I set my 1RM for squats today, but I’m questioning my form. I don’t usually squat as low as Frank on the video demo, but once I got heavy enough I couldn’t go as low as usual but could still do reps.
So should I try to keep my form as low as the adaption phase or lift heavier and not go as low?
In lieu of one of the coaches’ advice, I would say that you need to have consistent form while lifting. If your 1 RM is based on a half-finished squat, it is not your 1 RM for a squat. If you do 6 half-squats, you’re cheating yourself out of the full benefit of doing a full squat.
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Keep form the same and squat to a consistent depth, always! If form is breaking down and you’re squatting noticeably high, it’s a sure sign to take some weight off the bar.
I think you touched on something that’s important so I wanted to expand on it:
There’s two issues to think about here:
1-Squat depth. There’s a variety of depths you can squat to, and the lower you go the harder the movement, so the lower the weight you’re going to use. There are arguments to be made about what the ideal squat depth is; we present what we believe to be best, especially for our purposes (As an example, and Olympic lifter and a powerlifter have very different ideal squat depths).
2-CONSISTENCY of squat depth. No matter what squat form you choose to adopt, you need to keep it consistent. Otherwise, you can’t compare apples-to-apples between sessions. It’s so easy to quarter squat your way to higher numbers; it becomes the equivalent of training with a power meter that reads too high. Imagine if you trained with a well-calibrated, accurate power meter 90% of the time, but every time you had a really hard session, you used a faulty power meter that inflates power output? That’s what you’re doing when you cheat form on a heavy set.
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Thank you! Great analogy too. I’m going to re-do my squat 1rm today for better consistency … definitely want all the benefits of the exercise I can get and know I’m not cutting myself short.