Deck squat form & advice question

All,

 

I'm struggling on deck squats but after having read a few threads here I have started doing them holding a weight, with success.

 

My question is: should the knees stay together during a deck squat? If the answer is yes, then holding a single heavy dbell between the legs might be counter-productive, no? Should I rather hold two smaller dbells *outside* the legs?

 

Thanks - JD

Yes, legs together. A weight in each hand works fine.

Before adding weight I would try the mat/elevated surface alternative. That is, adding something behind you high enough where you can get back onto your feet, then slowly lowering over microcycles.

 

There is a chance you will never be able to do it without some weight as I remember Joshua Naterman mentioning a while back that some peoples leg bones are just weird lengths and physics is physics, but without a video and mobility check, I would not turn to that option first.

Thanks. I chose the weight approach because I felt it would be easier to scale back. I'll try the stacked mats.