Squats---Proper Form?

[iSlaNdEr bOy]

I just recently started doing squats and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I go all the way down untill my quads are parallel to the floor, but when I go up, I feel a little of the pressure shift to my lower back. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Should I go out and buy a training belt?

 

[ponyboy]

No belt, that will promote NOT supporting your lower back. You need to learn how to do the movement properly without causing too much pressure on your lower back.

Likely you are leaning too far forward when going down into squat position. Make sure when decending that your back remains locked into place and does not round. Your shoulders should remain in the same plane as your feet throughout the movement.

Practice by going down only as far as you can until you feel your back round. That is your range of motion for now. You can improve on this by stretching and slowly working towards proper development of your squatting muscles.

 

[Mudge]

Your abs and lower back may not be up to par, for deads and squats both I had to up my ab training.

I go all the way down and nothing hits my legs like squats does.

 

[Monolith]

Originally posted by Mudge
Your abs and lower back may not be up to par, for deads and squats both I had to up my ab training.

I go all the way down and nothing hits my legs like squats does.

Side question for ya:

ATM i dont do any ab training, and my squat form seems to be adequate. If i were to begin training abs again, do you think i would see a related increase in the amount of weight im pushing?

 

[Mudge]

I dont know your height or how that may affect you, but I dont understand how you can squat or deadlift without either having poor form or using less weight than you potentially can.

So for me the answer is a huge YES, if I dont have the abs up to par I start folding in half, especially on deadlifts. On squats it usually starts happening towards my last 2-3 reps.