Squat and Deadlift Check

[OITW]

This wasn't my best day, but here are the final two work sets of 215 lb squats, warm-up (I think 165lbs) and work set of 255 deadlift. I don't see anything really wrong with the squats, but I'm afraid I'm getting some bad habits in the DL, and I'd like to know if you're seeing the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuCV4EmGVm4
Warm up set deadlift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDWqh6LmfE
255 lb workset deadlifts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eII-m93nvw
2nd set 215lb squats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trDSPsESVhk
Third set 215lb squats

If you turn the sound up, you get to hear both the finest in US military propaganda radio, AFN, and the results of GOMAD. And the guy behind me doing high-speed 1/2 squats on the Smith actually wrapped two pads and a towel around the bar! Spare the comments on the plates, the gym has sets of bumpers ordered and on a slow boat somewhere between here and the States.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Other than the position problems caused by the plates, the deadlifts look okay. The squat shows a bit of forward knee at the bottom, easily fixable by shoving knees out to the sides at the bottom. The guy behind you is an obvious product of "Don't ask, don't tell."

[Konstantinos Kavos]

There is no reason you should know this Coach, or even answer this considering your tight schedule, but why do polygonal plates exist? My set of "olympic" plates were polygonal because when I bought them I didn't know any better, but surely the people making equipment do. They can't be any easier to make than circular plates...

At least now I have my handy hitech plates, and my beat up old plywood plates, that I can add my pointy plates to...

[OITW]

Thanks, I thought the knees were good (given I have the geometry of an orangutang) but will address that today. I'm concerned about the amount of shoulder movement in the DL, have had a lot of pain and stiffness in the rhomboids that I thought traced to that, but glad to hear that you don't see anything too very wrong. Thanks again.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Looking at it again, I don't see any extraneous shoulder movement. The polygonal plates are just for loading onto Hammer Strength machines.