Is this true what the guy at gym told me about my Squat form ??

R

Rahul

Guest
I was squatting in the rack in a wide stance, not as wide as sumo. But so my feet were easily wider than shoulder width.

Anway a guy in the gym, only trying to help, came up and told me I should only have my feet shoulder width apart. When I do this tho i cant squat deep. When I was watching his form he only went down halfway.

If I have my feet only shoulder width I have to lean to far forward and can't get down all the way

also is it alright to have my feet pointing outwards or should they be facing exactly straight forward.... he said they should be pointing straight forward.

I thought my form was good until what this guy said :S
 
He has no idea what he's saying!

Your toes should point out a little and your stance should be where you are most comfortable.

Personally I like to have my feet a bit wider than shoulder width as that is most comfortable for me.
 
I'd fall over if I tried to stay exactly shoulder width apart and keep toes straight forward. I tend to have them out and wider, I just couldn't balance the way he is talking...
 
Key words in your post...
Rahul said:
he only went down halfway.
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Don't listen to him to, I bet he wears a tight tank top working out, and does 3 different kinds of calf raises...
 
my back-squat is strongest when its about as wide as the squat rack allows, but occasionally I like to go shoulder-width and ass-to-grass. I find my legs work more when my stance is narrow, while my hips work more when wide.

So I think squatting wide, narrow, higbar, lowbar, overhead, back, front... it's all good
 
Julo makes a good point there, variety is a great thing.
 
I always do what is comforatble to me. My bench grip is narrow, and my squat stance is a little wider than shoulder width. At my old gym (semi-metro), I took great enjoyment of telling the old guy in the powersuit to fuck off when he told me I was doing deadlift wrong.

Lifting in solitude is the only way for me to go.
 
My main lifting stance is as wide as the squat rack allows as someone else said, but my assistance squat stance is about that wide and thats the only reason I use that stance, as assistance (more quad emphesis)
 
Rahul said:
I was squatting in the rack in a wide stance, not as wide as sumo. But so my feet were easily wider than shoulder width.

Anway a guy in the gym, only trying to help, came up and told me I should only have my feet shoulder width apart. When I do this tho i cant squat deep. When I was watching his form he only went down halfway.

If I have my feet only shoulder width I have to lean to far forward and can't get down all the way

also is it alright to have my feet pointing outwards or should they be facing exactly straight forward.... he said they should be pointing straight forward.

I thought my form was good until what this guy said :S
Click to expand...

I think variety is good also, but don't forget the rules of good form apply no matter what variation you use. If you want to squat big or for a max, wider is a good way to try for most people. Tate says if you think you are wide, go a little wider.
 
matsumi said:
He has no idea what he's saying!

Your toes should point out a little and your stance should be where you are most comfortable.
Click to expand...

No, your feet should be parallel, since pointing them out takes the hips out of the movement.
 
ThaiJJJ said:
No, your feet should be parallel, since pointing them out takes the hips out of the movement.
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Where did you hear this?
 
CarnalSalvation said:
It's Westside dogma, and complete and utter bullshit IMO.
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I'm positive where your calves pointing doesn't determine how much of your ass you are using.

I can understand when they say if you squat wide, it's harder to fully utilize the ass since it hard to go ass to the grass with that form, but the calf thing is just stupid.
 
Always be wary of people in the gym giving you advice, chances are 99% of them don't have fucking clue.

Do your own reading, learn what good form is for yourself and don't worry about other people who think they know best.

Here are a couple of articles that have a few useful pointers on form:
1
2
 
This being a squat related thread, I'm gonna burrow it for a sec.

I just started squatting not too long ago.

I only box squat, because I have terrible form and need my glutes and ham developed.

When I read about box squatting, they said set the box up around parallel or a little below.

The thing is I go noticeablely lower than parallel. I was just wondering if I was doing something unnecessary.
 
I use box squats to build up my strength in getting out of the hole, so thats where I'm comig from.
My question would be where is the weakest post in your lift. If its in the hole thats a fine place to keep the boxm if its higher then you might want to move the box higher. But if your using the box as your main lift leave it where it is, the deeper you go the better.
 
Ian1983 said:
I use box squats to build up my strength in getting out of the hole, so thats where I'm comig from.
My question would be where is the weakest post in your lift. If its in the hole thats a fine place to keep the boxm if its higher then you might want to move the box higher. But if your using the box as your main lift leave it where it is, the deeper you go the better.
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Yea, its not all the way, but mine is pretty deep.

After I build up my squat numbers first, Ill lower the box.

Then after I build that up, I'll just use the box squat less and less.
 
Secondly I don't do regular squats is, because not only am I weak, but the concentric and eccentric chain puts alot of pressure on my knee which causes alot of pain.

So I gotta build up first.
 
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