Squat (404) and deadlift (425) form check

[TalEphrat]

Hello
I'm 21 years old, 5"7', currently cutting weight, started at 210lb and now I'm ~200lb.
My squat record at 210lb was 388lb for 4 reps, now it's 404lb for 3 reps (if you guys will approve it was deep enough). My deadlift record at 210lb was 408.5lb for 5 reps, now it's 425lb for 5 reps. Yesterday I did 441lb for 3 reps, but the technique of the 2nd and 3rd rep was very bad.

Squat:
399.5lb for 3 reps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-28d0jGJLw
404lb for 3 reps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62wJDXQoO4k

Deadlift:
425lb X 5 @ 206lb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovfE5fEX2M
425lb X 5 @ 205lb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPX_jOqr6PU


I train in a pool sport, and I just got back to swimming 4 weeks ago (this is the 5th week). Last week was swimming 6km and this week 6.5km. The problem is, that now I have a lower back pain, and I wonder if it's because of the technique - or just a recovery problem which I may solve with lowering the volume.
I'm aware that especially my squat is not good, and that I have GM. Any chance it causes the lower back pain? (the lumbar is still in a neutral position)
I was also good morninging before the swimming and diet, the same way, and had no lower back pain which lasted more than a couple of hours.



Thank you very much guys!

[Tom Campitelli]

Your squat is actually pretty good. You've got a sticking point in the middle, but you are not doing a good morning. After you come out of the bottom, you need to think about driving strongly through the middle while pushing your hips straight up. It looks like you rock a little on to your toes, but I would bet that a pair of weightlifting shoes would correct that.

Your back is probably hurting more from your deadlifts than the squats. You pull in flexion on almost every rep. As you set the bar down, make sure to bring it back to the mid foot. Keep the bar on your legs as you pull and keep your chest up with your lumbar spine in extension. Squeeze the bar off the ground with straight arms and stay tight.

[TalEphrat]

Your squat is actually pretty good. You've got a sticking point in the middle, but you are not doing a good morning. After you come out of the bottom, you need to think about driving strongly through the middle while pushing your hips straight up. It looks like you rock a little on to your toes, but I would bet that a pair of weightlifting shoes would correct that.

Your back is probably hurting more from your deadlifts than the squats. You pull in flexion on almost every rep. As you set the bar down, make sure to bring it back to the mid foot. Keep the bar on your legs as you pull and keep your chest up with your lumbar spine in extension. Squeeze the bar off the ground with straight arms and stay tight.

Thank you very much for the comment.
Diesen't the 2nd and 3rd rep of the 404lb squat counted as "good morning"? it looks that the bar travel fairly forward...
And another thing about the squat, are all these 6 reps deep enough? For me it looks like the 399lb are below parrallel and the 404 isn't.

As for the deadlift, I thought that it's not a drastic flexion, but if you say that the lower back pain is probably not from the squat, it leaves no other option. Considering I'm cutting weight and I don't want to lose strength (or not to lose a lot of it), would you recomment a deload in the deadlift? and if so, how much?
I train the deadlift once a week like that:
3 X 60kg \ 132lb
2 X 100kg \ 220lb
1 X 140kg \ 308lb
1 X 170kg \ 375lb
1 X 180kg \ 396lb
1 X 190kg \ 418lb
3 X 200kg \ 441lb

And the plan is to do it every week, for the cutting period, and if a failure arrive - to lower the weight a bit. Basically, to work on high intensity with low volume. This is after the volume day of the squat and press\bench, which include 15 working reps for the squat and 15 working reps for the press\bench.

I'll be glad to get an opinion on the deload question (in order to improve the technique), or about the whole programming.


Thank you very much again!
It's not an obvious thing =]

[GrimmThing]

404lb for 3 reps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62wJDXQoO4k

I get a "Not Found" error when I click the second squat link.

[Tom Campitelli]

For a squat to turn into a good morning, you need to see a pretty significant back angle change. You aren't doing that. You hold your back angle together quite well. You shift on to your toes as you ascend, which is why you see some bar path deviation. All of your reps are plenty deep. Aside from that sticking point in the middle, your squats look way better than most of the form checks around here.

By your own admission you are eating less and training more. This will not allow you to recover properly, so don't be surprised if some things start to hurt. I wouldn't do as many deadlift warmups as you do, unless you did not squat beforehand. For a work set, I'd do something more like:

5 x 60 kg
3 x 100 kg
2 x 140 kg
1 x 180 kg
Work set at 200 kg

Lots of deadlift warm ups can fatigue you.

Since you like to round your back, try dropping 10 or 20 kg off the bar and see if you can hold your back together. You do it just fine on the squat, so I suspect with some concentrated effort, you could do so on the deads. I cannot tell you the exact number because I am not there watching you.

[TalEphrat]

I get a "Not Found" error when I click the second squat link.

Checked it again, and it works for me... and ~50 people watched it (a private video) so I guess the problem is in your computer =]

For a squat to turn into a good morning, you need to see a pretty significant back angle change. You aren't doing that. You hold your back angle together quite well. You shift on to your toes as you ascend, which is why you see some bar path deviation. All of your reps are plenty deep. Aside from that sticking point in the middle, your squats look way better than most of the form checks around here.

By your own admission you are eating less and training more. This will not allow you to recover properly, so don't be surprised if some things start to hurt. I wouldn't do as many deadlift warmups as you do, unless you did not squat beforehand. For a work set, I'd do something more like:

5 x 60 kg
3 x 100 kg
2 x 140 kg
1 x 180 kg
Work set at 200 kg

Lots of deadlift warm ups can fatigue you.

Since you like to round your back, try dropping 10 or 20 kg off the bar and see if you can hold your back together. You do it just fine on the squat, so I suspect with some concentrated effort, you could do so on the deads. I cannot tell you the exact number because I am not there watching you.

About the squat depth: I'm very happy to hear that all of my reps were deep enough, but I'm still wondering in order to really understand and to judge better next time. This is the bottom position of the 2nd rep of the 183kg set:
http://oi50.tinypic.com/246ky77.jpg

My judgment was based on the two red points which as far as I understood, show the top of the patella and the hip joint. I thought about it again, and I may also think it's at the yellow point. Which of my thoughts are right, if any?

About the programming. I don't train more and eat less. Before I started swimming and dieting I was doing squat and bench\press 25 reps on volume day (5x5, was doing TM), and now I'm doing 3X4 and a triple, which mean 15 reps. At the deadlift I did 1X5, and now I do 1X3. Heavier 3, but the volume is lower...
I'll take your advice on programming the deadlift. The volume is not dramatically lower, but the intensity is. I'll try that, and about the lower weights, I have my warmups from yesterday filmed.
How's my back position?
It goes 140kg X 1, 170kg X 1, 180kg X 1 (had grip problem), 190kg X 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me2QnGjBdaM



Thank you very much!

[TalEphrat]

Hmm... anyone?

[Tom Campitelli]

Patience is a virtue.

[TalEphrat]

Patience is a virtue.

No problem I'll wait than

It's incredible that it's possible to get such a good coaching online. Thank you very much.

[Steve Hill]

On your DL, I'd like to (and I'll bet so would every other coach) see a heavy set of five, not singles. Singles are hard to judge any kind of trend on, but there are still some things that can be worked on:

-You're setting up too far from the bar. This is evidenced by your hips at the start of each rep. If you do it right, the bar breaks off the ground at the same time the hips start moving.
- You lose extension in your back on several of the reps, most likely do to not fully setting your back initially and not taking a deep breath and squeezing down on it.

Have you read this set-up procedure?