Easy For You To Say Edition

PatricioMelendezCongrains

Hey everyone, I recently made friends with a guy at my gym, and during a brief conversation, I offered to help him improve his squat form. I’ve helped friends with their squats before, but this is my first time encountering a situation like this.

First and foremost, I want to address his inability to reach depth below parallel. For now, I’m setting aside other form issues (from the video), such as bar positioning, hand placement, and tightness, to focus solely on squat depth.

I tried various foot positions—narrow, wide, toes in, toes out—but nothing seemed to work. From observation, I’m sure his long femurs and torso length create unique squat mechanics.

I’ve attached a video for reference. What adjustments cues would you recommend to help him achieve proper depth?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Daltonar

Nothing about his build looks strange, he just isn’t used to squatting properly. Hips back more, toes out a bit, knees out more. He’s going to be bent over more than he wants to.

If you have the blue book check out p.44 and have him get into the squat position without the bar. Once he’s proven he can, bring the bar back in.

PatricioMelendezCongrains

Thanks, Daltonar! I appreciate the feedback. We’ll definitely try your suggested adjustments—bringing his hips back more, toes out a bit, and knees out more. First, I’ll have him work on getting into the squat position without the bar to see if that helps.

We’ve already experimented with a few different foot positions, but so far, there has been no significant improvement. I’ll post an update after we test your advice.

Thanks again for the guidance!

Mark Rippetoe

If you let him squat above parallel, he will squat above parallel. If you stop counting above-parallel reps, he’ll figure it out.

BellyOfTheEast

Hi Mark, My name is Phong, am a 54 year-old male, 6 ft, 183 lbs, about 22% bf (so says my scale). I lead a very sedentary life style with a desk job and not much physical activity other than golf in the good weather, and jog ~ 3 miles, 3 or 4 times a week, a long run (6-10 miles) once a month or so. I used to play tennis competitively years ago (10+). I ski/swim/bike recreationnally.

I travel for work, and hotel gyms typically do not have barbells, so that’s something I need to work on. Perhaps switching my gym membership to a national chain or the YMCA.

I have never lifted weight before and would like to become stronger while I can still do something about it. I have done some research at the local gyms and on the internet, and the latter led me to buy a couple of your books (Starting Strength 2nd edition paperback, 3rd edition Kindle, and just a few days ago Practical Programming), as well your Starting Strength DVD. I am impressed by the high quality of the material, enough so that I am starting with your novice program, at pitifully low weights across all lifts. I have modest goals (say 100/200/300 in the bench/squat/lift toward the end of the year, and 200/300/400 in a few years), modest compared to what absolutely everyone else on this forum is doing, but monumental from where I am today, and I would be absolutely thrilled if I achieve those goals. Above all, I would like to train with no injury if at all possible, even if that means going at a slower pace. I am speaking of injuries serious enough that will need a visit to a health care professional.

I have couple of questions for you:

1. Is the Starting Strength program appropriate for someone like me in terms of age and physical ability ? with perhaps 5 lbs increment (10 for deadlifts) for the first initial weeks, then 2.5lbs/5lbs afterward. In your experience with training with people like me, are my goals reasonable, in the range of the doable ? Or are they way too modest or too high ?

2. I am thinking about attending one of your seminars (probably Missisauga, ON in July) to learn the lifts correctly, before I get too, too far into the bad habits. Are the seminars useful for someone in my situation ? Clearly, I am in no position to coach anyone, so I am interested primarily in learning the lifts for myself, and only have very peripheral interest in judging other people’s lifting skills and techniques.

Many thanks in advance.

Mark Rippetoe

1. There are literally hundreds of threads posted by people your age (younger than me) who have started the program. Read the board for examples and their experiences.

2. Half the people at every seminar are there for their own training purposes.

Andy Baker

Phong, You will be fine to start the program as it as laid out for a number of weeks. Starting at 54 you may find that you will have to switch to a lighter Wednesday squat workout faster than would be optimal and twice per week deadlifts probably won’t last long either……this doesn’t mean that significant and real progress can’t be made.

Additionally, as the weights get heavier you may have to switch to a twice per week program or even something like train a day/rest 2 days, repeat.

BellyOfTheEast

Thanks Mark.
I will continue to read more posts on the subject on the forum. Hope to see you in person later this year.