Squat stance comparison and squat dephths - my squats!

So - I felt creative today and thought I just take pictures of myself bodyweight squatting as low as possible with different stances, without shoes.

My prefered squat stance is about the same as for sumo deadlifts, those are btw more "half sumo" deadlifts - not so very wide stance compared to many others.

So - I took pictures of six different stances:

1a narrow stance - feet pointing forward
1b wider stance - feet pointing forward
1c very wide stance - feet pointing forward

2a narrow stance - feet 45degrees outwards
2b wider stance - feet 45degrees outwards
2c very wide stance - feet 45degrees outwards

For me, "narrow" stance is shoulder width - it feels really narrow for me, although for most exercises, this is the go-to width.
Wider stance is positioning my feet just outside shoulder width, and very wide stance is the widest stance I can manage to squat in (with body weight and no shoes/flat shoes).

Here are the picture for comparison:

Such huge differences in my dephth!
Narrow stance/shoulder width doesn't work at all for me - I feel like falling over.
Wider stance feels natural, although if I don't point my feet out, there is no way I could squat below paralleL!
The best stance is 2b, feet pointed out and a wider stance - this is how I squat.
I could also do a very wide stance with my feet pointed out - especially goblet squats and front squats are quite easy to do like that, and they feel safe and strong.
But both a high-bar and low-bar squat is definitely best with a medium wide stance.

I do have a hip angle that allows for great range of motion turning my feet/legs outwards.
In most situations, when I sit at a table, I prefer to sit in a lotus position since having my feet "straigt forward and down" feels unomfortable.
That could be a genetic/family thing - I can remember both my and my brother sitting at the dinner table as teenagers, in the "lotus position" - I mean who else does that?

Squat biomechanics - the long femur-short torso challenge - part 1

So - I found those videos here really helpful so I will collect them here.
I think I might to watch them again from time to time - especially when hitting a wall in squatting or when frustration hits, or when I get some stupid less-well researched comments from som guy in the gym.

Video nr.1:

About squatting and long femurs (thigh bone) and short torso - Bret Contreras

So I will just collect some articles about the issue - squatting when you torso (=back) is relatively short in relation to your femurs (thighs) - and you feel you bend over.

Had a look at this articles - so well explained:

https://bretcontreras.com/how-femur-length-effects-squat-mechanics/

Easy leg day - I think I just squat like this.

So - finally I was rid of my DOMS from my heavy day on monday.
Unexpectedly one of the guys were there, and he hadn't been seeing me squatting for a while.
Now that I have changed to low bar squatting on my heavy lifts, the angle between my back and hip has decreased even more - I'm leaning much more forward than I used to.
Still, I feel much stronger with a low bar squat, and I don't get sore in my back or hips - I FEEL strong and as if it's more about the strength I can get develop to lift than about tolerating pain under my heavy lifts (yes, UNDER my heavy lifts).

I had been feeling confident about my squatting, have been able to slightly increase the weight again each week, if only one kg at a time, that is: one kilogram pr week. But I'm started all over again.
Now I'm at 61kg, 5x5, and it feels strong.

I also believe that with some powerlifting shoes, that is, with a bit of a raised heel, I will feel even stronger and maybe be able to open up my hip a bit more.
OJ (one of the guys) wasn't so sure - and kept telling me I needed to lift my back up more (that I have been trying for over a year, even since I started training powerlifting two years ago! And it doesn't work like that).
He suggested using a belt.
I tried that too.
And yes, I felt much stronger. It felt good to have something firm to breath against, to develop a pressure against. I felt more stable.
But I don't think the back angle "improved".

Again, I am convinced now that this is the way I squat.
After watching the women lift in the ipf powerlifting world championships last weekend, I saw how different and individual squatting is - so many different styles!

Some of the lifts clearly looked more like textbook lifts, other were almost "ugly" (but still strong). The women look all vey different as well. All kinds of sizes and shapes - beautiful!
That gave me confidence.

But I still am going to dig a bit deeper into the angle thing.
I have read so much about it and come to the conclusion that with my short back and long femur, my hip angle will be small and I will have to lean a lot forward in order not to fall over backwards.

But I will do further research.