Squat & Deadlift form check

[Timbo]

I hope the video quality isn't too poor. This is the only angle I can shoot my squats from. I realize I should look down but for some reason I always forget this during my sets because of that annoying mirror.
Also, the bar seems to go forward a bit when I come out of the hole. Any idea on how I can fix this?

Squat 5x97.5 kg

Deadlift 5x140kg

Thanks in advance!

[MazdaMatt]

Deadlifts look pretty good. It was hard to tell if the bar left your shins on the way up. It seemed like it and the solution is more lat flex. This is my weakness right now at the same weight.

Squats looked pretty good, too. Are you focusing on driving with the heels? It looks like you shift weight slightly forward on the foot at the bottom (it looks like your heel loses its solid plant on the ground as you hit the bottom).

Looks decent to me.

[Timbo]

Thank you for the comments.

Deadlifts look pretty good. It was hard to tell if the bar left your shins on the way up. It seemed like it and the solution is more lat flex. This is my weakness right now at the same weight.

I can really feel the bar scraping my shins on the way up and I always have a solid red line on my shins after every deadlift workout. But now that you mention it, the bar path on the way up does seem to indicate that the bar leaves my shins for a brief moment. I'll keep your advice about more lat flex in mind the next time I deadlift.

Squats looked pretty good, too. Are you focusing on driving with the heels? It looks like you shift weight slightly forward on the foot at the bottom (it looks like your heel loses its solid plant on the ground as you hit the bottom).
Looks decent to me.

I really think about driving my hips up at the bottom. Maybe I'm focussing too much on that? I'll try to think more about keeping the weight on my heels and see what happens.

[MazdaMatt]

Please report back on these comments so I can learn from your learning!

[bamzi]

On the deadlift, your hips rise before the bar starts moving.

It might be helpful to include setting up for the deadlift in the video, to see if this is what is causing the hip rising issue.

I've also found it helpful for my own setup to position the camera a little higher up, giving a clear view of the bar and feet. Then you can see whether the bar is actually over the middle of your foot.

[Timbo]

On the deadlift, your hips rise before the bar starts moving.

It might be helpful to include setting up for the deadlift in the video, to see if this is what is causing the hip rising issue.

Indeed, my back should be more perpendicular to the floor in my setup. Luckily this problem corrects itself before I actually start lifting the bar.

I've also found it helpful for my own setup to position the camera a little higher up, giving a clear view of the bar and feet. Then you can see whether the bar is actually over the middle of your foot.

Thanks for the tip.

[LudwigVan]

As bamzi points out, your hips are rising before the bar moves on the deadlift. This is because your setup is wrong -- you're setting up with hips too low, so your hips have to move before the bar does in order for the bar to go up in a straight line and not bang your knees. Consult SS again for proper deadlift setup procedure.

Your squat looks pretty good -- I'd think about cutting them off a hair shorter to avoid losing tightness and minimize buttwink at the bottom.

Please report back on these comments so I can learn from your learning!

MazdaMatt, no offense, I know you mean well and all, but I think you might want to focus more on getting your own weights up and less on giving people form suggestions.

[MazdaMatt]

Perhaps you could explain why my discection was incorrect? I'd love to learn. Coaching takes practice just like lifting does. And I don't think we need to start another conversation about lifting numbers representing coaching ability, if that's what you were implying (which I expect not because you say you meant no offense).

I noticed that his hips were rising very slightly faster than the bar at first, but I didn't see that it was terribly affecting his lift. He said that the bar remains in contact with his shins, which it would not if his shins pulled away because of hip-rise. Again, please enlighten me if I am incorrect.

[LudwigVan]

MazdaMatt, I'm saying I see you commenting on a lot of form checks and saying things that I think are incorrect, probably due to inexperience, and I think that makes this forum less useful for the people who need it. This deadlift shows an obvious and common error which you failed to diagnose and instead commented on something else which wasn't a problem. That's my opinion, feel free to take it or leave it.

Also, Timbo, it seems to me that part of your problem is trying to imitate the body angles of lifters who are differently proportioned. Your angles will be different because your anthropometry is different. Check out p. 126 of SS for an illustration.

[MazdaMatt]

As I said, I want to learn to coach better and that can't really be done without trying. I think I help many people (but certainly mostly the more screwed up people) and Timbo responsded that my deadlift suggestion may help. I appreciate your feedback and I will no longer dismiss a slight rise of hips, even if I think it isn't that bad.