Hey Coach Rip, Brother/Sister Squat Press Form Check

[ckagahastian]

Coach Rip,

Please critique me and my sister's form. It would mean a great deal to us if your excellence would provide some insight on our lifts.

Every time I tell my sister about a new reply we got from this forum she always asks if it's from Rippetoe. She'd love to hear from you. We've seen so many of your videos.

Thanks so much!

Not sure if you like embedded videos or links better so here's both:

Squats

(Charles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPqEKircMJk
(Meg) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVnhuNr8AQI


Press

(Charles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgCBRox5pew
(Meg) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7dWIiTqLCA


Charles Squat:




Meg Squat:




Charles Press:




Meg Press:

[Mark Rippetoe]

You both have the same hair, and the same bad habit with your low backs at the top of the squat. She raises her chin. Both of you use too wide a grip. You both have your hips working pretty well in the press, but her elbows are behind the bar at the start position. She has tits and you don't, but that may be the most significant difference, because she's about as strong as you are.

[DJC416]

In other words : stop this brother-sister shit. It's not cute. Both of you should get your own usernames and get individual feedback from the RipToe to further your own lifting.

[PressesPeople]

STOP RELAXING AT THE TOP OF THE SQUAT! You won't be able to do this when (if) the weight ever gets high!!

Also, I personally feel like you guys should make the strict press stronger before engaging hips. But I'll probably be disagreed with on this point.

[ckagahastian]

OK I think I finally understand what you guys are talking about. our hips are tilting at the top. We have to keep our lower back extension. Am I right? We both did the superman stretch 2 sets of 5 reps during our warmups as stated in "hip drive 2.0" to help us locate the back erectors. It seems a lot easier to do with less weight. Should we deload and try to correct the form with less weight or should we stick to this weight and continue to practice our form on this weight until we get it down?

Charles squat




Meg squat

[Mark Rippetoe]

Just keep your back still while the weight is mashing down on you. It's not heavy enough to require a deload.

[PressesPeople]

Can you please explain why your grip is at the ENDS of the bar?!

Are you guys twins?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Some people are not merely twins.

[PressesPeople]

Some people are not merely twins.

Haha, my point exactly.

[ckagahastian]

No we're not twins although we do get that a lot. And Coach, we'll keep at this weight and keep working on the form. When it gets better we'll start going up again. You're definitely right, Coach, I need to get stronger. Thanks for a wonderful program to facilitate that goal.

My sister's arms don't look too wide on the squat. I know my hands look wide because that is as narrow as I can get my grip. I have really long arms. You should have seen my grip 2 months ago. It used to hurt just setting up the position. I'm sure it will get better with time. Every session it seems to improve. It no longer hurts and I try to narrow the grip every time.

Thanks guys!