Handling the Truth

So today I went in and spent a lot of time stretching and working on getting to a nice depth in my squat.    I think a large part of the problem is simply 1) my hips are tight and I need to devote more time to stretching, which I will be able to do in my new programming, and 2) I just need to go deeper than I FEEL like I have to, because what I feel is deep enough just isn't.

BUT I think the MAJOR problem is something that I've been ignoring for a while, and that is how low I keep the bar on my back. Because my shoulders are crazy flexible, no matter how close I move my hands I can still jam the bar WAY low on my back. I feel comfortable with the bar here, and despite efforts to change this, when the weight gets heavy and I get nervous, I resort to that lowww bar position. Problem is, it's so low on my back that I have to sit really far back and my chest has to come way forward, which makes it harder and harder to hit depth.

This is what I want to squat like. Then again, who fucking doesn't

This is the truth, and it's a problem. First of all, my bar is so low I'm not even sure it's legal in a meet. Second of all, I just don't want my squat to be an extremely low bar, barely-to-depth squat. Instead, I want a nice athletic squat - moderate width stance, torso strong and upright, and nice and deep. Doing what I'm doing now feels more comfortable and stronger, but in the long run moving my bar position up and doing a squat with my chest more upright and good depth is going to make me stronger and more athletic. THAT is the way I want to squat, and the longer I ignore the fact that i'm doing it wrong, the harder it is gonna be to fix. AS IS, hopefully I can change without a significant hit to my strength, and by focusing on it in my new cycle, I can continue to make huge strength gains with better form.

SO tomorrow, I'm gonna squat to a max with the bar in a better position and see how heavy I can get. Hopefully, it will be close to my current max (who knows, maybe I'll even pr). But even if I have a tough time, I just need to not worry too much about it, know that NOW is the time to make the change, and that a small hit to my max squat in the short term is going to equal better gains in the long term.

This is where I keep the bar currently I feel. Very low, it rolls on my back, and my chest goes way forward. 

Here's where I need to be, and where I will squat from tomorrow. Bar below traps, but sitting on the shoulders, rather than jammed halfway down my fucking back. 

We will see what happens tomorrow. Lets hope for the best.