Judge my form on main exercises: Deadlift, Squat and the Press.

[AladdinPerzon]

Hello,

New to the forum but excited to be here as many on this forum has massive amounts of knowledge about one of my greatest passions which is health and fitness

About me:

I am a 18 y/o guy from Sweden. Started going to the gym a few months ago and stupid as I was I just watched some videos on deadlift, squat etc without realizing their complexity. Of course it ended up with me injuring my back (lower back, little to the right side) and still few months after I havn't recovered completely yet. After the injury I realized I need to learn more so I bought Mark Rip's book Starting Strength 3rd edition and started working on my technique.

I realize that I still has a lot of faults however as there is only so much to learn from a book when performing difficult lifts. I would be very grateful if someone could look at the videos I post on myself doing deadlifts, squat and the press. I posted 2 videos on the deadlift and squat because it might be for informative to see me perform them under different times as mistakes can be seen more clearly.

Deadlift Technique #1
Deadlift Technique #2
___
Squat Technique #1
Squat Technique #2
___
The Press #1

Regards,
Aladdin Perzon

[Derek Binford]

Deadlift

1. Move your shoulders forward over the bar a little more at the start of the lift (second video was a tad better)
2. Keep the bar closer to you throughout the lift, just above the knee to mid thigh the bar seems to get out in front of you a bit, keep it close.
3. Your weight gets onto your toes or the ball of your foot at about the same time the bar gets away from you. Keep the weight over the middle of your foot.

Squat
1. Get some shoes with solid heel.
2. Your hips and knees should break at the same time, your hips break first then your knees shoot forward and continue to slide forward at the bottom.
3. Set back more, spread the knees, point your nipples toward the ground, you need a more horizontal back angle. That will help with knee slide as well.
4. You are over extending your hips forward at the top. Just stand up, don't try to stick them forward. Looks like a good way to hurt yourself.

Press
1. Elbows should be in front of the bar in the start position.
2. Even though you are leaning back you come forward before your press and still press the bar around your face.
3. From the start press the bar toward your chin, move your chin back to accomodate a straight bar path, as it passes your face bring your head back to neutral.
4. I wouldn't worry so much about the lay back as just simply pressing the bar in a straight line right now. You have to lean back some to do that but just let it happen naturally.

Hope this helps.

[AladdinPerzon]

Thanks a lot Derek!

Is the shoes with heel important? About the hip breaking first, isn't that what I am supposed to? From my understanding I should think about "sitting down" and initiate the movement with the hips rather than at the knees.

[Derek Binford]

The shoes are important because it helps you keep the weight centered over the middle of your foot, especially for squat and press. If you notice on the squat the bottom you get forward onto your toes. Shoes will help with this