Cannot seem to grasp good form on squats. Leg press machine good enough alternative?

[Participant]

Hi all. I'm early on in my quest to lose fat and retain muscle for my honeymoon in August. I'm 78kg and 5'11".

I've been doing predominantly dumbell exercises followed by an hour or so of cardio, revolving around two of: treadmill, cross trainer, and rowing machine. I do this three or four times a week.

The upper body exercises I've been doing so far have been seated shoulder press (DB), curl (BB), and bench press (DB). I'm going to start doing skull crushers and incline bench also.

In terms of legs though, I feel severely hampered by my inability to perform a squat, even with nothing on my shoulders. I'm very off balance and at the point that my thighs are parallel to the ground, I cannot stop myself from toppling backwards unless I lift my heels off the floor.

The way I see it is that I have three options:

- keep practising and try to perfect the squat (don't currently feel I can!)
- build myself up on other, easier to perform compound leg exercises that are easier to achieve decent form in
- stick to the leg press machine until I've got a bit more strength in the thighs, hoping that it will aid my squat

Anyone got any opinions on any of the above? Thanks in advance.

 

[Heaven Can Wait]

I really doubt that you can't squat your bodyweight, so maybe there's a problem with your form.
what shoes do you wear when squatting? you might want to try barefoot.
make sure your feet are positioned correctly, point them sideways
maybe practise holding onto something, try and find where you can do it smoothly?

 

[FeFiDoh]

I believe you are to push out through your heels, so maybe a small plank of wood behind them to help do this(I think maybe this will help with ya balance as it wont be so easy to fall back? heels already raised then) also try curling ya toes up.

Dont let ya knees go over ya toes as well, breathe in deep on way down and out at the hardest point of the return. If your struggling maybe just stick to a light weight and get the hang of it, make sure you go down to parrell. I see a lot of guys squatting in the gym but its tiny little movement so seems pointless to me

 

[THE DOC]

Have you tried front squats or even backs with just an olympic bar ,i had a friend like yourself but his was due to stiffness[tight big chest]and couldnt get the bar behind and he just started with the bar .

Or like i said before front squats ,maybe even deadlifts all will help .

 

[@if ®afiq]

The way I see it is that I have three options:

- keep practising and try to perfect the squat (don't currently feel I can!)

This is your only option

Stick with, use just the bar (don't let your ego get in the way!) and practice, practice and the practice some more. It took me a couple of months to get my form decent and I've got twigs for legs!

Have a read here: stronglifts.com

 

[Participant]

Thanks for the advice all. I read that link @if ®afiq and it covers the subject very well. It's made me resolve to keep practising it, and until I can do it with good form I will indeed use only the bar.

I really doubt that you can't squat your bodyweight, so maybe there's a problem with your form.

You are right; as I said in my original post, it's the form I can't do not the lifting part.

make sure your feet are positioned correctly, point them sideways

I think this has solved my problem. For some reason I had it in my mind that my feet should be pointing directly ahead and my knees also straight ahead. I've just practised in front of the mirror with my heels about shoulder width apart and pointing outwards, and it's much easier. Next time I go to the gym I'll grab the bar and give it a go .

Thanks all. Looking forward to getting some decent leg exercises under my belt.