Squat - hips back before squatting
 

I see guys moving their hips back before they initiate the squat, and leaning more forward. 9 times out of 10 then end up with a more good-morning style squat because of it.

Who are people picking this up from? I see it far too frequently for it to be random.

Here is an example. It's a mild one. Many are much more exaggerated with greater forward lean.

they are going to tear something pretty bad, which is bad to say....Someone needs to get their trainers slapped around

My opinion...

Starting the hips back at the start of the squat is fine.
Letting the hips rise first on the way up is BAD juju.

My issue isn't so much with the hips going back, but the resulting starting position of the squat. Most of the time the head is moved forward, and with it the barbell moves forward past the center of the foot.

I tried to squat yesterday with the hips set back. It almost automatically resulted in the head going forward. I noticed it in the first couple of reps and reverted back to my earlier stance. It takes a pretty conscious effort for those not used to this, to get in the starting position with an appropriate curvature of the spine instead of leaning forward.

I believe a lot of this could be due to Ripp's videos, where he asks the lifters to lock their lumbar in a good position - often involves the hips going back. This advice then ends up getting distorted. For the uninitiated (happened to me), who dont know how to get their spine in the proper position, the set up could get messed up, since instead of sticking the butt out in proper position, its quite easy to end up leaning a bit forward. Hope I am making some sense, lol.

Going down to lighter weights, this is one of the things I am working on.

one of the main causes of lower back injury ...

Thanks Kit, and thanks for sharing that. It shines the light on the need for practice, and the importance of not using one form pointer at the expense of another.

I've seen a couple videos recently with the "hip shove" much more exaggerated than this, resulting in the bar moving forward quite a bit. This puts the lifter in a precarious position, placing a greater degree of stress on the lower back, and usually turns a squat into a pseudo-good morning

Here we can see Ripp doing it, but it's a natural part of the squat movement and not a precursor The barbell stays over the center of his feet:

Interesting what Ripp says about lifting the chest, hamstring tightness and knees. I think it can be applied to deadlifting as well, and why some deadlifters get the knees forward and get under the bar in a hitch position. Hip drive, hip drive.

But if you are not an experienced lifter then a slight forward movement from this angle can create problems. It will become very difficult to draw the line between "Squat" and "Squat with GM". As Rob pointed out that their trainers should be slapped very hard ... :)

Check his knees (first post).
It's not hips going back that is a problem. It's knee's going forward that's the problem.
It's hips back, knee's out. If the knee's are driving out hard enough they won't be going forward over the toe's. Which helps take out a lot of that forward lean, and keeps the back flat and vertical.