(Another) Squat Form Check

[hobgadling]

I guess these are boring, but does anyone have the time to point out what i'm doing wrong here? I've been training about a year, i'm self taught, all from books and YouTube...
My issue is slight lower back and piriformis pain a couple of days after squatting (exacerbated if i do high frequency). I paid for a physio - she said i had week quads but everything else was fine. I double checked my form and also added some quad accessory exercises in (twice a week, after squatting and deadlifting, currently squatting twice a week), didn't make an difference.

My front squat is still appalling. My deadlift is dramatically better than my squat.

I have to be doing something inherently stupid, but i'm a total novice and i can't work out what it is (and having perspective on your own stuff is hard sometimes).

Thanks a lot.

[YT]zTJ0QM6DUwo[/YT]

 

[Fighting Sprite]

Looked fine. Maybe work on getting a bit deeper and keep adding weight.

 

[ssdd]

Don't look up so much, look forward or slightly up and think about keeping (pushing) your head back so your neck is in line with your spine. You seem to cut the depth a little high too.
You are really exaggerating the break at the hips cue. It looks like you have the bar in the high-bar position, if so you should kind of break at the hips and knees at the same time and go more directly down.
I believe your toes are pointing out just a little too much but it's hard to tell. They should point out a little but not overly so.

 

[EvilDDS]

The form is pretty good. If I'm being picky, you may be slightly rolling forward on your toes as you reach depth, try to really push through your heels.

However if you're having lower back pain then you may be experiencing shortened psoas and piriformis muscles. Look up stretching exercises for those muscles especially if you're squatting and deadlifting quite frequently. Not sure if you sit a lot with your job but that will also cause a shortening of those muscles.

 

[Lots]

Before we get into it,

Which books and youtube videos taught you how to squat?

 

[ballhawkdawk]

A lot of what ssdd said is good information. I'd second the notion to squat deeper.. not because parallel, but because deeper is better.

I don't know what you do for your quads, but front squatting is the best way to get them stronger. Don't worry about doing leg extensions.

 

[oyaji poi]

Why's your neck doing that?

Chest up and out, not your chin.

Plus you're squatting high.

 

[hobgadling]

Thanks for the input.

It's funny, I actually thought depth was the least of my problems.

The neck thing i noticed as soon as i watched the video back - i have no idea why or when I started doing it, i must be messing up the chest-up queue. I'm going to work on it today.

I've actually got the bar in what i thought was more or less a low bar position. Having it right on top of my traps feels awkward for me and i'd read i should try and get the lift up to a respectable number with comfortable bar placement and then worry about it some more. It's basically the picture on the right

I read Starting Strength from cover to cover a few times - that's where i got the vast majority of my information at the beginning. What i'm trying to do now is more of a hybrid squat, as i tried them all out (as best as I could) and it felt far and away the most comfortable. No one in my gym really knows what they are doing, so i've reached these conclusions on my own (and i dont know what i'm doing either).

 

[LiKeS]

Are you arching your lower back?

When I arch while squatting I'll have some lower back pain the next day. If I just brace my core, I don't have any issues