Squat and Deadlift Form check

[Kmay76]

I just got into starting strength a couple weeks ago and wanted to get some feedback on how my form looks! Thanks for the help

Squat back view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzq57467gEA

Squat Side view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKm6dfVjSbQ

Deadlift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGzdFnaQLM

[Nicholas Racculia]

Kmay,

The Squats look pretty good. The knees do not travel forward after you are about halfway down (which is very good), but there is a little bit of a cave-in at the bottom. (just really think "knees out"). Your stance may be just a bit wide, but only a bit.

From the side view, the only thing that is not very apparent is the hip drive. Focus on keeping the "chest-up" but think about driving the hips towards the ceiling.

Otherwise pretty good.

Deadlift there are some problems. First, why aren't you deadlifting at the gym when you squat?

Once your feet are under the bar, do not let the bar roll back and forth..

Your shoulder should be in front of the bar not directly above the bar (see, for example, 00:35).

Lift your chest hard before the pull. That will set your back.

Do not release your breath at the top...at the beginning of the descent it looks like your whole body collapses (00:39), certainly the release of all that intra-abdominal pressure from breathing out starts this collapse.

Let's start there.

[Nick Klemetson]

Do not release your breath at the top...at the beginning of the descent it looks like your whole body collapses (00:39), certainly the release of all that intra-abdominal pressure from breathing out starts this collapse.

I have nothing worthwhile to add, other than to say, from personal experience, this is VERY hard at first. When you get to the 4th and 5th rep of a very heavy set, you need all the O2 that you can get. Focus hard on it through all your warmup sets, and you'll eventually adapt to it.

[Kmay76]

Thanks for the input! I appreciate it

Yeah trying to give myself mental cues for the hip drive is giving me the most trouble. What i think about so far is try and keep my knees where they are and keep my back at the same angle until i get near the top. Are those accurate? Or counterproductive?

Well i do deadlift when I squat, but at the gym videotaping my deadlift at a good angle was giving me trouble so i video taped it a different day at home.

I'm just now getting to the deadlift section in the book and I've been doing my set up a little wrong. So ill work on that, and the breathing too!
The eccentric part of the deadlift gives me trouble, I want to control it on the way down but when its heavy I'm thinking slide it down my thighs and then basically drop it once its passed my knees.

So the bar ends up rolling a little forward and I re position it back in the middle of my foot.

[Kmay76]

I just taped me doing the squat and deadlift again. I did the set up the right way, outlined in the book.

So hopefully that helps, my problem is whenever i put the weight down it doesn't seem like its in the exact same spot and i feel like i have to re-do my set up each time (why i keep pausing between reps).

Does my low back look straight enough? whenever I consciously curve my lower back i feel like im hyperextending.

Thanks again for all the input!

Deadlift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8tsTVk-N5o

Squat Side: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJM-m18P8AE

Squat Back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8p_wKrDxY

[Nicholas Racculia]

I'm gonna focus on the deadlift, because I don't have much time today-- It looks better...but really squeeze the chest up. It should be uncomfortable in the beginning.

In general, I would also try to eliminate all that set-up stuff you do in between the reps. I understand why you are doing it (to get the form correct), but I don't want it to become ingrained.