Squat Recheck and Deadlift Check

[Ygui]

OK I recorded another set of squats for a recheck they are by no means all the way there yet, but they are at least better than last time.

Squat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbaqYcgHFe4#t=11


Old Squat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwbZmql1u5A#t=7

Thoughts on Squat

Bar Position: I am not sure if I did this completely right, but I felt like the bar was lower and the load was more on my shoulders than my wrist this time.

Elbow Position: I need to make sure to keep my elbows up and tight throughout the set. They go down a bit when my back rounds a little at the bottom of each rep.

Wrist: These need to be straighter

Back: Better than last time, but still not perfect. It rounds at the end when I get toward the bottom.

Depth: Not sure about this. I seem to get below parallel, but feel like I should be shoving my knees out more.

Deadlift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxIf-sduPkI#t=10

Got a lot of work to do on this too. I feel like this might be too heavy for my weak lower back. Also, I'm not sure about my setup. Could my back be straighter? or is it just the way I'm proportioned.

[travisf]

There is some improvement but a number of problems remain.

The way you are squatting you are thinking about lowering the weight resting on your traps (this does not appear to be a low bar position). When you squat down you fall forward and your chest falls forward, elbows move under the bar to "hold the weight". Look at your video: carefully follow the bar down and you will see that it moves almost a foot foward when you squat down (look at the bar in relation to the uprights in your rack in the video). Compare it to the correct vertical descent of the bar in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OoVQPmfZ4o

You need to rethink the process of lowering the weight as dropping your hips back and getting our knees out so you can drop your hips into a hole behind you, and forget about "lowering the weight resting on your traps". Then rise up by pushing your bottom straight up out of this hole.

Also try this: take an empty bar and in your squatting position stand with the bar just touching the uprights of your rack. Then squat down, if you fall forward the bar will hit the uprights and you will immediately know that the bar in not moving vertically down. The only way you will be able to get the bar down in this set up is by shoving your hips back, knees out and squatting down correctly.


Keep working on your technique, dont give up, everyone (including myself) who teaches them selves how to squat will do it wrong initially. You are a few step ahead of other people because you are making vidoes and getting your technique right from the get go. It may take a little while but once you get it right you will be able to progress up in weight rapidly.

[Jsutt]

I'm not sure how to say it nicely but you need to throw your deadlift form out and start again from the basics. The weight isn't too heavy and it's not a weak lower back, you're just not pulling it right. Here's what you need to do: first, go back and read (and re-read) the SS chapter on deadlifting. Second, memorise Rip's 'perfect every time' deadlift setup. The bolded parts are the ones you need to focus on:

The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time

1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.

When you do them next focus as hard as you can on keeping your back STRAIGHT throughout the pull - this means chest up and pushed out, shoulder blades pulled together, lower back contracted hard. If you have to drop the weight to do that then go for it, although you should be able to do a nice clean deadlift at 135lb. Hope this helps!

[bamzi]

Also try this: take an empty bar and in your squatting position stand with the bar just touching the uprights of your rack. Then squat down, if you fall forward the bar will hit the uprights and you will immediately know that the bar in not moving vertically down. The only way you will be able to get the bar down in this set up is by shoving your hips back, knees out and squatting down correctly.

This is a great idea, although it doesn't work with an empty bar. You will have enough body mass behind the bar that it will need to go out past your toes - well forward of midfoot - to stop you from falling over backwards. Put two plates on the bar and this trick should work nicely.

[Ygui]

Thanks guys, I'm gonna try a couple of sets with just the bar today and do some more reading.