Squat and DL form check - 3 weeks in

[Jahir Estrada]

My stats>
Height: 5-4
Weight: 159
Age: 31

Lifts>
Squat: 160
DL: 180
Press: 125
OHP: 75

This is my third week in SS, about to switch it up a little and introduce Power Cleans next week. Need to make sure my form is correct. From what I have read and many other posts I think I am squatting correctly, but another set of eyes would be helpful.

Squat:
YouTube

DL:
YouTube

Thanks!

[Karl Schudt]

Squat:

Narrow your stance to shoulder width. Get your eyes pointed down at a spot 4-5 feet in front of you. Then, when you squat, BEND OVER, get your hips back. You're coming down upright, not quite hitting depth, and sliding forward on your toes. See the heels coming off the ground at the bottom of the squat?

Deadlift looks ok, once you start. I can see you dropping your hips before the first rep and moving the barbell around, but you fix that for the most part when you actually pull. The barbell is drifting off your shins. Drag it up your shins and thighs, keeping it in contact the whole time.

Important equipment notes:

1) Don't squat and deadlift in running shoes. You need to get proper shoes. Dress shoes would be better than what you have.
2) You're probably going to need a platform of some sort.

[Jahir Estrada]

Squat:

Narrow your stance to shoulder width. Get your eyes pointed down at a spot 4-5 feet in front of you. Then, when you squat, BEND OVER, get your hips back. You're coming down upright, not quite hitting depth, and sliding forward on your toes. See the heels coming off the ground at the bottom of the squat?

Deadlift looks ok, once you start. I can see you dropping your hips before the first rep and moving the barbell around, but you fix that for the most part when you actually pull. The barbell is drifting off your shins. Drag it up your shins and thighs, keeping it in contact the whole time.

Important equipment notes:

1) Don't squat and deadlift in running shoes. You need to get proper shoes. Dress shoes would be better than what you have.
2) You're probably going to need a platform of some sort.

Thank you very much, will apply and post when I perform another one with the corrections made for further check up.

[Jahir Estrada]

Alright, yesterday I attempted with the corrections and also had proper shoes. I had to reduce the weight significantly as I felt that I couldn't go deep enough at 160lbs and maintain my back straight. Had to start at 120 lbs after a few trial and error on my first two sets.

YouTube

I also did an extra set at 95 lbs, just to compare if it would look better than the one at 120 lbs.

YouTube

Thanks in advance.

[Jahir Estrada]

Alright, yesterday I attempted with the corrections and also had proper shoes. I had to reduce the weight significantly as I felt that I couldn't go deep enough at 160lbs and maintain my back straight. Had to start at 120 lbs after a few trial and error on my first two sets.

YouTube

I also did an extra set at 95 lbs, just to compare if it would look better than the one at 120 lbs.

YouTube

Thanks in advance.

Any Starting Strength Coach who can advice further? What I see with my own eyes so far is perhaps i'm still pushing the knees forward; but not all the way sure. This is because in the squat shoes it somewhat felt like my heels were lifted a bit anyways. I did bend over as advised.

[Karl Schudt]

Hey Jair. We're getting there. Now, get your knees moving out from the very beginning of the descent. Three things happen at once at the beginning of the squat: nipples down, hips back, knees out. If one of these is missing, it's going to get screwed up. Think of jumping: if you do a jump where you drop down and jump as high as you can, you will probably do all these three things naturally. The beginning of the descent on the squat is pretty close to the descent on the jump.

You are letting your knees shoot back out of the bottom of the squat and driving your hips back. Keep your knees still while you drive your hips straight up out of the bottom. Fixing the problem in the first paragraph will probably help you on this. Getting your knees set early, rather than late, makes it easier to keep them set. Drive your hips UP, not back.

[Jahir Estrada]

Hey Jair. We're getting there. Now, get your knees moving out from the very beginning of the descent. Three things happen at once at the beginning of the squat: nipples down, hips back, knees out. If one of these is missing, it's going to get screwed up. Think of jumping: if you do a jump where you drop down and jump as high as you can, you will probably do all these three things naturally. The beginning of the descent on the squat is pretty close to the descent on the jump.

You are letting your knees shoot back out of the bottom of the squat and driving your hips back. Keep your knees still while you drive your hips straight up out of the bottom. Fixing the problem in the first paragraph will probably help you on this. Getting your knees set early, rather than late, makes it easier to keep them set. Drive your hips UP, not back.

Alright, this is my last squat set and I have to admit that implementing what was said made a huge difference. The squat feels very different from all the previous ones. On my previous posts I mentioned I had to drop the weight significantly, but I ended up going up after introducing the corrections. The most important queue that made the difference was "Get your knees keep moving out from the very beginning". That is what I think of now, when starting the squat, to put those knees where they are supposed to be, very early.

Here is the video:
YouTube

I was able to do 170 lbs. I felt like I could go lower, but not sure if that would be way too below parallel. Please advice if this was good or if I need to go lower, or if there is anything else that needs correction.

Thank you so much.

[Jahir Estrada]

Coach,

This was my set from last night at 176, side angle. I notice I wiggle forward a few times, but perhaps I can correct that by not going so fast? If my previous video and this one are in the money, but just need to correct that wiggle then thats what I will do.

YouTube

Thanks in advance!

[Karl Schudt]

The most important thing that you need to do is to BEND OVER!. You're back angle is not changing from the beginning. You've got the knees moving at the beginning, and that's good, but now your chest isn't coming down. KNEES, NIPPLES, HIPS--all three have to move at once. Knees go out/forward to their spot, hips go back, nipples go down.

Let's see what you can do.

[Jahir Estrada]

Coach,

I thought very hard about "KNEES, NIPPLES, HIPS" on my last session. Here are the videos, 2 different angles, 1 for my 2nd set and 1 for my 3rd set. Let me know if this is better.

180lbs x 5 - 2nd set
YouTube

180lbs x 5 - 3rd set
YouTube

Thanks in advance!