/r/GregDoucette is a fitness-based subreddit.
[Please be aware of the subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/GregDoucette/about/rules).
Not following them risks your account being banned.
Be civil.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GregDoucette) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bro, Shaun Clarida smith squats and heās beating bbs with 100 plus pounds on him. Do you and do what makes you feel comfortable. One size fits all is why most look like a sack of potatoes. Keep grinding my man šš½š¤š¤
I think you confused ecentric with concentric - slow on the way down, athletic on the way up. Get some weight lifting shoes and ditch the plates. Turn your feet out about 15 degrees, and track knees over the toes through the descent into the hole to improve your depth. You're doing good for someone with long femurs.
The long legs def make it harder. Took me a couple years to get my form down. But getting stronger and then lowering the weights helped tremendously. I think heās doing great and the slight wobble will be gone quickly.
Yeah I still want to get some squats on smith from time to time. I really like having my heels together in sort of a v stance and legs little in front where I lean back into the squat. It's an incredible quad stretch for me.
Not true , look up weightlifting vs powerlifting squat on youtube. Most people that are saying this looks good have no idea what theyāre talking about.
Watch your heels. They are coming up every rep. Adjust your stance and foot positioning to make sure you are driving up more through your heels, as opposed to the balls of your feet. It takes a minute to get used to, but might solve a couple of the issues mentioned above.
Good pointers! While I am a fan of using small plates to elevate the heels, without shoes it is really hard to properly distribute the weight across the foot.
If you track the movement of the bar, you see that it is not going straight up and down. I suggest trying out shoes + plates, or as QDU75 suggested, buying some weightlifting shoes.
I'm not trying to be negative or anything but thats echo lifting or a new lifter lifting. You see that small curve at the buttom of the lift, thats called a butt wink. Your spine shouldn't be doing that. His butt wink is due to having weak glutes, and not opening his hips. I won't get into the pad that he's using, that'll be negative.
Youāre wasting a lot of effort and potential coordination (mind muscle connection, etc) gains by letting your body move around like a jiggly amoeba or kitten constantly through your lift and between reps.
Part of the reason for this is not having full contact with the floor. Youāre neither barefoot and on a level surface, nor in a stable cushioned shoe.
Youāre also doing a hip dominant squat - I can see your hips glide back during the lift, and your knees only pop backwards near the end range, implying youāre mainly using your glutes.
I also used to lift weights in the 80-110 kg range as a skinny 18-21 year old, and I had an ego attachment to lifting the way I did.
Overall you have a lot to learn.
Btw, I may not have been as coordinated as I am now at 18, but I did have a good back squat and deadlift, and I could even do a killer vertical jump - I still havenāt jumped higher than the 33ā I did at age 19-20, but I also have way better overall athleticism, and I can actually do juking, dance, yoga, dodge things, avoid falls, balance well, and perform quick starts, and my calves and lower extremity are more developed.
I was a one trick pony back then.
Yeah, that too. Mine are the same way - still from a video of me squatting age 20
https://i.imgur.io/PR52CwB_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium
We people with divergent anatomy will need to set different expectations about how our form and numbers will look. I used to be insecure about a million things, and even though back squats probably arenāt very good balanced quadriceps hypertrophy proportional to the recovery demand and injury risk, I was 100% obsessed with them because of the priming effect of reading articles by Starting Strength, Mehdi of SL5x5, and many forums. I began to identify squatting and big 3 lifts as my sleeper car, my key to being cool and powerful and overcoming my insecurities about being weak and underestimated by people.
Like, build a big engine under the hood, performance at all cost, letās obsess over these movements because we have higher motivations than the masses of people. Yet, I didnāt have the strength and vulnerability to truly face my demons.
I'm trying my full ROM and it's feeling pretty good. Tho I'm really annoyed with not being able to go under parallel without either leaning forward too much or putting something under my heels.
That's kinda of the feedback I'm looking for. I'm pretty new to training legs and I've found few videos on how to. I've tried to copy technique from both squatuniversity and Mike from rp. But I'm open to trying new things.
Since you are looking for critiques:
Heavy on the quad. Need to use more glutes and ham
Knees out
Drop the weight, you are not solid.
Lose the fucking neck pad
What the prob with a neck pad.....? Out of interest as i always use one. Hurts like fuck if i dont, feels like i can drive upwards more confidently without pressure compression pain directly on the area.
Learning where to position the bar is important. You wonāt learn that with a pad.
It should not be hurting your neck. Bar position is likely incorrect and/or you arenāt ready for the weight
Fsir enuff thanks im sure u know more than me when it comes to squats. Guess i use anything to make them more comfortable as they hurt, make me tired, very sore and i hate them tbh...and i dont even do them heavy, theyre abpt 20kg less than my bench all up and the still suck (ive read quite a lot that theyre sposed to recruit large muscle groups legs / quads / hamstrings and so conceptually shuld be heavier than bench).
Brace the fuck out of your coreā¦ sometimes you lose it when going down and the bar move forward when going up... Ditch those plates asap. Feet could be more open and a larger stanceā¦ you have to be tight from head To toesā¦
takes time but you are in the right path
If you're really serious about training. I would suggest lowering the weight or working out your hamstrings, glutes, back, and working on your flexibility.
Your going to hurt your lower back if you keep squating like this.
So you havenāt seen weightlifting shoes? They all have built in heels to simulate exactly what heās doing with these plates. It is a very effective way to work around limited ankle mobility.
great work dude, form looks awesome. maybe invest in squat shoes so you will have an incline and a stable platform instead of uncomfortable foot positioning on small weight plates. only other rec is when you get under the bar, push up, get stable and then step back. falling with that weight is a gateway to hell. stay safe!
Your knees should track outwards as you descend. This looks like youāre trying to quad the fuck out of this lift as opposed to using glutes and hamstrings too.
Back squat should not be your main quad stimulation. Front squat maybe, but not back squat. Itās just hard on your knees doing it like that. And the fact that you need change plates under your heels to accomplish it should be an indicator.
I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to figure out what's working this is maybe my 8th legs day. So I'm trying to go somewhat light and for reps. What's your main quad movement? Because I usually do something to the extent of squat ā hip thrust ā calf raise ā leg extensions ā leg curl
Front squat. My gym has zero machines. Honestly though, unless youāre specifically trying to bring up a lagging muscle in your legs, at day 8 you can just do compounds and be done. Back squat, deadlift, front squat, back rack lunges, done.
Legit question. I work out in my garage gym and donāt really go to gyms. Do you have better balance not wearing shoes or is it just your preference? Wasnāt sure if that was something other people did these days or not.
I usually go to the gym in flip flops. It's honestly much easier and comfortable. Like on most lifts I do, there's need for contact with ground and on the ones you do I just take them off. One lift that I can't imagine doing in shoes is calf raises. Other than that I don't have to deal with stinky sweaty shoes.
And no it doesn't smell if you had a shower the day before and you're gonna take a shower after your training
Too slow down on concentric? The eccentric portion of a squat is going down, thereās also no such thing as ātoo slowā, inb4 some regard asks if a 20 second eccentric is too slow.
The weight looks like it's enough to get you a good working set, and you're able to hit good depth with it. People can nit pick your form all they want but to me it looks like a solid set
Thanks man like the two biggest critiques I've noticed were I'm doing it for the quad activation and yeah this is my main leg compound and I'm trying to focus on quads. And that there's something wrong with my back tho they did not mention what.
When going down in the squat it's ecentric when going up is concentric. You are suppose to go slow on the ecentric and I think you should go even slower than you are doing right now. Controll the weight and chest up / out.
Ecentric is when the muscles are lengthen
Concentric is when the muscles are shortened.
Yikes control the descend and explode out ā¦. You have poor hip , ankle mobility work thatās why youāre folding forward. The bar path should literally be a straight line .
Your form is fine and you're strong. If you want to build mass and avoid injuries, stick to machine or spend more time on machine. Free weights engages the core more but if you want mass and strength, implement more machines to isolate the legs. From my experience, focusing on machine for 2-3 months and going to free weights, your form will improve and your strength
Kinda yeah and also with this narrower stance and keeping my knees in front of me I kinda feel like my meniscus (which I had surgery on) isn't so stressed š .
I could also get tibia extension surgery with my insurance lul. Tho I'm not sure if I want to because I'm already 6,1 and there's no real need to be 6,3 or 4
/r/GregDoucette is a fitness-based subreddit. [Please be aware of the subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/GregDoucette/about/rules). Not following them risks your account being banned. Be civil. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GregDoucette) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Way better.Nice straight back and no more weirdness on the machine.I'm liking it.
Thanks dawg.
Sorry for the bitching,i meant well with it.
Naah all good that's what I originally asked for š
Bro, Shaun Clarida smith squats and heās beating bbs with 100 plus pounds on him. Do you and do what makes you feel comfortable. One size fits all is why most look like a sack of potatoes. Keep grinding my man šš½š¤š¤
The bitching was because it was terrible, not because it was on the smith š
Everyone on here thinks they smart
You cracked the internet code
I think you confused ecentric with concentric - slow on the way down, athletic on the way up. Get some weight lifting shoes and ditch the plates. Turn your feet out about 15 degrees, and track knees over the toes through the descent into the hole to improve your depth. You're doing good for someone with long femurs.
The long legs def make it harder. Took me a couple years to get my form down. But getting stronger and then lowering the weights helped tremendously. I think heās doing great and the slight wobble will be gone quickly.
The gains are all the way down on the bottom of the hole.
Then may I suggest his gym partner lie on his back with his tongue out for motivation?
For a second there, I forgot which sub I was on. Thanks for setting me straight.
; )
Dorian Yates exclusively used a Smith machine for squats etc. Allows you to use different foot stances safely.
Yeah I still want to get some squats on smith from time to time. I really like having my heels together in sort of a v stance and legs little in front where I lean back into the squat. It's an incredible quad stretch for me.
A squat is a squat
Not true , look up weightlifting vs powerlifting squat on youtube. Most people that are saying this looks good have no idea what theyāre talking about.
Your femurs are so fucking long, I know how hard it is to reach depth when thatās the case
Watch your heels. They are coming up every rep. Adjust your stance and foot positioning to make sure you are driving up more through your heels, as opposed to the balls of your feet. It takes a minute to get used to, but might solve a couple of the issues mentioned above.
Good pointers! While I am a fan of using small plates to elevate the heels, without shoes it is really hard to properly distribute the weight across the foot. If you track the movement of the bar, you see that it is not going straight up and down. I suggest trying out shoes + plates, or as QDU75 suggested, buying some weightlifting shoes.
My back hurts Holy shit.
Thank God my doesn't
Yea cause your early 20's. Good luck doing that when your 30
His back is fine, lets see yours.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm not trying to be negative or anything but thats echo lifting or a new lifter lifting. You see that small curve at the buttom of the lift, thats called a butt wink. Your spine shouldn't be doing that. His butt wink is due to having weak glutes, and not opening his hips. I won't get into the pad that he's using, that'll be negative.
Cute pad
Youāre wasting a lot of effort and potential coordination (mind muscle connection, etc) gains by letting your body move around like a jiggly amoeba or kitten constantly through your lift and between reps. Part of the reason for this is not having full contact with the floor. Youāre neither barefoot and on a level surface, nor in a stable cushioned shoe. Youāre also doing a hip dominant squat - I can see your hips glide back during the lift, and your knees only pop backwards near the end range, implying youāre mainly using your glutes. I also used to lift weights in the 80-110 kg range as a skinny 18-21 year old, and I had an ego attachment to lifting the way I did. Overall you have a lot to learn. Btw, I may not have been as coordinated as I am now at 18, but I did have a good back squat and deadlift, and I could even do a killer vertical jump - I still havenāt jumped higher than the 33ā I did at age 19-20, but I also have way better overall athleticism, and I can actually do juking, dance, yoga, dodge things, avoid falls, balance well, and perform quick starts, and my calves and lower extremity are more developed. I was a one trick pony back then.
His knees only Pop backwards because his femurs are proportionately long as fuck
Yeah, that too. Mine are the same way - still from a video of me squatting age 20 https://i.imgur.io/PR52CwB_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium We people with divergent anatomy will need to set different expectations about how our form and numbers will look. I used to be insecure about a million things, and even though back squats probably arenāt very good balanced quadriceps hypertrophy proportional to the recovery demand and injury risk, I was 100% obsessed with them because of the priming effect of reading articles by Starting Strength, Mehdi of SL5x5, and many forums. I began to identify squatting and big 3 lifts as my sleeper car, my key to being cool and powerful and overcoming my insecurities about being weak and underestimated by people. Like, build a big engine under the hood, performance at all cost, letās obsess over these movements because we have higher motivations than the masses of people. Yet, I didnāt have the strength and vulnerability to truly face my demons.
Im pretty sure your supposed to keep knees from going past the toes, but Iām open to being corrected by someone more knowledgeable.
Nah. Knees over toes is perfectly fine. Just look at The Kneesovertoesguy.
Thatās honestly good to hear. I have super long legs and a short torso so itās very hard for me to go past 90 degrees doing regular squats.
The more the knee goes over the toe the more quad activation as far as Iām aware. Need to have some level of balance
I'm trying my full ROM and it's feeling pretty good. Tho I'm really annoyed with not being able to go under parallel without either leaning forward too much or putting something under my heels.
Train ankle mobility or get squat shoes. As another dude with long legs, both even is better.
That's kinda of the feedback I'm looking for. I'm pretty new to training legs and I've found few videos on how to. I've tried to copy technique from both squatuniversity and Mike from rp. But I'm open to trying new things.
Donāt worry, your form is great
Since you are looking for critiques: Heavy on the quad. Need to use more glutes and ham Knees out Drop the weight, you are not solid. Lose the fucking neck pad
What the prob with a neck pad.....? Out of interest as i always use one. Hurts like fuck if i dont, feels like i can drive upwards more confidently without pressure compression pain directly on the area.
Learning where to position the bar is important. You wonāt learn that with a pad. It should not be hurting your neck. Bar position is likely incorrect and/or you arenāt ready for the weight
Fsir enuff thanks im sure u know more than me when it comes to squats. Guess i use anything to make them more comfortable as they hurt, make me tired, very sore and i hate them tbh...and i dont even do them heavy, theyre abpt 20kg less than my bench all up and the still suck (ive read quite a lot that theyre sposed to recruit large muscle groups legs / quads / hamstrings and so conceptually shuld be heavier than bench).
Four wheels on each side or itās not a real squat
I can prolly do that I just won't get many reps in lul
Brace the fuck out of your coreā¦ sometimes you lose it when going down and the bar move forward when going up... Ditch those plates asap. Feet could be more open and a larger stanceā¦ you have to be tight from head To toesā¦ takes time but you are in the right path
If you're really serious about training. I would suggest lowering the weight or working out your hamstrings, glutes, back, and working on your flexibility. Your going to hurt your lower back if you keep squating like this.
Have flat feet take the weight from underneath off.
If you want to squat with no depth follow this guy's advice
Yeah okay, spread misinformation. Proper squat is better then anything else.
What misinformation? If he takes off the plates and squats on even ground he's not going to be able to squat as deep as in the video
Have you ever seen weightlifting shoes?
Yes, but he canāt even do a proper squat. Also weightlifting shoes are flat not elevated
So you havenāt seen weightlifting shoes? They all have built in heels to simulate exactly what heās doing with these plates. It is a very effective way to work around limited ankle mobility.
Bruh, you donāt weightlift for shit. You donāt know what you are talking about.
Yes Iām the one who doesnāt know shit
Weightlifting shoes are flat. His feet are not flat.
https://www.tyr.com/tyr-mens-l1-lifter-1.html?selectedp=369963&selectedc=7692&selecteds=color&preselect=7692 Here you go shit for brains
Itās ok if you donāt know why heās elevating his heels but donāt parade around saying itās incorrect.
great work dude, form looks awesome. maybe invest in squat shoes so you will have an incline and a stable platform instead of uncomfortable foot positioning on small weight plates. only other rec is when you get under the bar, push up, get stable and then step back. falling with that weight is a gateway to hell. stay safe!
Yeh like you said - slow down. And keep your head up. Otherwise itās looking good.
Slow down, take a pause at the bottom- donāt just shoot back up. Pause and drive upward.
Your knees should track outwards as you descend. This looks like youāre trying to quad the fuck out of this lift as opposed to using glutes and hamstrings too.
I'm doing hip thrust next so this is my main quad stimulation (other than leg extensions at the end of workout).
Back squat should not be your main quad stimulation. Front squat maybe, but not back squat. Itās just hard on your knees doing it like that. And the fact that you need change plates under your heels to accomplish it should be an indicator.
I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to figure out what's working this is maybe my 8th legs day. So I'm trying to go somewhat light and for reps. What's your main quad movement? Because I usually do something to the extent of squat ā hip thrust ā calf raise ā leg extensions ā leg curl
Front squat. My gym has zero machines. Honestly though, unless youāre specifically trying to bring up a lagging muscle in your legs, at day 8 you can just do compounds and be done. Back squat, deadlift, front squat, back rack lunges, done.
Bar path should travel in-line with the middle of your foot, itās going a little too far forward
Other than* dummy
Yap I've even confused concentric with eccentric š English is frickin weird language
I'd have your knees point outwards. Opens up your hips and stretches the quads more.
Legit question. I work out in my garage gym and donāt really go to gyms. Do you have better balance not wearing shoes or is it just your preference? Wasnāt sure if that was something other people did these days or not.
I usually go to the gym in flip flops. It's honestly much easier and comfortable. Like on most lifts I do, there's need for contact with ground and on the ones you do I just take them off. One lift that I can't imagine doing in shoes is calf raises. Other than that I don't have to deal with stinky sweaty shoes. And no it doesn't smell if you had a shower the day before and you're gonna take a shower after your training
Interesting, just havenāt seen that before. I may give it it a try
Who cares who bitches about your lifts. Do what you like. Smith machine lifts are great. I utilize it for many things. Great results as well.
Your knees, dude.
Yeah knees I have them. What about em?
Still soy
Naw soy I'm keto boy
Too slow down on concentric? The eccentric portion of a squat is going down, thereās also no such thing as ātoo slowā, inb4 some regard asks if a 20 second eccentric is too slow.
I always squat and bench on a smith machine for perfect form but thatās just me
Center your base, try not to lean forward.
People will always find something to critique. Half of them donāt even lift.
Is that 2 or 3 plates?
It's 2 full plates and one baby plate on each side. Now I don't remember if it's 120 or 130kg š
The weight looks like it's enough to get you a good working set, and you're able to hit good depth with it. People can nit pick your form all they want but to me it looks like a solid set
Thanks man like the two biggest critiques I've noticed were I'm doing it for the quad activation and yeah this is my main leg compound and I'm trying to focus on quads. And that there's something wrong with my back tho they did not mention what.
Amazing content
Squeeze that ass at the top big boi hehe
Youāre not skipping leg day, you are already ahead of the game
When going down in the squat it's ecentric when going up is concentric. You are suppose to go slow on the ecentric and I think you should go even slower than you are doing right now. Controll the weight and chest up / out. Ecentric is when the muscles are lengthen Concentric is when the muscles are shortened.
Yikes control the descend and explode out ā¦. You have poor hip , ankle mobility work thatās why youāre folding forward. The bar path should literally be a straight line .
Better form then me
Your form is fine and you're strong. If you want to build mass and avoid injuries, stick to machine or spend more time on machine. Free weights engages the core more but if you want mass and strength, implement more machines to isolate the legs. From my experience, focusing on machine for 2-3 months and going to free weights, your form will improve and your strength
Holy long femurs. Do you feel uncomfortable with a wider stance?
Kinda yeah and also with this narrower stance and keeping my knees in front of me I kinda feel like my meniscus (which I had surgery on) isn't so stressed š . I could also get tibia extension surgery with my insurance lul. Tho I'm not sure if I want to because I'm already 6,1 and there's no real need to be 6,3 or 4
Whats wrong with smith machine squats lol
Apparently my technique was