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There are a lot of things you guys need to fix. And with so many movements, I could write paragraphs. If I had the time, I would.

Do some research. YouTube is a great resource. I recommend Alan Thrall. He has some excellent, concise videos on the squat, deadlift, bench, row, and press; all of the exercises you're performing. They cover the basics of each movement, and might help you perform the movements with decent form, but there is a lot that they don't talk about.

For example, it's easy enough to follow cues, such as "squat below parallel", but it would behoove you to understand why you should perform the movement this way. For this, you will need to do more research. I recommend:

Starting Strength 3rd edition by Mark Rippetoe is a great starting place. It is a very in-depth approach to the basic movements: the squat, standing press, bench press, power clean, and snatch. Every trainer should read this book.

I've heard good things about Strength Theory. The website provides complete, free guides to the basic lifts.

Lastly, I encourage you to continue posting to /r/formcheck after you've had some more practice lifting

> if I go even further down my back collapses even more....what do I do to fix that?

As u/BR33ZY, you need to deload your squat weight and fix your form while re-progressing.

> Also should I sit back and squat or is it more of a straight down motion? This is the biggest thing confusing me right now.

We're talking about the low bar squat here. It's different from the high bar squat in many aspects.

The idea is to push your hips back and descend untill you hit depth, then push your hips up.

For this it's better to watch and read than to just read.

To watch:

• This video is very good and illustrative of how to perform the low bar squat
  
  
• A longer video but also very good aswell
  
  
• An even longer video, also a very good one!
  
  To read:
  
  
• Read this whole section, it's very thorough!
  
  
• I recommend you also read the Starting Strength 3rd edition by Mark Rippetoe.
  
  Cheers!

Agreed with /u/Rhinocalypse on deloading and leaning the basics (both squatters in the video). There's no depth and a number of other issues.

I found [Untamed Strength: "How To" SQUAT - High bar/Low bar] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs_Ej32IYgo) helpful. And [Starting Strength] (http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook/dp/B006XJR5ZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421372775&sr=8-1&keywords=Starting+Strength&pebp=1421372777426&peasin=B006XJR5ZA) is a great book to begin power lifting. The first chapter has over 50 pages dedicated to the squat, which goes to show how much there is to learn / how important it is to get it right to avoid injury.

But it is? The great thing about body mechanics is that it’s indisputable. Although the issue is less about the pressure on the lower back and more about not having the spine straight over the pelvis to create a stable platform to generate torque. That’s just harder to explain to people and it makes more sense for most people to just say don’t cross the feet because it rounds the lower back.

Pull-up Fault

I would recommend everyone purchasing a book called Becoming a Supple Leopard. It has everything needed for any time of form question without any bro-science.

Amazon

I got these Nordic Lifting Shoes for a reasonable price and they feel great!

Oh ok. These types of things is what i was thinking about but some look the ones you have: https://www.amazon.com/HUEGLO-Adjustable-Arthritis-Basketball-Protection-x/dp/B072N3J9BP


Although those straps aren't quite for general arthritis but more of a specific kind where the patella wears out the cartilage on the side of the knee cap due to being poorly aligned. This is an issue for people with either "knocked knees" or who are "bow legged."