squat flexation

[larrycrazy]

I think i have a hard time hitting paralell during squat.I read that you should go down as far down as your flexability allows but everybody says you are doing it half ass if you don't go all the way down.My flexability won't allow me to go down any more than i can.Should i take a wider stance?Need some advice

[LuckSide]

I think i have a hard time hitting paralell during squat.I read that you should go down as far down as your flexability allows but everybody says you are doing it half ass if you don't go all the way down.My flexability won't allow me to go down any more than i can.Should i take a wider stance?Need some advice

Your stance should be about shoulder width, but you should focus on stretching and increasing your flexibility, mostly in your hips.

[larrycrazy]

Your stance should be about shoulder width, but you should focus on stretching and increasing your flexibility, mostly in your hips.

Pretty sure it's my hip flexors that i'm having problems with.I try and stretch but i'm cursed with bad joints and ligaments lol.I'll keep stretching and i'll do 1 to 2 warm up sets before going up in weight.I'm new to squatting and am having a few technical difficulties.

[wisdommaster1]

mobilitywod.com they have some great hip stretches that if done regularly will increase your flexibility

[DivaJana]

I think i have a hard time hitting paralell during squat.I read that you should go down as far down as your flexability allows but everybody says you are doing it half ass if you don't go all the way down.My flexability won't allow me to go down any more than i can.Should i take a wider stance?Need some advice

Stand up without the bar, and play with your stance until you find the most comfortable one, that will allow you to hit depth using a good form.

[larrycrazy]

Stand up without the bar, and play with your stance until you find the most comfortable one, that will allow you to hit depth using a good form.

I there anything wrong with a little wider than shoulder width?I would think with that stance and good form it would put more loads and stresses on the Glutes and Hams.Wich is essentialy what i want most out of this exercise.I always feel that with my legs i always feel it in my quads the most no matter how much i'm on my heels.

[HarryFlashman]

A good way to stretch I've always found is to do it while watching tv. If you sink into a stretch while you're relaxed and hold it for minutes at a time you can do a few stretches over the course of an hour or so and really get loose by the end. If you just try and do it normally, stretching is too boring to do that on its own for ages on end.

[Yarby]

I there anything wrong with a little wider than shoulder width?I would think with that stance and good form it would put more loads and stresses on the Glutes and Hams.Wich is essentialy what i want most out of this exercise.I always feel that with my legs i always feel it in my quads the most no matter how much i'm on my heels.

"Is there anything wrong with a little wider than shoulder width" Go to Youtube and search for "westside barbell". Watch any of the squat or dead videos and that should answer your question.

[k9pit]

I there anything wrong with a little wider than shoulder width?I would think with that stance and good form it would put more loads and stresses on the Glutes and Hams.Wich is essentialy what i want most out of this exercise.I always feel that with my legs i always feel it in my quads the most no matter how much i'm on my heels.

If you want to emphasize glutes and hams, you can just do a wider stance low bar form and not worry about ass to grass style squatting. But, it would still be imperative to improve your flexibility.

As far as feeling it in the quads, are you doing high bar or low bar? For me high bar *feels* more quad dominate. Low bar *felt* (when I used to do it) far more ham/glute/abductor dominate. I'd have to do high reps of low bar before I got any quad burn out of it. Either way though, if you aren't hitting parallel it's likely going to feel quad dominate since glutes/hams are better engaged when coming out of the hole.

[bmontgomery87]

x2 on mobilitywod.com

work on mobility until you can squat to parallel at minimum

[DivaJana]

I there anything wrong with a little wider than shoulder width?I would think with that stance and good form it would put more loads and stresses on the Glutes and Hams.Wich is essentialy what i want most out of this exercise.I always feel that with my legs i always feel it in my quads the most no matter how much i'm on my heels.

No. There isn't, as long as it allows you to hit depth.

[godsamurai]

there is no universally determined stance you have to choose, so keep trying the different width of the stance with the trial and error until it works for you. If somebody goes "it must be shoulder width", tell that idioit to fuk off.

if you go really wide however, that's low bar squat so unless you don't want to change it from high bar, dont go there. (low bar squat requires different technique)

if u still can't go down parallel, do the quick form check, if you put the video here I can tell you easily what's wrong. If form is right, then weight is heavy.

[larrycrazy]

Thanks to everybody who replied.Will deff. take what everybody said into consideration.

Thanks