Deadlift Form

[Josh K]

Hey Coaches,

I'm squeezing my chest up (that's all I was concentrating on this time) as much as I possibly can but I still lose extension in my back, which feels ridiculous since I can now squat as much weight with no trouble keeping my back straight whatsoever. The bar moves around on the floor a bit but I manage to start pulling with it over the midfoot fairly consistently (I think). My back is quite horizontal and I've read that you have to rock back off your toes when pulling in oly shoes but wouldn't that make my shoulders pretty much plumb with the bar?

http://youtu.be/li16pJybpvk

What am I missing?

Thanks for your time.

[Paul Horn]

Stop setting your back twice for every rep. On just about all the reps but the first one (the best one), you're squeezing your chest up, relaxing, then squeezing it up again, then pulling. The problem is that the you kick the bar forward on the second squeeze and then rush the pull so it's actually in front of your mid foot, thus making it even harder for you to keep your spine in extension. Try this:

1. Deep breath
2. Squeeze the chest up
3. Make sure it's squeezed up
4. Make sure the bar is still touching your shins (if it's not pull it back into them).
5. Pull

This will create a very slight pause between setting your back and pulling. That pause ensures the bar isn't swinging off your legs as you're trying to pull it. As you get better this setup will happen more fluidly, but for now, take the time to feel each step.

[Josh K]

http://youtu.be/EMz-J3yatdM

Any better? The last 2 felt pretty bad.

If it's ok with you I'd like to vomit the contents of my brain all over this post:

1. My squat has a pretty much completely vertical bar path over the midfoot from one side and the other side drifts way forward over my toes. Probably something to do with the hip pain that was hypothesised to be caused by leg length discrepancy. My doctor's appointment is not for a few weeks, should I just keep adding weight? I'm not squatting that much (125kg).

2. I've started getting a giant pump along the radius of my forearms when I bench and press all of a sudden. When I rerack it, the second I stop squeezing, dull pain shoots down my forearm and after 8 minutes it still feels like I've been doing wrist curls or something. Is this normal?

[Paul Horn]

Two things to work on next time:

1. Squeeze your chest up harder. Try to squeeze up so hard the bar lifts off the ground. Then pull.
2. Initiate the pull by driving your feet into the floor. Think about using your legs to push the floor away from the bar.

Not sure about your squat. Is it causing you pain? If not, do your best to make it as symmetrical as possible and keep going.

Arm pain could be tendonitis. Ask your doctor. Does it flare up at all when you squat?

[Josh K]

I suck

http://youtu.be/nD7jT1uSc1Y

My chest is as squeezed up as I can manage, bar was coming off the ground on warm ups when squeezing it up. That little backwards movement before the pull starts is me trying to drive feet into the floor, looks like it's doing something. Sorry for the 4th rep, I could feel my back getting more and more rounded on the previous reps so I went for broke and tried to get a bit more knee flexion but that didn't do anything. Then I failed the 5th rep (this is the same weight I got 5 with last time), tried to get one more rep a couple minutes later but couldn't even get it off the floor. Should I just drop the weight down?

Squat: Back pain, no, just hip pain. It acts really weird though. I spent 2 weeks/6 squat workouts at the same weight. Pain was gone. I added 2.5kg and it was like flipping a switch, pain came straight back, even though effort wise it felt just the same (easy) as the previous workout and form looked identical. I can kinda feel it creeping up after the first set (only starts about a minute after I rack it), gets worse 2nd set and even worse 3rd.

At the risk of sounding like a hypochondriac, I think it might be FAI. If I prop my foot up so my knee has a 90 degree angle, lean forward and then start externally rotating/pushing my left knee out, I run into this painful point that I have to grind past, so maybe it's rubbing over an osteophyte? Just cautious after reading about people wearing down the cartilage and fucking their hip, especially since the pain gets worse and worse the more the weight increases.

and no, elbow/forearm pain doesn't come up when squatting, I always make sure I keep straight wrists. I'll try chinning more and I can bring it up with the doc if it isn't gone by then.

[Paul Horn]

I haven't seen your squat so I can't comment on it. I can, however, help you with your deadlift.

You need to use your hamstrings to anchor your back angle. If you watch your video closely, your ass actually comes up first, kicking your shoulders forward, then you pull the bar off the ground. This means that you have used the quads to extend the knees without actually making the bar go up. With the quads already extended, only the hip extensors are left to move the bar from a rather inefficient position. In other words, you're turning the deadlift into a SLDL, and you're back isn't strong enough to SLDL that much weight. The solution is to squeeze your hamstrings (behind your knees) really really hard and then pull. The hamstrings anchor the back angle which should result in your hips and shoulder going up at the same time. Try it and let me know what happens. Also, just for good measure, make sure your shins are 1" from the bar and not any closer.

[Josh K]

Sorry, this must be getting a bit tedious for you:

http://youtu.be/Mz8jVnDPuhc

iphone ran out of space. You didn't miss much, just two more shitty reps. I tried squeezing my hamstrings but I'm not totally sure what you meant by the ass coming up before the bar, I looked at the last video again but the bar breaks off the ground the instant my hips start moving. Unless they're rising too fast? It does happen in the first rep of this video but I think that's because I set up too low on the first rep, placing my shoulders too far back.

I've seen you write in some places to 'point your nipples at the wall'. Maybe I'm squeezing my chest up wrong, cause I just squeeze my chest through my shoulders (hopefully that's a good explanation) without trying to rotate it or anything.

[Paul Horn]

I can see how that could be confusing because the error is barely noticeable given how high your hips are when you set up for the deadlift. That doesn't mean you're setting up incorrectly, just that the way your body is built produces higher hips and a more horizontal back angle in the deadlift. Let me also clarify that your deadlift is actually decent. The first two reps of this last video are good. My concern is that as you go up in weight you're not going to be able to keep your back in extension since you aren't getting it as "squeezed up" as it could be right now, especially on the later reps when you're tired. The takeaway here is that you need to get everything tighter before you pull. That means squeezing the chest up and squeezing your hamstrings as you start the deadlift. You can try the "nipples at the wall" cue or think about squeezing your chest through your arms as you try to bend the bar around your shins with your hands. Play with different cues until you find the one that works. Try something, watch the video, try something else, watch the video, etc. Eventually you'll find the right mental picture that produces a very tight back.

[Josh K]

Okay, thanks Paul, I'll play around with cues and try to find something that works.

Just throwing an idea out there, since my back is pretty horizontal, would taking away the 1 inch+ deficit from the shoes maybe make it easier to get that last bit of squeeze? Or would that just be a temporary solution?

[Paul Horn]

Try it. When I was dealing with this issue, I started deadlifting in socks and it seemed to help. I can't say that was what fixed it, but it was one of the things I tried. Once I learned to feel when I was properly set I went back to my shoes. Post another vid and we'll take a look.