Progress with poor form

[Alchemist]

I seem to recall you mentioning at a seminar that as weight goes up in LP, form may (and probably will) slip slightly. But for the life of me, I can't recall your response to this question.

How much slip is acceptable and how the hell do you gauge it? On a set of squat, say one rep you don't hit depth (for whatever reason) or slightly good morninged or your knees came in. Is the whole set a fail and you repeat it next workout or do you accept 1 of 15 as good enough and move one? 2/15?

Basically, if there is some acceptable level of slop permitted, how does the novice keep that from that slipping into shitty form and hurting themselves? How does a coachless novice not slip down that rabbit hole of 'good enough' justification to progress?

[Bill Been]

Video and periodic form check posts either on the Technique or Coaches' sub forums. In a nutshell, no you don't consider the set a failure for any of the infractions you cited. The big problem we see around here is guys who've LP'ed their way up to 315x5x3, and putting up their very first form check video, discover they've been squatting 4" high or that they're bouncing the crap outta their deadlifts. Oops. Those will require a reset. Isolated boo-boos are easily corrected by watching your video review between sets and making corrections on the next set.

Edit to add: if your current work sets are, for example, 245x5x3, always remember the surest way to have awesome form with 245 is exactly the same way you go about making 245 feel light: drive your work sets up to 315.

[manveer]

[Alchemist]

@manveer, that is on the metric I was looking for. I train with a partner to, as we say, keep each other honest. That very much assists in putting a line in the sand. I'm going to have her watch this too.

Thank you.

[Fiddler]

I video most sets, and use warmups to concentrate on getting my technique as correct as I can. On work sets, I have to concentrate primarily on just getting the weight up, but I use the same cues as on warmups, and I check video and adjust as best I can from set to set. But I sure don't discount a set because I leaned a little bit forward or squatted a bit too high; I just correct it on the next set. Generally, the only reason I discount a set is if the weight didn't go up.

Technique is something I work on constantly. I don't know whether it will ever be perfect, but I don't allow perfection to get in the way of the good.