Form check all around, with self critique

[Matt DeMinico]

I just put together a few clips of form check, the one I'm most worried about is my clean form, though I'm fairly sure the others are close to "at least decent."

Clean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKLv7EVKmaU
Where to start? Heh... Well first: The first lift is 95 lbs x 5, second is 135 x 3, third is 155 x 1, all the rest are 165.
- First set (95 x 5) - That bar comes up crooked as a gun control advocate's belief in the ability for criminals to obey the law. I'm not entirely sure why this happens (either of them actually), but I've been told that my left shoulder sits slightly higher than my right shoulder, and the bar does come up considerably higher on the left side. Also, though it's not apparent, I'm landing on my toes. I'm trying to fix this by consciously thinking to slam my heels into the ground on the landing (I'm thinking that on the lighter sets anyhow, when I can afford concentration on something other than "get the freaking bar up and elbows under it")
- Second set (135 x 3) - Crooked again, this is a weird thing I never saw myself doing before, and I don't actually feel it happen when I do the lift, so this is new to me. The cause, I'm not sure. Now that I think about it, it MAY be due to a difference in weight, but I seriously doubt it. I'm pretty sure one of my 45 lb Hi-Temp plates weighed in at like 42 lbs, the other at 43.5 or so. But that's just like 1.5 lbs, unless other plates are off Plus, the same thing happened with the 25's, which are closer in weight. Also, I'm pretty sure my grip is right on center. It does seem like I'm getting full extension all the way through the hips, am I correct in that?
- Third set (155 x 1) - Not much to say that hasn't been covered in the first two
- Fourth set (165 x 1) - FYI One of my clients came in early for his workout, I'm talking to him, just so you know I'm not nuts in the head talking to myself. As you can see, I think I ID'd the problem with that one right away, elbows didn't come under the bar enough (or fast enough) to catch it, and it just kept going forward and down at the catch.
- Fifth set (165 x 1) - Elbows came under enough to catch it, though not entirely far enough to prevent me from having to do a full front squat to catch it. Again, the uneven weight too. I hadn't planned on doing a jerk, but 165 was a PR clean, so I went for it. On the jerk, I got it up high "enough", though I could have shoved that puppy up higher, the final reason I missed it is I didn't shove myself under it enough, I had plenty more room to get under it, and faster, but didn't.
- Sixth set (165 x 1) - Elbows came under what I think was faster this time, and I ended up power cleaning it. One thing I'm thinking of though right now, I don't know that I'm keeping a constant force on the bar, basically pulling up on it all the way till I start the catch, and then from the catch actually yanking myself under it, or if I'm just kidna flipping the elbows under and dropping under it? Watching this one it looks like I'm just flipping the elbows under and dropping. On the jerk here, I think I came forward, because the bar went forward and I ended up missing it way forward.
- Seventh set (165 x 1) - Missed this one, elbows, uneven bar, lots of things wrong here.

Squat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebr4-iRfCJ0
This is 213 on the bar, I'm wearing a belt per your recommendation, and it seems to be helping somewhat, but I still get a little twinge with my toes pointed out, and I got another fairly good twinge doing this set, so instead of finishing the 2nd and 3rd set, I took off the squat after this one. Weird thing is though, with my toes pointed out at like 5 degrees or so, the twinge is never there, not sure why.
Technique comments:
- Chin is a little up, though I assure you I am looking down with my eyes, apparently I need to look 6' away instead of 10'.
- Knees come in a little bit coming out of the bottom
- At a few points I could feel the weight coming towards my toes, basically hit the ball of the foot, but I brought it back to the heel again, don't know if I did too much toe or not
- I *think* I'm coming out by driving my hips up, though I don't know if the video shows me doing that or something else?

Deadlift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h78sKRW8SPA
This was a mini-CFT I did on the deadlift portion only, up to my max, which I haven't tried in a while, resulted in a PR (previously 285), first lift (not on this video) was 270, the second (first on video) is 290, the last is 300.
- It appears like my back stays mostly flat, though it may become just a little bit round in the 300 lb one?

Press: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8M95jcVblk
I picked too high a weight (I was at 90 last time, I thought 93 would be ok, apparently not, I barely finished the reps and this was the first set).
- I think the technique is decent, though not entirely consistent. A slight layback at the start, up past the nose (usually), and head comes under it while my hips go back.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're an amazing guy, Matt.

[Matt DeMinico]

You're an amazing guy, Matt.

Thanks, I think.

Now that I look back at it, sorry for the novel.

And sorry on the videos, for some reason they came out squished in the sideways direction...

But other than that, am I at least close? A lot of it I'm sure is engineer over-analyzing, but I am concerned about a few things:

- The uneven bar at catch
- General clean form
- The whole problem I've been running into with squats and that probably-soon-to-be-but-hopefully-not hernia
- Squat form, ok by you? Especially the hips out of the bottom. And though I felt some weight on the toes, did I come too far forward?
- Deadlift and press I think form is decent, am I correct?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Clean: The bar catch being not level may be due to a slightly uneven grip, but it's not a big deal since the weight is very light. If you did this at a heavy weight it would be a problem. The bigger problem is that you are getting in your start position and then jerking the bar off the ground -- and in the process jerking yourself out of the start position. Get set correctly, then squeeze the bar off the ground while maintaining your start position.

Squat: looks good, just tuck your chin down to keep your neck in a better position. You may have to look down at a point closer to your feet, as you mentioned.

Deadlift: Your back rounded on both. This is because it was heavy. At limit weights, something will be wrong with your form. If it wasn't, the weight would not be limit.

Press: This is what a heavy limit set of presses will look like. As you get better, you will develop the ability to get under the bar more efficiently. But there is nothing wrong with your basic technique.

[Keenan]

At limit weights, something will be wrong with your form. If it wasn't, the weight would not be limit.

Rip,
Is this saying that a slight form breakdown on PR days is acceptable? I struggle with whether or not to call it a PR based on the consistency of my form. I'm not sure if anyone has the same problem. I try to be the form gestapo on PR days, but then I find myself not making as many PR's as anticipated.

Thanks,
Keenan

[Mark Rippetoe]

It's not acceptable, it is inevitable. As long as depth/lockout/knee rules/legal stuff is followed, it's a PR.