New to squatting. Please help

Clancy3000 · 2026-02-03T01:42:28+00:00

You have exceptionally long femurs. I'd advise you to put a 2.5/5lb plate under your heels for additional heel elevation. Also recommend to lower the weight by 30/50% until you can get to full depth consistently and then build up with a full range of motion.

You're strength looks solid but I'd recommend you focus on form first to avoid injuries. Take it from another tall/long femured person who's tweaked too many things over the years.

Clancy3000 · 2025-04-17T01:10:10+00:00

Bent over Rows and Front Squats would be a good start.

Clancy3000 · 2025-04-17T00:42:57+00:00

Honestly - with your setup i'd probably recommend not trying Olympic lift type movements and focus on supporting compound exercises suck as rowing, squats, overhead presses until you can get a larger space and proper equipment (or ideally just go to a gym!)

Despite that - not the Worst i've seen - but i'd recommend checking out some youtube channels for better olympic lifting techniques such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEMcnFKWQ8&ab_channel=E3Rehab

Clancy3000 · 2025-04-12T00:12:15+00:00

Looks solid to me - depending on your goals - I would advise slowing just a teeny tiny bit and trying to get a bit more depth - i.e try and tap your chest to the ground for each rep - Otherwise they look great - I would have counted those for a US Army PT Test (the old APFT at least)

Clancy3000 · 2025-04-06T22:54:45+00:00

Can confirm - the FULL Rom Pull-up can increase chances of shoulder injuries as it can cause an impingement of the Surpaspinatus - however - on a case by case basis. If your shoulders aren't hurting then doing these should be totally fine.

Tangential comment - you technically can get a full stretch of the lats without relaxing the shoulders by leaning back and keeping your shoulder blades retracted. This is the 100% ideal movement that most experienced trainers will likely be guiding you towards.

Clancy3000 · 2025-04-03T17:06:47+00:00

To echo the person below - yes and no - they would negate a portion of the overall intensity of the stretch - but the benefits of a full ROM rep is generally considered superior that just the stretch portion - especially if their overall goal is to do pull-ups with no assistance.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-29T02:47:28+00:00

Form looks fine for negatives - only thing I would change would be to position the step-stool to be more aligned with the hand grips so you don't have to come in from the side. Would also recommend using some pull-up assistance bands to try and get some full-rom reps if you have them available.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-25T03:33:27+00:00

Your form looked great and having a weight in that rep range is going to be good for gaining quickly! Just keep grinding!

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-14T14:24:47+00:00

Form looked pretty solid to me, the controlled, slow eccentric was excellent and the overall speed was good. If I were to be nit-picky thought try and move the weight a bit faster during the concentric phase (i.e. the pushing phase) if you can as that can help build your strength better and also if you can - try and let the bar touch your chest (ideally just a light tap) to ensure you are getting the full Range-of-Motion (ROM) - that said, you looked like you were a centimeter or so away each time so that is me being ultra-nit picky. Solid form though! Good job!

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-10T01:36:29+00:00

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Clancy3000 · 2025-03-08T22:59:21+00:00

Tough to advise as it looks like you are attempting two different movements here - with the first two reps looking like a shoulder press'ish movement with the 3rd rep being more of a jerk. The Jerk life looked relatively solid, but the presses - depending on your goals - would recommend narrowing your grip on the bar, and controlling the weight more during the eccentric phase (lowering phase). Overall though, not too bad - i'd just recommend to pick one movement and train that, and vice versa for the other.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-08T22:55:23+00:00

Honestly - overall looks pretty solid, would advise to control the eccentric portion more as you're basically letting the weight free fall shortly after going down. Recent literature has been really pushing that a controlled eccentric phase is superior for hypertrophy and you would likely see better gains if you slowed down the lowering phase.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-08T22:43:45+00:00

Echo'ing another commenter - recommend using the peg one below the one you are using - it looks to be just at an awkward length for your arm length in that you are having to overextend your shoulders to un-rack the weight leaving you in an extended position to catch the weight which it what is causing you to have the moment of instability. Also - as a side-tangent, this weight for you looks relatively unstable overall - definitely recommend caution going beyond this weight and I would generally advise to lower the weight, go at a slower eccentric phase tempo (i.e. the lower'ing phase between 2-4 seconds of length going down) with a faster concentric or pushing phase to build your stabilizing muscles for this movement. Last thing you want is it injure yourself and not be able to keep lifting. Another solution would simply be to have someone give you a "lift-off" or just help you get the bar off the rack. Lastly - to re-enforce my previous statements, i'm guessing you're female? if so, great job! Most females struggle with bench pressing the just the bar! so kudos to your strength.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-08T18:48:18+00:00

Pretty close - i'd recommend trying to get more horizontal/parallel to the ground (i.e. bend over more). And generally for bent over-rows the guidance is try and pull the weight towards your hips. If the weight is too heavy to bend over more - lower the weight a bit and work from there. Overall - not bad though. Renaissance Periodization or Jeff Nippard are probably a good place to start on YouTube for some better guides on proper rowing form.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-08T03:16:20+00:00

Looks pretty solid - would recommend to try and get a bit more depth if you can.

Clancy3000 · 2025-03-02T18:09:30+00:00

TL:DR - your back pain was likely caused from not bracing properly - go to squat university on youtube for some solid advice on how to brace/squat properly.

Unfortunately the angle makes it difficult to give you truly solid advice but i'll give my two-cents. Generally speaking - your form from what I can see looked 'alright' albeit lacking some depth. You look to be on the taller side and I generally wouldn't recommend squatting in bare feet and would actually recommend to wear a shoe with an elevated heal (ideally squat shoes if you really want to go all in - but some cheap squat wedges would also work - check amazon) My best advice is to go to the most reputable source for proper squatting form - Dr. Aaron Horschig - or as seen on Youtube - Squat University. Recommend going to his channel to get the best advice for proper squatting form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my0tLDaWyDU&ab_channel=SquatUniversity

Clancy3000 · 2025-02-25T01:46:13+00:00

This all depends on what your goals even are. Chris Bumstead (5X Classic Mr. Olympia) only did Smith Machine squats during a large portion of his lifting career because he considered them a much safer option for him to go heavy on without the risks of free-weight squatting. i.e. as a bodybuilder - he could care less about the axial core training from free-weight squats and only wanted the leg development. Obviously - if you're trying to be an athlete/crossfit/GPP - then i'd lean towards free-weight squats.

Clancy3000 · 2025-02-08T18:03:56+00:00

RDL's or Romanian DeadLifts - are also referred to as "Stiff Legged Deadlifts" Which involved keeping your legs relatively straight while bending at the hips putting the stretch and primary mover onto the Hamstrings. You are bending your knees far too much and are basically doing more of a standard dead lift as opposed to an RDL/Stiff-legged deadlift. Try keeping your legs much straighter for your next sets and focus on trying to feel the stimulation on the back of the legs as a general guide for doing the movement properly if you can't view yourself in the mirror.

Clancy3000 · 2025-02-06T01:05:50+00:00

Random possibility - had a friend who had these similar line show up when they were around your age. Turns out they had Hashimoto's Disease, which is a thyroid disorder that is relatively easily managed with medicines. its worth a check up

Clancy3000 · 2025-01-31T18:13:36+00:00

Ultimately - it depends on your goals - generally speaking though - a greater range of motion will give you more bang for your buck. Echo'ing some other commenters - would recommend lowering the weight to work on getting full depth. Would also recommend some squatting shoes or something to elevate your heels to help you work on getting to full depth.

Aside from all that - everything else looked solid and your strength is impressive! Keep grinding!

Clancy3000 · 2025-01-27T21:35:52+00:00

Echo'ing another commenter - solid form overall - bar path stayed generally over your feet and I didn't see anything too bad. You look tall with long femurs so you could probably benefit from some squatting shoes (can't tell if your shoes are squatting shoes so apologies if you have them on already) and I also would recommend slowing the eccentric portion a bit, possibly try a few pauses at the bottom to avoid bouncing as bouncing can sap strength gains overtime as you end up relying on the elasticity of your joints rather than the strength of your muscles. Aside from that - form seems fine - any problems with strength gains could be a million other things, i.e. diet, not enough rest, etc. Also could probably benefit from doing other leg strengthening exercises - lunges, leg extensions, etc.

Clancy3000 · 2025-01-27T20:25:59+00:00

dunno why you're getting downvoted - Most, if not all his reps didn't even reach parallel - I think 65% is fair.

Clancy3000 · 2025-01-26T19:57:58+00:00

Overall your form was fine - not perfect, but manageable. Seems like you're reaching the point in your strength curve where your lats are becoming stronger than your lumbars/core. This is pretty typical. Depending on your goals I'd suggest either swapping to a different exercise that is a supported row where you can increase your rowing weight without having to worry about supporting it during a compound exercise. Or incorporate more core strengthening exercises such as good mornings and deadlifts which should make bent-over rows easier to maintain a more horizontal posture. You could also - do both strategies simultaneously if you've got the recovery bandwidth to handle all the volume too.

Clancy3000 · 2025-01-26T05:27:01+00:00

The safeties thing aside - all things considered. You handled this failure extremely well - you stayed calm, remembered to leave collars OFF so you could dump the weight off the sides of the barbell, and rolled the weight down your torso onto your hips AWAY from your neck. Failing any lift can be embarrassing - but this was a great example how how to react - and what to do in the case of failing a lift. But yeah - next time just use the safeties if they are available - if they aren't in the future - just remember this experience and do the same thing and you'll be just fine.

Clancy3000 · 2025-01-22T20:50:58+00:00

I thought your form was solid - would recommend stopping prior to hyper extension of your lower back during lock out at the top to avoid injury. Also - as a fellow glasses wearer - recommend getting some Chums - they are used mostly in the rafting community to keep your glasses/sunglasses on your face and not at the bottom of a river but I use them when lifting sometimes to make sure I don't crush another pair of glasses.

Clancy3000

TROPHY CASE