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Advice on Squats

Roger thanks fellas, it's only at my limit do I notice them caving in a touch. I have double checked that my knees are going over my toes.
 
Might I suggest you purchase the book 'starting strength'. It's $10 from amazon for the electronic version. Im nearly finished reading the squats section and I could pick a heap of things you could change according to the book.
 
Silverback said:
Knees "caving in" is a good sign that you adductors cannot cope with load load you are applying to you thigh and hip.
Click to expand...

I think more often than not it's a result of weak external hip rotators: glutes, and in particular, glute medius. If anything it's adductor dominance, not weakness, that contributes to the problem.

If your knees come in, your adductors are actually shortening, meaning they are contracting and contributing to the lifting the bar. If your glutes are functioning well, they will externally rotate the hips and push the knees out in the process. The adductors will actually be longer in this position, ie they are doing less work.

Another thing that can help is putting a microband around your thighs, just above the knee, while squatting. It will help cue the knees out and get the external rotators firing properly during the squat.
 

Good thoughts strong.

Let me put it this way;
We know that the adductors adduct the knee, the strongest point of a muscle is full contraction, my thoughts are that if a muscles is weak, the automatic response is to limit the ROM.

If the thighs are abducting, it's stretching the adductors, the more stretching the more weaker the muscle becomes, especially if that muscle is seldom placed in the stretched position, that's the value of the negative portion of an exercise.

The gluteal muscles are the biggest and strongest muscles group in the body.

Get on a adductor machine and you will quickly notice how weak these muscles become if not work thoughraly through full ROM.

Just my thoughts.
And as usual I'm writing this on the hop, so it might not seem too clear.
 
Quick question from a newbie guys.

I've started in the gym a few months ago. I decided to get a PT to help point me in the right direction rather than pretending I knew proper form etc. and end up hurting myself in the long run. The personnel trainer is a pretty good guy, he's been in the industry a long time, knows alot of the science, well built, etc.

However when he has me doing squats (in a smith machine - no squat rack as it's Jetts) he always has my toes about 6 inches in front of a vertical line dropped down from my knees. He says this is to keep the pressure off the knees /safer but I'm of the impression that the hammies aren't engaging as I'm probably not even going more that 90 degrees even when deep squatting due to my legs being too far forward. Is there any harm in having the toes forward by about 6 inches from the knee?

Cheers
 
Stopped reading at Smith machine. It's not a squat then.

Go to a proper gym or buy a rack.
PT = Fail. $$$ lost.
 

Run, run for your life.

And get the fuck out of jetts.
 
This sounds almost as bad as when I tried doing "squats" in a smith machine when I was with Snap Fitness, and promptly injured my back.
 
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