Squat form question

[cheeky]

After my Monday workout, I was feeling a bit of pain in my knees and back. I'm not sure whether to attribute this to Squats or Deadlifts, but I suspected the problem might be my squat.

So yesterday (Wednesday), I decided to focus intensely on form when doing my squats. I have read and re-read and continue to read the articles and how-to's relating to Strong Lifts. After having a good read, I decided that I would not let bad form get the better of me. I did however still increase up from 95KG to 100KG as per the program.

For my second last set of squats, I only managed four - but with good form (in my opinion). I then did my last set and at the fourth rep was feeling I should stop, but then ambitiously decided to try and push one more.
Once I was in the hole, I realized that I was not going to get out. I had two options: 1) put more strain on the knees and back and get myself up or 02) drop onto my ass and avoid possible injury / pain.

I chose to plonk down on my ass (the safety poles are just above knee height - quite low) and suck up the defeat.

My question is - in that situation, did I do the right thing? Or, should I rather just place a bit of strain on the other areas and get myself up?

Thanks
Cheeky

[luco]

Sounds like your safety pins are a bit too low. Get down in the hole with just the bar on your back, estimate where the bar is height wise and set the safety pins about 5 inches lower. This way you can just go down a little and the bar will be safe. You don't want to drop on your ass with a heavy weight on your back.

[cheeky]

Hi Luco.

There aren't actually safety pins on the machine. It's a squat rack with 2 sides. See the pic I attached.



Similar to that. So basically once I squatted down, the pole was almost resting on those two arms that come out.

I pretty much almost had my ass on the ground due to being down in the squat, so all I had to do was just squat lower so that the pole rested across the two arms and then i could get out.

Right thing to do? Or strain the legs and back a little?

[luco]

Then it was the right thing to do, but having your ass almost on the ground sounds like you're going a bit too low. Or are you doing a highbar olympic squat? For lowbar squats you should just break parallel by an inch or so, to get the most out of your hamstrings from the bottom position. No need to touch your calves with your ass.

[cheeky]

Highbar squats!

[BlocHead]

you may need to practice dumping the bar and the best way to do it in that case.i also squat in a rack like yours but im quite small 5ft 6" so the safety-bars are only a couple of inches below my squat depth which is perfect for me. Also i noticed you had an increase of 5kg on your squat it should actaully only be 2.5kg (5kg for deads) each session, maybe that could be a reason for the missed rep?

[luco]

Ok, than ignore previous comment . Any particular reason for doing highbar squats? Are you doing the SL5x5 program? Sports-specific training? If you are already quad dominant, you may be emphasizing this problem by not doing lowbar squats.
I also think you'll be able to keep up linear progression for a longer time doing lowbar squats, since you can move more weight.

[cheeky]

Well, I'm doing the SL5 x 5 and to be honest the high bar method is just what I've been doing from the beginning and is the most comfortable. It's also how I interpreted it as the way it should be done via the articles on SL.
I am willing to give the low bar method a shot - I just want to accomplish my 1st major goal, which is 5x5x100KG squat.
Thereafter 5 x 5 x 1.5BW which should be 120KG by the time I reach 80KG.

Once I have those goals ticked off, I will look into variations. I'm just worried that if I start low bar now I'm going to give myself an excuse not to progress each time.

Thanks for the feedback!

[aramirez626]

Aside from dumping or continuing, the fact that you had stress on your knees sounds like bad form. You did the right thing in dumping becasue I was in your situation and kept going, causing me to strain my knee. It is still healing but after correcting my form I dont feel that strain anymore. So my point is, is that you still need to work on your form becasue you shouldnt feel any significant stress on the knees

[cheeky]

@BlocHead: Yeah - I've been increasing by 5KG (2.5 per side) each time so far. Naturally this has lead to one or two stalls for a session or two here and there but I manage to progress thereafter.
I only just built myself some 1.25KG weight outta washers and Pratleys putty yesterday - so keen to increase a litle less every time now

@aramirez626
My form def was the problem previously, which is why I didn't wanna make the same mistake again this time. I think I should maybe deload to 95 / 97.5 and do one or two more sessions perfecting the form, then continue!