Form questions

[Polynomial]

Coach Rippetoe,

I'd be thankful if you could help me and my girlfriend with our form on various exercises. Today we were recovering from the flu and the camera was low on batteries, so we only have two squat videos:

Chelcie (5'0) - 135x5
Myself (6'1) - 235x5

We'll take better videos next time. Can you also mention from which angles and distances you prefer people to film the various exercises?

Thanks!

- Pat

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're both fine except for the fact that you are both 3-4" high. And the reps get higher as the set progresses.

[Polynomial]

I thought that I was going lower today, but the camera doesn't lie.

I can't quite figure out if:
a) It's my stance that's not letting me go deep enough. When I get in the bottom position without the bar I'm below parallel, but I can't seem to reproduce that during weighted squats. (I do try to shove my knees out in front of my toes.)

b) If the pair of VS squat shoes, scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, will fix my depth problems

or

c) something else/combination of a&b.

The weight seemed particularly heavy today and the cold recovery is still in progress, but here are the videos:

Set 1 - from the side (235x5)
Set 2 - from the back (235x5)

Do you have any plans for a barbell certification seminar near Illinois? I didn't see any on the CrossFit page.

Thanks!

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're on your toes pretty bad. The shoes will help, since if you know your heels are going to squish you'll go to the stable footing at the ball of the foot. This pulls your knees forward and your heels up. Look at your knees in the video and you can clearly see this happening. The fix is shoving your knees OUT TO THE SIDE, not the front, and dipping your ass BACK -- reaching back with the hips and leaning forward at an angle that allows the hips to work better. If knees go out they make room for your hips to drop, and if they are going out they are not going forward; if ass is reaching back, hamstrings get stretched and used, whereas if knees go forward hamstrings get loosened and can't be used effectively.

[Polynomial]

Thanks for the response.

I meant to say that I try to track my knees over my toes, but I think that what you're saying is that I do that with too forward of a motion.

Here are my girlfriend's videos from today. She says that she feels some discomfort on the outside of her knee when she tries to push her knees out. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Set 1 - 135x5 (side view)
Set 2 - 135x5 (back view)

[Mark Rippetoe]

It must be terribly uncomfortable, because I see no evidence of her pushing her knees out.

In contrast, here is a good squat video a guy sent me today:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RoOcAGOwdGM

[Polynomial]

She wasn't pushing them out in the video. Yesterday we worked on our squat form and she's gotten much better at pushing her knees out, and today she got plenty of depth at the sacrifice of taking some weight off the bar. I have two new questions

1) If someone finds it uncontrollable to bend the wrists while the bar is placed in the correct low bar position, should the grip be widened a bit, reducing some stability, or is this a flexibility issue that will correct over time?

2) I think I've been drinking enough milk (though I have to increase my solid food intake), but the 235's felt way heavier today than on Monday or Friday. Could it be that I could make better progress if I switched to front squats on Wednesdays, making sure that my form is correct on both exercises? I'm not sure if in your experience 235x5x3 (for a 192 lbs , 6'1, 24 years old male) is an average time when novices switch to squatting twice per week. Or is it better to do my warm-up sets every time and just see how I feel and cut out a set or two in case the weight's feeling too heavy?

Thanks again for all your help!

[Mark Rippetoe]

1.) Yes, widen the grip to enable it to be done, and 2.) yes, flexibikity in the grip improves over time like everything else.

[Polynomial]

I finally had a chance to tape my deadlifts. I was worried because it seems to me that my upper back has some tendency to round throughout the movement, but I feel that my lower back is pretty stiff. I think that my starting position has the bar over the middle of the foot and under my scapulas, but any feedback on the form would be appreciated.

225x5
315x5

Thanks!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Your back is rounding a little on 225, and a lot on 315. And on 315 your back angle changes markedly as the bar comes off the floor. You are rushing through your setup and not keeping your chest up as the bar leaves the floor.