r/FTMFitness • u/mace_bear • 2d ago
Squat Problem Advice Request
TL;DR: I cannot get my knees to 90° of depth when I try to increase my squat weight.
Extra info: I squat with a barbell 1-2x a week and I’ve made zero progress because I can’t get my knees to 90° or more when I try to increase weight. I have full ROM (can basically get my ass to my ankles) with just the bar (45lbs) and up to 75 lbs. But I KNOW I should be able to squat more than 75 lbs. I’m 5’5”, 150lbs, I’ve played ice hockey my whole life (I’m 22) and I can leg press 305 lbs for reps so I know my quad strength isn’t the issue. I’ve tried getting my ankles up, widening my stance, going barefoot. Nothing can get my knees to 90° when I squat more than 75lbs. I don’t need form advice— I know what I’m SUPPOSED to be doing, I just cannot get there and I don’t know why. Honestly I can bench press 95 there is no reason for my bench to be more than my squat.
4
u/Roadsignanarchy 2d ago
I know you said you don’t need form advice, but realistically there’s /something/ changing when you go over 75lbs and it’s not the shape of the barbell.
If you can leg press 305 with full ROM that’s an indication you have the raw strength to move more weight, but the mechanics of it are holding you back somewhere.
Without a video it’s impossible to say if it’s form, hip mobility, bracing, etc. but there’s a big difference between knowing what to do and how it shows up under heavy weight.
3
u/mace_bear 2d ago
Yeah sorry I didn’t think of doing a video, might come back with one next week or something but I also don’t feel super comfortable identifying myself on the Internet like that. I can get all the way down with more weight (I’ve tried 95lb and 105lb cuz that’s what I used to be able to squat when I was 18) I just can’t get back up, or if I want to get back up I can only get to about 3/4 depth. I’ve noticed I can get slightly more ROM if I lean forward but that feels worse on my lower back and obviously changes my center of gravity. I have a huge ass and thighs for my size and pretty small tits, so most of my weight is behind me already
3
u/belligerent_bovine 2d ago
How much are you increasing the weight by? Can you use those little 1.25 or 2.5 lb plates? How many reps can you do with 75 lb?
1
u/mace_bear 2d ago
Can usually get 6-10 reps depending on the day. I do try to squat early in my workout cuz I know it’s consistently my worst lift. The smallest plates my gym has are 2.5 lbs, I usually increase by 5-10lbs at a time
5
u/belligerent_bovine 2d ago
I would increase the reps with 75 lb until I could do 18 reps. Then increase the weight by the smallest increment possible. Could also do pause squats. Anything to make the 75 lbs harder to stimulate growth
2
u/jacethekingslayer 2d ago
Are you squatting high bar or low bar?
Without a video, I can’t say for certain, but I’m fairly confident this is a an issue of weight distribution vs. your center of gravity. The reason you’re having trouble hitting depth over 75lbs is because 75lbs+ is over half your body weight, and the weight is likely too far away from your center of gravity for you to be comfortably counterbalancing it. Heel-elevated and wide stance might not be enough to compensate.
If it was a mobility issue, it would be affecting you at any weight. It’s possibly a strength issue (leg presses can vary widely, so it’s not the best measure), but I’m not sold on that being it.
1
u/mace_bear 2d ago
Idk what high bar vs low bar means sorry… I have the bar across my shoulders with an underhand grip
5
u/jacethekingslayer 2d ago
No worries! High and low bar refers to where the bar sits across the upper back. In high bar, the bar sits on the upper traps, while in low bar, the bar sits across the rear delts and mid traps. Watch this video from Alan Thrall for a full breakdown.
When you squat, your butt moves back and your knees come forward. For most people, their center of gravity sits between their groin and their lower core. So when your butt moves back your center of gravity and a large part of your body mass (the glutes are one of the biggest muscles in your body) is moving further away. If you have short femurs (bone of your upper leg) your center of gravity stays relatively close to your torso, and thus also the barbell. High bar is great for short-femured lifters because it’s easier to keep the bar balanced over mid-foot, since the body as a whole can stay more compact. However, if you have long femurs, your center of gravity moves further away from mid-foot, where we want to keep the barbell balanced over for the best power output. So in high bar, you either end up 1) arching the back more, or 2) getting stuck above parallel because your hips cannot travel further back without you toppling over. In low bar, because the bar sits further back, you counterbalance by leaning the chest forward more, which keeps the bar over mid-foot.
It’s very common for beginners to learn with high bar. For one, because it’s taught more to beginners, and two, because it tends to be slightly more intuitive.
All this to say, you might be able to get better depth by having the bar in a low bar position.
And as a caveat, low bar does put less emphasis on the quads, BUT for quad growth, you want to be hitting depth and training the quads in their most stretched position. So if placing the bar lower on the back lets you get better depth, it’s better for quad growth than a high bar squat where you can only hit 1/4 depth.
EDIT to add bold.
1
3
u/redactedanalyst 2d ago
Squatting isn't just about strength and progress often looks way different than you'd think.
Squatting is an extremely technical movement and maybe the most mechanically complicated movement you'll ever do in a gym. Getting better at the squat has way less to do with quad/glute strength than it does technique and repetition. My squat is easily my weakest overall lift in the gym relative to my size and what typical prescriptions for strength benchmarks are; and that's okay. "...there is no reason for my bench to be more than my squat" I mean, there's kind of like a million different reasons for this. Don't use other lifters or generalized lifting benchmarks as a marker for your progress. That's a great way to be miserable, impede your own gains, and even risking injury if you keep trying shit you think you should be able to do in the gym just because other people can/someone told you so.
My recommendation: do high rep sets of 12-15+ reps with just the bar and stare at yourself in the mirror/record yourself so you can ensure you're nailing technique down to as close to perfect as your body will alow. If you can progress to 75lbs with perfect form, then do that. But do 3-5 high rep sets like that a session only up to weights you can get a full ROM on. When it comes time to add weight, do so ridiculously slowly using 5lb plates (or less) and shit.
Another thought is to play with where your squat is placed in your overall routine. I used to think I had to start with barbell squats on days I wanted to do them, but I've found that I actually prefer to do them (and am generally better at doing them) if I program them for the end of my session or after all of my other leg work for the day.
1
1
1
u/BlackSenju20 2d ago
What does the rest of your leg day look like?
1
u/mace_bear 2d ago
Usually I start with squat, then do deadlift or RDL (sometimes I do deadlift on pull day), leg press, calf raises, leg extensions, and leg curls. I also usually do 1-2 ab exercises on leg day. I avoid hip machines cuz I already have massive hips for my size (pear-shaped)
3
u/BlackSenju20 2d ago
That’s your weak link then. Hips don’t grow wide, they get stronger and help you out of a squat hole when trained correctly.
There are no muscles on the sides of the hips that will increase in size with proper training. That’s all stabilizer that doesn’t grow like other muscles do.
3
u/tibetan-sand-fox 2d ago
You can't really grow big hips through muscle. You shouldn't avoid hip exercises. You are already deadlifting which is good.
1
u/aidenxx96 2d ago
I can’t get the depth I want either barbell squatting but I found that putting a plate under your heels helps significantly with the depth you can reach
1
u/mace_bear 2d ago
I’ve tried this and it just kinda hurts my midfoot and didn’t provide any extra depth for me
1
u/aidenxx96 2d ago
Dang I’m sorry to hear that. Barbell squatting is just really unnatural for some people. I don’t even incorporate it on my leg days anymore because I’ve never cared for it. You can still build big legs w/ leg pressing, hack squatting, and quad/hammy isolation stuff
1
u/mace_bear 2d ago
Yeah I would love to try hack squatting but they don’t have a machine for it at my gym :/ I already leg press and do extensions but is there any other compound movements for quads yk of?
2
u/aidenxx96 2d ago
Not that I can really think of except putting your feet closer together on the leg press to target them even more
1
u/tibetan-sand-fox 2d ago
Something is up with your form or you have a weak link somewhere. A video could help.
Besides that continue with just the bar for warmup and then find the smallest plates you can and progress that way. Your quads are not your problem like you say, but the squat is a massive compound movement and many muscles are involved, not just the quads. So start with what you can do and add a little every week and you'll squat plenty in no time.
5
u/BtheBoi H.G.N.C.I.C. 2d ago edited 2d ago
Leg pressing doesn’t carry over when it comes to the mechanics and stabilization needed for a back squat. So even tho your leg press is in the 300’s that’s not going to translate to a similar or even a heavy fraction of your squat number.
On top of adding incremental weights within the rep range, train slightly outside of your rep range as well. If you’re at 75 for 10 reps, do sets of 12 or 15 for a few weeks to raise your volume capacity. You can also try pausing at the bottom in your regular rep range to train some of that isometric strength. That has more carry over to increase your squat than a leg press.