Squat/Bench/Deadlift Form Check

[Josh K]

I posted this in the technique forum but the sticky says that this forum has more people viewing it and will be critiqued by SS Staff? I'm curious as to what the difference is between the two boards.

Weight: 83kg - Started at 71kg
Height: 6ft1 barefoot


SQUATS

Been having a lot of pain and problems with the right side of my hip, always starts flaring up as soon as I get to 60-65kg. I've worked back up from 40kg twice, both times it was a nice smooth ride, adding 5kg every week then as soon as 60kg comes around, BANG, happens again.

It's deep in the crease between my thigh and hip. Foam rolling it afterwards hurts like a mofo (no trouble from the other leg/hip) and raising my knee up when standing is painful, especially if I internally/externally rotate it at the top. Does this sound like a hip impingement? Should I be asking this question elsewhere? Sifted through a few searches and couldn't find anything solid. Hope I'm in the right place!

Squats (I've included 3 warm ups before the point the video starts at if you're interested and if not the video will begin at the first set of 67.5kgx5 I tried to do, moves on to my pitiful 60kg deload attempt and then finally a single 60kg rep from the back just incase it helps):

http://youtu.be/s2QkFHTKpPg?t=2m3s

Every cue I'm trying to think about 'push knees out, sit back, head down, drive with hips, master cue/keep bar over midfoot' gets overwritten by this hip pain, even in the descents in the later sets. It gets worse as the set goes on.

If the video had sound you'd hear me straining like I'm trying to pass the biggest dump of my life, even on the single 60kg rep, which after doing squats for a few weeks, shouldn't really be that difficult? It's pretty much completely cause my hip is screaming at me the deeper I go and the reason my right side is higher is probably also because I'm subconsciously making my left side do more work to take the stress off the right.

BENCH

67.5kg, last set, just throwing this in here to make sure I'm not doing anything badly wrong, probably not the best angle for bench press:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SmI_bIJvMU

DEADLIFT


I have size 8 feet which for my height is comically small. Will this have an impact on deadlifts at all? Seems like when I lower my shins to touch the bar, I barely move at all. I start the set-up with lumbar flexion before I've even bent over to grab the bar, is there any point in this as it seems like it's lost as soon my hands are on the bar? Please excuse my head angle, didn't realise that just because my eyes are looking at a point on the floor doesn't necessarily mean my head is facing the same direction.

Since there's only 1 work set (95kg), I have my last warm up set from as close to a front 45 degree angle as I could get. The work set is side on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IUNl5wXPo

Unfortunately the darker it gets, the lower my camera's framerate gets to compensate for keeping decent lighting. The sun started disappearing after the squats.

Cheers.

[Matt Reynolds]

Starting with the deadlift...

Link was broken. This is the appropriate link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IUNl5wXPo

1) I feel like I'm watching a slow motion B horror film. Don't you guys have iphones and windows movie maker? Gracious.

2) The angle from the first video is damn near impossible to tell anything.

3) The second video...ah hah - here we go... Now we have something to work with...
A) Your stance should put your shins 1" from the bar. It doesn't. You are about 1/4" from the bar, which puts you too much on your heels which is extremely prevalent in rep 2 of the side view, where the entire ball of your right foot comes off the ground. - Get 1" away from the bar, grab the bar with straight legs, then push the shins forward without rolling the bar until they touch the bar. THAT will put you at the proper shin angle.
B) Probably because of this same issue, your shoulder are not in front of the bar enough - it appears you think you need to get your shoulders behind the bar while pulling - the opposite is true. Shoulder should be slightly in front of the bar, bar is over midfoot, and weight is balanced evenly over the entire foot.
C) Possibly the most atrocious thing about the deadlift is the way you put it down, where-in you bend your knees to lower the bar with your legs. The eccentric portion of the deadlift should be fast, and is done with straight (extended) knees - you bend at the hips first, shoulders go in front of the bar, and when the bar passes the knees, then they bend to finishing lowering the bar. This entire sequence should be done in about 1/2 a second though.

[Matt Reynolds]

BTW, your back looks fine on the deadlift.

[Matt Reynolds]

Bench Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SmI_bIJvMU

Bench Bar path is fine and there isn't a ton to fix other than you are just not very tight in your setup. I call this "loosy goosey" to my clients at the gym who try to pull it. The key on the bench is setting up very tight, shoulder blades retracted, squeeze the bar, deep breath in your belly and hold it, feet planted firmly on the ground, solid arch. Then touch at the same point each time and as smooth as possible shove the bar to the lockout position above the shoulder joint. Much of the tightness issue will get better as you get more experience under your belt, as well as adding 30-50lbs of bodyweight and 200lbs of bench press weight. No one gets wobbly under 400lbs, because by the time you figure out how to bench press 400lbs, you've figured out how to get tight. ;-)

[Matt Reynolds]

I don't exactly know what to tell you regarding your squat, and I'll let other staff chime in...but your reps look pretty good, right up to the point where your hip starts giving you trouble.

Its obviously in the flexor - I'm not sure if its TFL or what, but you need to get some soft tissue work done to get in there and get it taken care of. It's most likely not going to get better by doing nothing and keep squatting on it.

There are certainly some ways to get in there and manipulate it, but it's not real easy. If it hurts like crazy in there to foam roll just that side, then that's probably a pretty good indication you've got some adhesions or something in there. I'd keep foam rolling, lacross balling the hell out of it and go see a good chiro/ myofascial release person. I think if your range of motion were more free, then you squat would be fine.

[Josh K]

I feel like I'm watching a slow motion B horror film.

If the sun isn't shining bright I can either have a very dark image with high framerate or a well lit image with choppy framerate. Sunshine is a luxury in Scotland so my camera is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

Your stance should put your shins 1" from the bar. It doesn't. You are about 1/4" from the bar

If you squint, you'll be able to see the heel of my shoe during the setup. What I'm seeing is that the bar is barely over the midfoot as it is. If I put it an inch forward won't the bar be way too far forward, resting almost above the balls of my feet? I think I might be missing something here or will this fix itself when I pull or what?

I'll try and improve the eccentric next time for sure, had a quick comparison/look at the diagrams in SS and mine looks all kinds of wrong.

My Bench Press wobbles have actually improved a lot. Before I was taking a breath in between each rep which was dramatically increasing the time I was holding the bar and I was having to essentially retighten between each rep too. Hoping, like you said, that it'll get better as things move along.

With the squats I'm just about at the end of my tether with the hip, it's been a persistent problem for 10+ weeks now and I'm foam rolling/balling the hell out of it. The problem all but disappears when I drop the weight/don't squat for a while but it's the same thing happening every time at 60kg+. I swear my 20kg plates are fucking cursed. Gonna go see a doctor ASAP.