Your expertise requested..form check

[rookdick]

Could you please provide feedback on my squat. I think they are ok, maybe a bit high on some? Feedback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl067b1SPSk

and the power clean. This is self taught through SS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g37ii2zryEg

Thank you for the help from some of the more expereinced folks on here.

[tamiki]

I am not experienced, but do get coached on the O-lifts so take this however you want.

It looks pretty good from that angle. The only thing that might be a little off is the following, but you need to check for yourself cause the angle not from the side.

The shoulders should be right over the bar with arms in line with the bar when it's on the floor. As you start the first pull, the knees should be coming back so to clear a path for the bar.

You're back should stay at the same angle that it started at through out the first pull until it gets to the bottom of the knees. This is what I think you are doing on some reps: increasing the angle of the back with respect to the floor too early.

When the bar gets to below the knee and the back angle is the same, your shoulders should now be in front of the bar. The back angle should then increase as the bar passes the knees and started grazing the thighs and accelerates upward.

Hope that helps.

[Tiburon]

Could you please provide feedback on my squat. I think they are ok, maybe a bit high on some?

Yes, lots of those squats are high.

In the cleans, you are jumping a little bit backward and your feet are landing behind where they start. I'm not sure how much this is a problem - I know Rip has written about whether it is "better" to be jumping forward or backward.

Keep it up. Nice gym, btw

[Tom Campitelli]

A couple of your squats are borderline for depth. Nothing atrocious, but you want to clearly break parallel every time. On the squats when you do go below parallel, you have a tendency to slacken the hamstrings by letting the knees come forward slightly at the bottom. This is a common problem and one that you want to avoid. Keep the hamstrings under tension with the knees planted, go below parallel, and you will get a nice bounce out of the bottom.

For your cleans, take a narrower stance. You are essentially in a squat stance at the beginning. Jump up and down a few times in place and note where your feet are. That's your deadlift/power clean starting position. Be more aggressive with the bar. Jump that thing as hard as you can and slam your elbows forward fast. Other than that, things look okay. You do a good job of extending your hips and keeping your arms straight.

The shoulders should be right over the bar with arms in line with the bar when it's on the floor.

I disagree. You want your shoulders slightly in front of the bar when you start the pull. Oly coaches will tell you differently, but the bar winds up there as soon as you pull it off the floor whether you want it to do so or not. The first part of the clean should look an awful lot like your deadlift with perhaps a slightly wider grip. In your case, you will probably need to start with a more horizontal back angle than you are doing on some of your reps.

[rookdick]

Thank you for the feedback and the info on the PC.

TomC, with regards to the losing slack and my knees moving forward at the bottom of the squat, is the cue to fix this the "knees out" cue?

Thanks.

Rook

[Tiburon]

is the cue to fix this the "knees out" cue?

You could also think about pushing your ass/tailbone BACK, while keeping your lower back in proper position. This sometimes helps to get a good feel for the hip drive and "bounce"

[tamiki]

.

[rookdick]

Tiburon,

thanks for the help. i am going to go do my squats and see if i can fix 'em.

I will report back later.

rook

[Tom Campitelli]

TomC, with regards to the losing slack and my knees moving forward at the bottom of the squat, is the cue to fix this the "knees out" cue?

Sometimes, although you can keep your knees out and potentially slide them forward, too. It comes back to Rip's idea of active hip and maintaining tension and position at the bottom of the squat where it is most difficult to do. Keeping the butt back, as mentioned by Tiburon can help, as can keeping the weight on the heels.

[william jackson]

making sure the knees dont slide forward is serious bizz. im suffering through the hip flexor pain described in SS for neglecting that little detail and it sucks.
i try to imagine reaching my ass backwards like sitting on a toilet. this is what helps me.