Why is my squat so weak?

[BroomHilda]

OK guys, I ll post tomorrow a vid with my new oly shoes and you ll tell me.... I think a few things in my technique have slightly improved.

As for the mirror I think I mentioned that above, I never look at myself.ever. I focus my eyes on a spot somewhere else

 

[BrotherIron]

OK guys, I ll post tomorrow a vid with my new oly shoes and you ll tell me.... I think a few things in my technique have slightly improved.

As for the mirror I think I mentioned that above, I never look at myself.ever. I focus my eyes on a spot somewhere else

You don't even realize it but you're looking at yourself in the mirror if it's in front of you. Cover it and watch how much more difficult it'll be to hit depth in the beginning.

 

[C T J]

I know a lot of you guys/girls squat with that wider stance and I don't know how you do it. I feel so much more power with my feet in a jumping stance (narrow).
Your feet are ducked but as long as you keep pushing your knees so your patella travels in line with your foot then you're okay.

 

[db123]

WOW got same issue and both ankles are toasted as described. Listen to advice.

 

[Halo]

My 2cts. Concur with POB on the dancing, the mirror and your hands/upper body.

It looks like you are trying to push the bar up with your hands on your way up. I believe this is coming from not tightening/bracing your core, this means you are seemingly only breathing into your upper part of your lungs. You need to breath down into your diaphragm and brace keeping you spine safe and tight.

I'll stop because my words mixed with everyone else will become hard to track. Here is a great video that will give you all the things you need to do to get the most out of your squat.

 

[BroomHilda]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I m taking seriously all of your remarks but it ain't that easy to fix them. Especially that dancing thing, oh crap, I feel like I can;t help it
I ve widen my grip to almost bench press width but I m not sure if it helps me in any way.

Here is a vid from todays squats

 

[_3M_]

Could be any number of things but the 3 general reasons are technique, mental, physical.

Starting with technique -

widen your grip out. I say this because you are pushing your elbows forward (which is normally good) but in this case they are shooting forward past the bar. This will actually stretch the back muscles and loosen the back up.

Before you squat you were kinda dancing around. Knock that off. Stand still and let the bar settle. If you are dancing around rocking about etc this means you aren't pushing out on the side of your feet and therefore the hips are not tight.

Into mental - your dancing around is often a sign of nerves. Before you get under the bar put your hands on it. Close your eyes and take a big deep breath of air and push it all out. Release that anxiety.

Cover the mirror. Looking at your contorted face and trying to see if you hit depth or whatever else will screw with your head. All your body parts are still there trust me. You don't need to see them.

Physical - I would need to see much closer to 1rm to see what falls apart. So in general I would say you need to program this lift properly so it isn't all max effort all the time. Take a look at Go Away's log for a good example of periodization.

Some good assistance lifts for squat you can try:

Wide stance box squat
Romanian deadlift
Stiff legged deadlift
Hamstring curl
Glute ham raise
Good morning
Hack squat
Barbell row
Face pulls
Pull ups
Hyperextensions

Let me know if you have questions (tag me PillarofBalance)

Also your hair is awesome.

PillarofBalance
What a nerd! haha

I agree with everything POB said.

BroomHilda
I personally prefer a narrower grip, its just what feels most comfortable for me and actually feel like I can really squeeze my scaps and get tight that way. Layne Norton actually has a really good squat tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvHOdbFAoL8) which is worth a watch and maybe you can take a few things from it.

Another thing that I would suggest is really taking in a big breath before every rep, which will help you stay tight throughout each rep. Hard to tell if you already do that from the video angle.

Also the eversion of your feet may have something to do with your squat stance, again it is hard to see how exactly your feet are positioned but its definitely something to play around with maybe pointing your toes out a little less, and trying to push your knees out. That has actually helped me tremendously in my squat. I do understand that you have a preexisting issue with your ankles so that could definitely have something to do with it but then again maybe not. Something worth experimenting with though.

All of your lifts are actually really impressive.

 

[porky little keg]

Good stuff already here from BI and POB......... my $0.02 is that it's 100% technique related. You're on your toes.
The Elvis leg while you're setting up is a dead giveaway. Even in Oly shoes your heels are lifting off of the floor.

If I just saw your squat from the bottom up I'd say you're driving your legs hard out of the hole but your chest and upper back are loose. They are, but that's probably not the root of the problem.

The tough part is that we all feel cues differently. When I say "Chest up" 10 different lifters will do 10 different things.

It would definitely help to learn how to get your back tight before you even pick up the weight ( try walking your shoulders down/together to get the bar on your back instead of just setting it there).... something is definitely not right there because as you move your elbows it isn't really doing much to change your T spine ( which is the point of driving the elbows down).

But, the problem is there from the start. You're dancing the stanky leg from the walk out which is a clear sign that you're not on your heels.

It's a simple solution to try first but I promise that I'm not just being an A-Hole and blowing you off. There are 100 ways to do special exercises to fix this, but the first step is to just consciously try to get the weight on your heels.
Do that first and see if it helps before spending weeks doing exercises to build 30 different things, buying new shoes, or changing much else. It could just be something simple like getting the bar higher or lower so it doesn't feel like it's going to roll off ( which is why people lean forward more than they ned to)