Power Clean form check (80kg) + Squat form check (182.5kg)

[TalEphrat]

Hello coaches,
I'm not sure how good \ bad my technique. I can see that I jump backwards and that usually not the entire foot leaves the ground. Does my feet have to leave the ground ENTIRELY, every rep?
And also, what is the cue for this backward jumping?

Will appreciate any other thoughts you may have on this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_oytuy_F-Y


About the squat, I just had a new PR, did 182.5kg for 3 slow, hard, killing reps. I know that it won't be perfect under maximal weights, but I'll be glad to hear your thoughts on this set, especially about the sticking point at the 3rd set - the bar actually came down again and than up. Is there anything I can conclude from this fact?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56r7GfD4k04





Thank you very much =]

[Mac Ward]

To the powerclean...your set up is not what we teach, shoulders are too far back, placing your body behind the bar, resulting in a backward motion. Review the deadlift setup, take that to the powerclean. Shoulders should be forward of the bar at setup and through the first part of the pull.

Squat - you have no hip drive. Your shins are too vertical as is your back. You raise your chest slightly out of the hole vice driving your hips. Review the squat chapter and pay particular attention to the hip drive portion.

Hope this helps.

[TalEphrat]

To the pulling setup... I just switched to WL shoes and after I tried deadlifting with them once, I changed back for the allstars only for the deadlift, because I had quite a bad bar path with them in the DL and it felt weird. But I do the PC with them, so maybe this is the reason. Anyway, this is how my deadlift looks like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4d94_tYHSg

How's the position of the shoulder here? any other thoughts about this DL of course will be welcome =]


To the squat, tried what you said yesterday. Actually I planned on filming one set from side-rear, one set from the side and one set from the back, but the gym was so full that I wasn't able to do so. The 3rd set is quite a crappy video but the 1st and the 2nd set are filmed okay. Tried to make my shins more horizontal. How is it?

Last warmup + 1st work set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDD0Qs-D9Z4

2nd work set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWqTYO5Ch_M

3rd work set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixzJhHwbZk



Thank you very much!

[TalEphrat]

Sorry, had a problem with the 3rd set upload, uploaded it again, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETcjYewJGM


Thanks =]

[Mac Ward]

On the deadlift, your shoulders are better towards the end, a little behind the bar in the beginning. If you watch closely, you get puled over the bar on the earlier sets/reps, Your hips come up before the bar moves, and your shoulders move forward of the bar - where they have to be - when the load is sufficiently heavy. Work to get your hips a smidge higher during setup, this will likely solve both problems.

On the squat, hip drive is better, though still not pronounced enough. Really focus on driving your hips out of the hole. The weight will feel lighter and the squat easier than when lacking proper hip drive.

[TalEphrat]

Thanks for the reply. I worked on that today, and things were good.
You get to judge, but I felt that I drive my hips much better, and yeah - the weight felt much lighter.
I dropped ~1.5lb since the earlier 182.5kg X 3 and not I did it without even getting stuck.
So for the squat, my questions are:
1. How's the overall technique, especially the hip drive?
2. Did I squat under parrallel, or did it went up better because I was high? (I'm not sure about the 1st & 2nd reps, and know that in judging the depth of a PR it's better to ask an objective coach)

The squat video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc9ue7E8eIQ


About the pulls,
I powercleaned today, added 2.5kg for the 3X3 (since I cut weight, lower volume - will try to get it heavy as much as possible during that time)
It went okay. I really thought about placing my scapulas over the bar at the setup. I still jump forward and still don't leave the floor with my whole sole (most of the times).
What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsDGC5GAYNE



Thank you very much for the help =]

[Mac Ward]

Squat: depth is good, hip drive is not. Your back will have to be more horizontal. You will need to review the squat chapter in the book, and focus on driving your hips, you have an ingrained movement pattern you will need to unlearn.

Power Clean, set up looks better, but you are jumping early.

[TalEphrat]

Hmm.. I'm quite confused. In this thread: http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=38335
Tom say that overall, my squat is pretty good. When I look at the videos, the back angle is quite the same. I changed to WL shoes and widened my stance a bit due to the suggestions of Michel and Tom here: http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=39608
Qustions are,
1. Because my stance is a bit wider, shouldn't the back angle be a bit more vertical?
2. Actually, the back angle here is quite the same as the angle they found to be "pretty good". Of course it's not impossible that you \ Tom \ Michael can be wrong, but assuming you're all correct (and with my experience usually I just miss something), I'll ask - what do I miss?

For the cleans,
In this video, Rip says that if you jump early you'll jump forward: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tXcS0Xp1aE
And I jump backward most of the times.

So again,
3. What do I miss? =]



Thanks a lot Mac!
Appreciate the detailed help

[Mac Ward]

Overall your squat looks pretty good, my suggestions were to make it better based on what I saw in the video. I would like to remind you that video "coaching" is really "critique" of a movement generally shot from one angle. It's not coaching per se. All of that being said, it is exceptionally difficult to compare the bank angles between videos with any accuracy...as I read Tom's post, he stated that your hip drive needed work. I believe I said the same, my opinion based on the video I examined was that your hip drive is insufficient due to a back that is a bit more vertical than optimum given your anthropometry and from what I can discern from this video.

What was the point of all of it? Your squat is not a train wreck, but your hip drive is insufficient. You have two coaches that identified this, and two possible solutions, provided on two different videos from two different training days.

With regard to your powerclean, pulling early will have a variety of results. I am unable to watch the video that Rip critiqued at this moment, but I do believe I remember the video. You are jumping early, landing forward (according to the thread above) again I can't watch the video at this moment, I told you that you are jumping early. Your response is that someone else in another video was told he was jumping early resulting in a jump forward. Your response was that you "jump backward most of the times".

It is me who is confused.

[TalEphrat]

Overall your squat looks pretty good, my suggestions were to make it better based on what I saw in the video. I would like to remind you that video "coaching" is really "critique" of a movement generally shot from one angle. It's not coaching per se. All of that being said, it is exceptionally difficult to compare the bank angles between videos with any accuracy...as I read Tom's post, he stated that your hip drive needed work. I believe I said the same, my opinion based on the video I examined was that your hip drive is insufficient due to a back that is a bit more vertical than optimum given your anthropometry and from what I can discern from this video.

What was the point of all of it? Your squat is not a train wreck, but your hip drive is insufficient. You have two coaches that identified this, and two possible solutions, provided on two different videos from two different training days.

With regard to your powerclean, pulling early will have a variety of results. I am unable to watch the video that Rip critiqued at this moment, but I do believe I remember the video. You are jumping early, landing forward (according to the thread above) again I can't watch the video at this moment, I told you that you are jumping early. Your response is that someone else in another video was told he was jumping early resulting in a jump forward. Your response was that you "jump backward most of the times".

It is me who is confused.

I'll try to explain myself better,
About the pulls - in the video of the PC that Rip coach, he say that if you'll jump early - you'll jump forward. Also, I read the PC chapter quite long ago, but if I remember correctly - it's also stated in the book (that early jump will result in a forward jump).
You say that I jump early. But, I also jump backwards in most of the reps. So I try to understand how is it possible. Isn't it graven in stone that an early jump will result in a forward jump? (when the weight is sufficient, with a broom stick everything can be done, of course)


About the squat, I'll work on getting my shins more horizontal and driving my hips up, and will post a video again.


Thank you very much, coach =]