Squat and Deadlift technique

Soldato
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I'm a bit concerned about my form when doing squats and DLs. I have weak legs to begin with and I'm also qute tall (6'2") but the majority of this is arms and legs, very little body in between lol. I find that balance is a major problem with these exercises.

With squats I get my legs down to around a 90 degree angle, but I tend to bend over quite far with my top half rather than stay upright. I cant go any further down than 90 degrees. With DL's I cant get my arse down far enough to make the "figure 4" shape. I tend to just bend over quite far, I keep my back straight but my arse is too high and therefore my legs are only very slighty bent (around 45 degrees maybe a bit more). It's more of a SLDL.

The trouble is that even with very little weight I cant get into the right position, I think my balance just sucks and I've got used to using the wrong technique (even though I have trained legs for that long - 4ish months). Another problem I think I have is that I have quite a strong back so I tend to use this too much rather than rely on leg strength because my leg strength sucks.

My current lifts are 80kg squat, 90kg deadlift. In comparison to other major lifts to see how weak my legs are; 80kg bench, 2x24kg dumbell shoulder press, 2x32kg incline dumbell press, 85kg lat pulldown, 140kg leg press. All of these lifts are for about 4-5 reps.

Any advice as how to sort things out?
Thanks
 
You're not supposed to keep your back upright squatting, that would be impossible. Rather keep it arched/straight. Doesn't matter if it leans forward as long as it's arched at the bottom.
 
It's a bit of a hard one, because everyone in the body building world on the internet recommends your arse sticking out with an arch in the back.
The chiropractor and physio I have seen both say straight back! I think a lot of it is down to the shape of your own body and how big your natural curve is, bad posture in the first place is going to play a big part in it.
At the end of the day, if you're experiencing any back pain from it then you need to get it checkd by a proffesional.
 
What do you mean when you say an arched back? How much of an arch are we talking? I always thought it had to be a dead straight back. And I'm not having any back problems, I just wanted to try sort my form out before I do!
 
I think he just means that of your natural curve/arch. Your spine is dead straight anyway so why do that when squatting?

Have you tried on a smith machine out of interest? Might be worth giving that a go and see how you fair.
 
Have you tried on a smith machine out of interest? Might be worth giving that a go and see how you fair.
I have had a go but I find that it limits your movement quite a lot, although it makes it a bit easier to control. I still cant get my arse to the floor though. Also I feel like i'm not getting the 'full effects' of a proper squat because you're kind of supported by the rails.
 
Top advice, keep it light until you get it right.

Squats, parallel, always looking up at a fixed point, an arch in your back.

Deads, same principle.

Don't bother with Smith Squats.

Form is the hardest part of weight training. Take your time to get it right and you'll be ahead of most people from the start.
 
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