Squat & Deadlift form check

[Dror]

Hey,

here's a follow up to my last squat post: link

felt ok but still losing balance, from what i've noticed i still struggle falling forward at the bottom, I think 3rd rep looked like I fixed it but it also felt quite tough
i also did 160 kg sinced then that unfortunately i didn't filmed, but when i warmup and try to sit back more I feel like my weight pushing to my heels and I lose balance, so to fix this I place my back a bit more horizontal and I some how after a few reps manage to find that sweat spot.
another thing I noticed in the last 2 workouts (felt it before just wasn't focused about it) that I have a pain on the top of my quads mainly in the last quarter of the squat around parallel and below it and I might be wrong but it feels like the pain is "pulling" me forward out of balance.

recently squats started to become really taxing on my body, and the last 160 kg really drained me out of energy and altough I didn't failed any squat yet, I've been thinking recently if I should change my 2nd workout of the week to a light workout.
the other option in my mind is to reset my squat to fix my form and manage the upper quads pain. Would like to hear your opinion on that.

Deadlift: Link
I honestly didn't even knew that my upper back is rounding, but it seems as it is consistent, should I worry?

Thanks!

[Ryan Arnold]

Squat - a bit too much knee slide here. Keep focusing on sitting BACK, leaning over, shoving knees out. Maybe slow the descent down a little. Feel free to use the TUBOW on warm up sets and see if that helps.

Deadlift: You are setting up with your shins on the bar, producing stiff leg deadlifts. Set up with your shins 1in from the bar to produce the proper shin angle required to keep the bar moving in a straight line of the midfoot. This will also help you get your chest up more which is the second major adjustment. You are also looking straight down. Look forward at a spot 10-15 feet in front of you

[Dror]

Squat - a bit too much knee slide here. Keep focusing on sitting BACK, leaning over, shoving knees out. Maybe slow the descent down a little. Feel free to use the TUBOW on warm up sets and see if that helps.

Deadlift: You are setting up with your shins on the bar, producing stiff leg deadlifts. Set up with your shins 1in from the bar to produce the proper shin angle required to keep the bar moving in a straight line of the midfoot. This will also help you get your chest up more which is the second major adjustment. You are also looking straight down. Look forward at a spot 10-15 feet in front of you

first of all, thank for the feedback.

I recently got back from a week layoff and took 10% off my previous weights.
Squat - link
unfourtantly can't use tubow in my commercial gym, tried and was forced to throw it outside, and unfourtantly I didn't find any equipment to replace it yet (foam roller too short)/
fix me if I'm wrong, but it seems that on my warmups I manage to keep my knees from sliding, and that I managed to keep that even on my last rep on my last warmup (130 KG, 3rd rep).
if so, is my only solution is to take some weight off the bar and work back up without the knee slide? (if so, what jumps should I take 2.5/5 kg and how do I prevent the knee slide from coming back when it starts to get heavy again?).

Deadlift - link
here's the last warmup of 120 KG and workset of 145, I did noticed that I took the bar a tiny bit back on every rep and I'll fix that next time, but it doesn't really shown in the video but I struggled keeping the bar touching my shins, any tips for that?

thanks again for the help, much appreciated.

[Ryan Arnold]

Squat - knee slide is better here. You should be fine just continuing to focus on not letting the knees come forward. Do you not have a belt? Also you need to get a tighter grip on the bar with your wrists, don't let them drape over the bar.

Deadlift - Still very similar to last time. I think you need to be more deliberate with the Deadlift steps. You are doing some of the steps at the same time and picking your head up at the last minute which is throwing things off. You should be looking forward before you do the Squeeze part. Do it exactly like this:

The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time

1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.

[Dror]

Squat - knee slide is better here. You should be fine just continuing to focus on not letting the knees come forward. Do you not have a belt? Also you need to get a tighter grip on the bar with your wrists, don't let them drape over the bar.

Deadlift - Still very similar to last time. I think you need to be more deliberate with the Deadlift steps. You are doing some of the steps at the same time and picking your head up at the last minute which is throwing things off. You should be looking forward before you do the Squeeze part. Do it exactly like this:

The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time

1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.

thanks again. I currently don't have a belt but I've been thinking about ordering one, the reason I didn't bought one until today is because I remembered a video of rip / a video talking about rip saying a belt is not a must and that you can keep getting stronger without a belt, but I think it's time for me to finally make the call and order one if all it can do is benefit me.
I'll use this also to ask, I've ceen thinking about buying a lever belt, just seem to look the most convinient to me, but I also see a lot of opinions saying a prone belt is better in case you want to use different hole for the deadlift. I also see a lot of opinions saying it is harder to deadlift with a 4 inch belt but that it is the best for squat and most importantly the press.
I'm around 180-185 cm if it helps, and I prefer the 4 inch, should I worry about struggling with the deadlift or will I be okay?

Squat - link
I struggled today to sit back enough, but it does feel I start to get better at feeling it, I'm still finding the right position form my hands so they won't flex, and I also managed to do that on the 2nd workset (not the one filmed)
after the first set I felt a realy bad hip flexor pain that went away after a few minutes of rest and was gone by the 2nd set.
I've been thinking if when squat get back to being heavy (which I guess will be back when I'm at around 160 or a bit more) if I should switch my 2nd workout for a light squat / pause squat to a. work on my form and b. let the deadlift catch up.

Press - link
sorry the video ain't the best but that's the best angle I can get, also sorry the workset video wasn't the best (next time I'll film it like the first video)
overall it felt good and pretty easy, befor the layoff I did 60 kg and failed at 62.5.

Deadlift - link
I think I found midfoot better now, the way I place my feet now is by looking straight above the barbell, placing one foot directly at midfoot and then copying with the other foot.
when I try to put my feet 1 inch from the bar for some reason it confuses me and I don't get the same foot placement every set.
with the setup I've tried going back to the 5 step setup but I found that if stop between the 4th and 5th step (squeezing the chest and then starting to pull the bar) I tend to just yank the bar, so the only change I did was to not stop between the steps and just get as thight as I can until the bar leaving the floor.

thanks again for the feedback ryan!

[Ryan Arnold]

For belts you basically have two options. You could get a 4in belt for Squatting and everything else and a 3in belt for Deadlifting, or you could just get a 3in belt and use it for everything.

Squat - yes still getting knee slide at heavier weights. You could try slowing down the descent a little. Probably time for a light middle day.

Press looks good.

DL - definitely improved. Keep working on the squeeze. Chest up, arch low back. Sometimes it helps to think about pushing your belly between your knees when you squeeze