Have her work on these cues with an empty bar with a pause in the hole so she can feel and you can see how things look. Tweak things until her weight is balanced and she is in a better position and then slowly add weight (likely over a series of workouts). A little forward knee travel can be OK, but her's is excessive in the hole.

[joey54]

A lot could also be fixed by her getting tighter and keeping her chest high. The unrack is attrocious. Watch her back angle just on that.

[Sensei]

Yes, her knees are shooting forward and she's coming up on her toes.

Cueing chest out, head back, knees out, weight on heels, etc. should improve it, as would changing footwear, but, and I hope everyone understands this, there's only so low you can go before the hips MUST begin shifting forward.

A low-bar position necessitates more forward body lean and anything much below parallel necessitates an upright high-bar position to keep the center of gravity over the foot.

Geez, so what am I getting at? What's the point? First of all, I think her squat is probably fine, but if she's going to be a powerlifter or continue to add weight, then she needs to correct it. Assuming you're going to stick w. a low bar squat, a low box squat would probably be the easiest training tool to implement - start light (bar or bdwt), sit to the box and work out the position in the hole, still sitting back, weight centered.

[ThomasG]

put her against a wall onto a box

[Raleighwood]

Thanks for the guidance guys!

I think working on her core and back tightness will do a lot of good. She has slight scoliosis so back stability/tightness has been an issue from the beginning.
I think working the box squat will go a long way in teaching her how to sit back and stay tight. I think the wall + box squat may be a good solution. Concerning the atrocious unrack... I've noticed that too and have tried queing her not to, but it keeps popping back up. I'll yell at her some more about it, lol.

Not sure if you guys have ever tried coaching a sibling or significant other, but it is MUCH harder, at least for me. Authority and civility norms/boundaries are much different. It's tough because as I critique her, she takes it personally and gets defensive sometimes. Thankfully it's teaching me how to be a better trainer and coach.

[Daniel Roberts]

Following on from what the others have offered I think the greatest improvement might (can't see what her posture is normally) come from simply standing up straight.

Not once with the bar on her back does she get the weight over her mid-foot/heels.
Leaning forward as she does, the bar is 3-4 inches further forward from start to finish than it needs to be- it's always a losing proposition trying to keep the weight back when off balance.
She initiates the movement from the hips correctly but that initial movement comes from an already flexed hip position- so come the bottom of the lift she's run out of hip and all that's left is knee/ankle articulation.

My 2cents, always fix the start if it's faulty before tweaking anything else. Get the order right.

And when it comes to girlfriends, the diplomacy and patience you'll have to learn will stand you in good stead. Or you'll lose your head and she'll only be too happy to remind you of the time you tried to coach her and failed because of your temper- usually in front of her family and friends!

[AdamBAG]

I know I said it earlier, but see how she squats when she isn't wearing running shoes. Some of these issues may correct themselves.