Another Deadlift and Squat form check

[kit99bar]

Coach Rippetoe,

First off thank you for the amazing explanations on deadlift and squat form. I started lifting two years ago on your routine but had poor form which resulted in an injury after about 8 months (weights got up to 265 squat, 300 dl, 225 bench). I have now recovered from the injury and have learned proper form via your texts and things are looking up again. (The most amazing thing I think is your advice on the proper form for Deadlifts. I had always thought I needed to get way down like I was squating and to try and keep my shoulders behind the barbell. This always resulted in me getting pulled forward on every DL rep. Now I know better.)

I believe my forms are pretty solid for DL and squat but would like a quick thumbs up from you if possible before I start getting much heavier. PS I have watched almost all the squat vids in the sticky - before they were put in the sticky in fact .

squat 215x5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcOhg7GRd8E

DL 250x6:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nIXxenfgijk

much thanks!
Kit

[Mark Rippetoe]

The squat's a little high, but okay otherwise form the limited vantage point of that video. The deadlift looks fine.

[whatupdun]

The squat's a little high, but okay otherwise form the limited vantage point of that video. The deadlift looks fine.

Hey Coach,

Some of my heavier sets (340ish) look similar to this, although I'm not descending that quickly. I painstakingly watched them in slow motion and determined that although in full speed, they look slightly high, if you watch in 1/8 time, my hip joint is in fact slightly beneath the top of my knee, which I believe to be the criteria for parallel.

Now, if this were the case for this fellow -- that a slow mo analysis of the video shows that his hip in fact breaks parallel to the knee, I have two questions based on this premise:

1. Is he descending too quickly?
2. Is it possible that the rebound is so "explosive" that it might only reveal itself to be sufficiently deep in slow motion? In other words, if one had to watch videos in slow motion, but in doing so conclusively determined that his hip was beneath his knee -- does this qualify for sufficient depth?



Thanks again. I'd been away from your board for a while as I've been quite busy at work lately, and things just weren't the same

[Mark Rippetoe]

If either of you guys are so close to parallel that it takes specialized photographic analysis to determine that you are parallel, then you need to squat deeper.

[whatupdun]

If either of you guys are so close to parallel that it takes specialized photographic analysis to determine that you are parallel, then you need to squat deeper.

Gotcha. And no longer shall I question "myself" for the sake of appearing humble