Form Check

[tnumrych]

Maybe someone other than Coach Rip is willing to take a stab at these, after all we want him to keep his sanity to continue making people "more useful in general".

I'm a reformed Olympic Lifter with nearly 3 years of Olympic Lifting experience under my belt and some modest success in the sport. As such, I was a High Bar Squatter and a 1st Pull Deadlifter. For the past 3 weeks I have really been focusing on the Starting Strength techniques, and we all know old habits are tough to break. Here is my latest attempt at the Squat, Press and Deadlifts last Tuesday. I felt I had a technique breakthrough but I feel someone needs to give me some criticism before I think I'm any good at it.

Last Warmup Set Squat 2x225:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dasnumerator#p/a/u/1/zuydX6fN1sQ

I felt my knees where sliding somewhat at the bottom, butt-wink visible but not exactly sure how bad it is, hip-drive seemed ok

Last Work Set Squat 5x235:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH08Q7xg-s0

Same feeling as above squat but with a more pronounced knee slide at the bottom.

Last Press Set 5x125:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dasnumerator#p/u/3/TAMLYd9HCX0

I feel this maybe my best lift technically but I don't like where my elbows are in relation to the bar off the chest on the first rep (too in front).

Last Deadlift Warmup 5x275:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dasnumerator#p/u/2/mYLYGXJFQPE

My lifting partner said that I lost my lumbar position on some reps in this set and in the latter sets, bar path is a little off too I feel.

Thanks guys.

[nisora33]

Dude, you look like my long-lost fuckin' twin brother in those videos! I'm actually pretty freaked out.

Anyway, on to your lifts.

Back squat: Yes, you're getting some knees sliding forward at the bottom, especially later in the set. It's not terrible but could become worse as the weight gets heavier. But you know what? You might be going too deep. I know that most people have the opposite problem, but with your weightlifting background, you're used to hitting rock-bottom on your squats. Cut the squat off by about a half-inch to an inch, and the knee slide may no longer be a problem. Neither will the slight bit of butt wink that you're getting (although I wouldn't consider that a problem anyway, judging from the amount present in your video).

Press: These look damn solid.

Deadlift: Yes, you're loosing some lumbar extension. It's not horrible, but seeing as that's not a terribly difficult weight for you (judging from how easily you appear to be able to break it off the ground and lock it out), you should have better extension while lifting what is, for you, an "easy" weight.

One possibility for why this may be occurring: you're letting your back as a whole go "soft" as you lower the weight back to the ground. It could be that you're enforcing a bad lumbar and thoracic position during the eccentric phase, and this is carrying over to the concentric phase, giving you the wrong "feel" for how the back should be when in absolute extension. Just a thought, and I could be way off.

Happy lifting.

-Stacey

[tnumrych]

Thanks Stacey,

Ill try not going so deep in the squat tomorrow and see if that helps. It does tend to happen more as I get fatigued. The warmups were much better IMHO.

Thanks for the press compliment, I felt as though it's my best lift. Glad I wasn't mistaken.

*As a side note, I had a partially torn rotator cuff stemming from my first collegiate football game. It was treated by the ATs to get me playing again, and some years later a PT. Since they just patched me up for life when I began competing (years after football) that acute injury eventually turned into a chronic should problem when I was training/competing (my daily icing routine was knees and right shoulder). I was constantly worried about it. When I was training we didn't do any strict pressing and only a bit of bench pressing, mostly push press and the various jerk variations. With all the overhead activity hate in the fitness industry I shied away from it. Until I got Rip's book. Since I started pressing on a regular basis (only 2-3 weeks) the shoulder feels a million times better than it has the past 4-5 years. Just my endorsement for the press as a shoulder fixer.*

Dead's are easy like you said but because of the more horizontal back in this style pull my lower back strength is really challenged more than it was ever when I was competing in Oly (I feel like it goes "soft" as the bar is near knee height). I'll work keeping it tighter on the way down like you said and see if that fixes the lumbar relaxing on reps 2-5.