Hip Drive - The Essentials of Loaded Human Movement 

The most helpful cue I have yet seen, to prevent straightening up too early, came from Jonathon Sullivan. His 'wall of power' cue. Imagining your butt is touching a wall behind you at the bottom then sliding your butt up the wall, maintaining contact with the (imaginary) wall as you come up.

Knowing hip drive is connected to back angle is very helpful. I'll need to watch this every 4 months as a reminder.

You misspelled hip DRAHVE.

8:30 “Drive your hips while your chest is pointed at the floor.” First time hearing that one. Souds a little awkward or new. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Absolutely excellent tutorial on hip drive. I just emailed this to myself so I can watch right before I squat each time. My knees are killing me because I have not been doing this right.

I had a bad habit of staring at myself during the squat. I noticed that most lifters look down, I've started to incorporate this man does it work wonders.

Nick really is a great teacher.

Nick is such a good teacher. Even if we have never see him lift!

Though I thought i was doing this correctly on my own, I recently attended their squat and deadlift camp in Chicago. I had it WAY wrong. Bar position, elbows, torso angle AND not leading with my hips. The coaches were great and really helped me learn to replicate this very unnatural feeling movement.

Huh, I definitely learned something here. I have that tendency to lift my chest too quick at the start. Going to try exaggerating the hip movement at the start next time I'm doing squats.

This is only strengthening my resolve to preach Starting Strength to any gym trainee I talk to

Excellent information and very little sales pitch. This shows exactly how, if you prove your knowledge of the subject, business will come in droves! Thanks for all you and the team at Starting Strength do to help us average people get strong.

Nick is an excellent teacher. I’ve learned a lot from him.

Greta video! Congratulations on the development of the material for this video. Great explanation, precising the "how" and the "why"

If you are talking about the hips shooting up, and the upper back falling behind, you are right, that does happen with heavy weights. It's also the reason you cannot lift even heavier weights. If the hips are moving, and the bar isn't moving commensurate with the hips, work is not being done against the bar. It is therefore waste. If efficiency is the objective. If somebody is leaving the bar behind, you can always get pounds out of their squat by getting them to take the bar with them in training. The cues that help to prevent that breakdown in training, will help to prevent missed lifts at heavier lifts when maxing. You just won't see it because there will still be breakdown. That's the difference between form, and technique, you can see form, but you can't see technique. Training people in the pattern that they will break down to under a heavy enough load isn't inherently bad because you are not training strength athletes. It takes more technical precision to drive your back up against the bar while keeping it over the mid foot, as well as getting your hips through after you pass parallel, and most people could do without that complexity. I don't have a problem with what y'all have going on here as long as you call it what it is. This is a disadvantaged variation that is more accessible to recreational lifters. There isn't one world class squatter, raw or equipped that is trying to stay bent over as long as they can. There is not one that thinks it's okay if the hips are not moving commensurate with the barbell. The way y'all sell this variation it seems like you are implying that you found something everybody else missed. Even with the deadlift. They are pulling the slack out of the bar while getting into position, not starting in the wrong position because they didn't learn the starting strength method, Either that, or in strongman events deadlifts for reps get squattier because the low back doesn't clear metabolites as fast as the legs. Either that, or you have short armed, long torso lifters who have to start with their hips further back to line up their arms over the bar while keeping the bar in a good position. You didn't find the way when it comes to the deadlift either. You found a way, that normies can do. Laymen can learn all this now, so it's time to keep it real...

Not sure how I still manage to learn something after reading the book and all these videos I’ve watched. 🤣 Great job sir.

This is one of the best explanations of what hip drive is and is not. The question I have after watching this is about the end of the squat movement: it looks like you end up doing a good morning at the end of the rep if you don't start to lift your chest earlier. Wouldn't that put a lot of strain on your lower back? Thoughts?

Nick is a genius at explaining weight lifting!

This video is awesome. Please make one just like this for the clean as well! Nervous about old injuries in my wrist and am hesitant to do the NLP because of it. Can’t call it an NLP without them!

The confusing part for many is the discussion at 9:00 and good mornings. You say "as long as your hips are not going back." Maybe it's the choice of word "going back" but what's the difference? Even this woman at about 9:10 when she stands up looks like her hips are going back.

11:12 “Keeping the Chest down as you drive your hips” Yup. Whenever I raise my head or look up while I hip raise I lose my balance.

It was so helpful when Nick illustrated the lengths of the two moment arms (knees to bar, and bar to hips) with his hands.

Thank you, Nick!

what helps me on the upward phase is just to remember to keep the bar path straight. it makes me move my hips under me instead of trying to move my back upright.

Hip drive is key!! Rarely mentioned. One thing about the squat. She is almost doing a good morning. While anatomy will dictate much of the upper body angles, I see way too many people sitting back on a squat. The knees and hips should break at the same time, not throwing the hips back. A squat is a great quad movement. By throwing the hips back, you lose so much of the quad activation. Hence, that lean forward and late hip movement. While I won’t say it’s bad to have some hop back movement, the weight should not be on the heels, but on the whole foot.

Constructive Criticism: Too many words. The problem with saying too much is that people tune out, forget what was said, and worst of all the tendency to be self-contradictory (Ex: "the body adjusts itself" [1:20] then "the weight adjusts itself" [1:40]). People don't care about moment arms, fulcrums, the spine of the scapula, angles in degrees, etc. Unless they ask questions, the best directions are "butt back, chest down, knees out" [8:50]. I've read two editions of Starting Strength and have been using the program for over 10 years, so I fully understand the depth of knowledge being conveyed, but I think more people would be willing to try if the instructions were made more simple. Starting Strength videos should have at least three more orders of magnitude in views---because every single living body needs this program. "Stay Strong"

Oh my! I can't wait for the inane babbling of the haters of this excellent content.

I've always been squatting that way feels like, and I always thought I'm putting too much strain on my lower back. I tried fixing it and I started having a bit of lower back pain out of nowhere, I was so confused I thought it was from the heavy RDLs that I was doing, I stopped them for 1 session, pain was still there, the next time I honestly had forgotten about my squat technique and I squatted the way I normally do which I noticed the next day when I had no pain and took a look at the recordings I had done and that's when I noticed I was squatting with my hips again, I got mad for a second that I had forgotten, but then a second later I was like "well damn, no back pain though, I guess I'll just keep doing them the way I've always done".

This is an excellent video

Need this NOW..🔑 Thank u for patiently explaining all I/ Others needs 2 Know..

7:30 Just a question. This is the low bar squat position? I’m not really a fan of the high bar squat position. Although I know I should use that now and then. Yet you feel it on your knees a little with the high bar squat.

Right, this is good for the majority of people but I take issue with how black and white this is presented. This is all in relation to how my existing muscle mass is distributed to begin with. Someone with proportionally strong quads and weaker posterior chain may actually be stronger with a slightly more upright position, and training (submaximally) with a more upright position will bias your quads over time and turn you into a more "quad dominant" lifter. Additionally, if you wish to squat deeper than parallel (something Starting Strength vehemently argues against with this arbitrary idea of "effective range of motion") then you have no choice but to substitute some of that hip drive for leg drive. Using footage of Clarence Kennedy to make this point is a bit disingenuous. He is well known for being posterior dominant and using his back a lot in all of his lifts. Look instead at his fellow countryman Eoin Murphy, who moves similar loads with an intentionally much more upright leg dominant form. Now, I agree most people tend to under-utilize their hips when squatting, and that over-emphasize it for some period of their training might help unlocking that balance between hips and knees more easily, but I disagree with the notion that "this is how you must squat to get stronnnnggg".

Well done. Droves the point. Emphasize the hip to move the load up from the bottom. Thank you

Finally a video with Bree in it and not just the thumbnail!

Bre is my spirit animal.

Fantastically explained!

Nick's 'stache game is on point.

this one did it for me. I finally got the back angle concept.

Thank you, this is reassuring. I thought I was keeping my back too horizontal too long.

Great video Nick!

Excellent explanation

Great,all new to me! Thank you!

I don’t know really looks like a squat-morning to me.

Thank You

The gentleman that they showed with the very low hip on the deadlift was that Ed Coan

I am so confused. I see her hips coming up first. But I see video after video saying hips should not come up first in the squat. Which is correct?

I would love to be able to have Clarence's crashing bar speed with 300 kgs on my back though.

I'm now a bit confused, because somewhere else in the SS material (possibly the blue book?) the admonition was to _maintain_ the back angle attained at the bottom of the squat as the hips drive up vertically.

Fantastic video and extra points for having footage of Clarence0 at 8:01 - the Harry Potter of Squatters :)

That videography 😗👌

Amazing content.

I've been staying upright, I now know I'm wrong, thank you so much, I'm excited to try and hit my goal of 225.

8:01 Ah, Clarence, my squatter role model!

When I do it the way he is teaching, I feel like I am doing a good morning at the top of the lift and the most difficult part of the lift is on the lower back. I've never felt injured from it, but is that normal? Conversely, if I hold myself more upright, I find the lift to be easier.

8:00 I like how he used a vezhun for his example of a heavy squat

Good stuff Nick. That back angle @ 8:11 and also he’s a high bar, right? So even more telling.

I don’t get the looking down at the floor during a squat. Makes it look more like you’re doing a set of good mornings. I learned from national caliber powerlifters in the early 80s to keep your head up and look up, especially if you’re tall or thin. This keeps you more erect throughout the squat. Or so I was lead to believe.

So the heavy male lifting example is wrong form?

Excellent

Why are you using Clarence as an example of how not to squat, i.e., chest comes up, bar speed crashes. Clarence is probably one of the best squatters out there... It might not be an SS style low bar squat, however, I think it'd been better to use someone who is indeed using the SS low bar and failing to keep the chest down as an example to show how when the chest comes up, the bar speed crashes, and not Clarence Kennedy

At 9:10, Nick says that losing back angle out of the bottom is okay, as long as the hips aren't moving back. I really struggle with letting the hips shoot back. Any advice or cues to fix that form fault?

Is that Eddie Hall at 10:30 in the background? 😂

I respect the starting strength way of teaching the squat but it is certainly on one end of the spectrum being fairly posterior chain dominant and focused on the highest squat weight possible. If you are not a powerlifter and just lifting for muscle mass and/or health, why wouldn't you make the squat more quad dominant (knee forward, more upright back angle) since the deadlift is already your main posterior chain builder?

I appreciate the low bar squat as taught by SS. My question is, why do people have the tendency to want to get upright? If while under a near-maximal load, the body finds the most mechanically advantageous position, why fight against the tendency to get upright if that is what the body is attempting to do in order to move the load? Or, if being more bent over (say midway through the squat) is more advantageous, why does the body have a natural tendency to become more upright, given the body adjusts its position to complete the movement.

Brie can squat 315lbs and weighs 150lbs? Yoooooo, that’s more than me! I’m terrible at squats. I have no problem with dead lifts however squats give me trouble.

I am going to have to watch this video over and over again. When I do squats, I go down like it states in this video. But going up I have been doing it somewhat different. As my hips drives, my chest also begins to raise up. *** Would this be the cause of my knee pain?*** My medial meniscus on both knees is not happy with me right now.

i mean i agree. I train the program but when people look at this guy, they don’t think “oh he’s strong” . They think “he’s fat” haha Strength is great but you need composition as well.

Only problem is when hips go up first out of the hole while looking down creates a good morning squat when the load gets heavier . The hips and chest won't go up at the same time.

This is an apples to oranges comparison when using Clarence Kennedy videos as the "wrong" example. Kennedy squats high bar, so the mechanics are different. He also squats in excess of 600 lbs--in the video, he's got 595 lbs on the bar--so some slowing is normal at near maximal loads.

clarence is a fuckin beast!

Does bre ever leg press?

What are your credentials and/or degrees in the exercise sciences.

Nah i squat high bar.. up right throughout..

8:02 is that the Irish vegan lad, Clarence?

11:27 I think there's a hidden motivation behind why they used Clarence Kennedy's footage as an example of how not to do squats. Two years ago, Zack Telander released a video exposing Mark Rippetoe's lack of knowledge about Olympic weightlifting, and the response they gave to that video was terribly poor. The video is called "Rip Responds to Confused RU-vid Strength Coaches," and it's an example of how not to respond to valid criticism. Zack and Clarence are friends and have made many videos together. Those who follow Olympic weightlifting channels always agree on one thing: Mark Rippetoe is a great teacher for beginners, but falls short with more advanced athletes. It's a recurring joke among weightlifting coaches on RU-vid to quote some of Mark Rippetoe's statements that demonstrate his lack of knowledge about the sport, and that's why I believe they used Clarence as a bit of payback.

Based

Imagine the creation of a vertical skidmark on a wall. Keep consistent contact with said wall throughout the manoeuvre and drive dat ass up.

Nick looks a little bit like King Hippo from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. (Not a hater.)

So you're saying Tom Platz is completely wrong..? Isn't it better to give people options that fit them and their structure, rather than saying "this is the only way"..?

Hip DRAAAAHHVEE

When I use hip drive, the weight shifts from midfoot to toes. Any cues to correct this? Thanks!

came for clarence

Love the info I just hate the way y'all squat 😂

I just don't get it.... I mean, that doesn't seem like "hip drive" to me. At one point you're basically fully loading the spine to lift the weight up to vertical. That will ABSOLUTELY destroy your discs. Especially if you have bulging diaca or hernias... This to me is plain BAD ADVICE (if she's doing it "correctly").

Starting strength PLUS BJJ????? Im going to shut up and tap out right now.😮

I've been struggling for a long time with asymmetric squats. When the weight gets heavy, I push forward with my right hand, and load my front knee, and my right heel comes off the ground. I've tried tempo squats, lowering the weight, pause squats... but the problem persists at heavier weights.

Applicable to both low and high bar squats?

Bree ❤

Is Bre's womAndroid software ChatGPT integrated?

How does this technique apply to the high bar position?

Pretty good teknique

All this makes my buttwink worse and goodmorning taking a toll on my back.

Why he don't look like he lift

There has been a lot of new information on squatting since SS came out. Depth, butt wink, hip work - technique shown in this film is pretty awful by modern standards and there are better ways to do it.

Heeup drahve

don't know why you like doing hip drive. most of powerfilters and strongmen professoinals and chamipoins don't do butt raise up first. I get trained by strogman champion of 2023 for 70 KG she never allow me to hip first.

Too long a video. Would be more effective showing side-by-side videos of recommended vs bad form.

Squatting this way can also fuck up your lower back when your lifting heavy. What do you guys have to say to the fact that world record power lifters don't recommend rippitoes version of the squat?

I only clicked on this to look at Brie.

I just can't trust Brie ever since she said the beef was better. I've done both and she's flat out wrong. So can I *really* trust any movement patterns she demonstrates? I just don't know anymore...