Form check after injury for squat and deadlift

[Newbie@1]

Dear Experts,

Background: I am a novice, and my previous PR was 170 lbs in squats, after which I had a pelvic injury ( pain in groin to be specific). I had to take a break from exercise for a month and a half. I began again recently with a deload of 50%. I made few changes in my technique:

1. I didn't know what triggered my previous injury, so I reduced my stance width.
2. I bring my knees more forward now. Earlier even if I was hitting depth, my shin was almost vertical.
3. I try to be more tight at bottom now, and engage my hip drive. Earlier, I was not consciously using hip drive, so I think this was resulting in imbalances in my bounce, where one leg used to take more load then the other, so my quads used to be on fire after the rep. I used to recover by the next rep, but I had a feeling that the quads are taking more than they are supposed to. Now after using more hip drive, as Rip would say "stay in your hips", I find my quads relatively less stressed out.

Now I don't feel any pain yet, will see how it holds up when I reach my previous PR and beyond.

Request you all to review my current form, appreciate any suggestions:

Current Squats at 145 lbs:
Squat-145 lbs (66kg) - YouTube

Please also find my deadlift at 235 lbs, please review:
Deadlift- 235 lbs (107 kg) - YouTube

A question on deadlift: I followed Rip's process for setup of bringing the shin to touch the bar. Yet, when I initiate the lift, it looks like my hips drop down... Any suggestions to correct it?

Thanks.

[Satch12879]

I'll throw a few things in that I see and then will defer to the coaches.

Squat: Your hips are leading breaking before your knees. They have to go at the same time. As such, your knees are late getting to their spot, both out and forward. You may have to think "knees" in order to correct yourself. As you approach the bottom, you lift your chest, i.e., open your hips and make your back more vertical, thus exacerbating the late knee situation. Your crotch goes forward at the bottom. Once you lean over, stay leaned over and reach back with your butt at the bottom. You have a little bit of upper back softness and your hands are flexed over the top of the bar. Work on getting your chest up before your start, as well as dropping your elbows and working your hands in closer to straighten out your wrists and get the bar tighter in place.

Deadlift: What you are doing is starting the pull by opening your hips. This makes your back vertical and gives the appearance that your hips have dropped. Technically, yes, they really have. You are thus trying to squat the bar up. The pull needs to start primarily with knee extension, so think about pushing the floor away and try staying over the bar, i.e., leaned over, much longer than you have before. Your upper back needs much more extension; point your chest at the wall in front of you. I'd also suggest bringing your stance in closer. I'm assuming the apparati on the floor is to make up for undersized plates?

[JarrodSchaefer]

Hey Newbie!

For your squat, you are definitely staying in your hips, so good job! Your knees are mostly getting forward enough, but they are not getting forward soon enough. They should reach the point where they stop moving (right about over your toes) during the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the descent down. You can practice getting your knees out over your toes without bending over a couple times so you can find what that feels like, and then try to do that at the same time that you bend over. Practice with the empty bar. This will make it easier to feel your weight staying over the middle of your foot.

For your deadlift, you are dropping your butt because your low back is not set and because you are "pulling" the bar with your back instead of "pushing" the floor with your feet. Try this, get a bit of a wider stance and grip, shove your knees open, during the set-up, keep your butt still but rotate your hips until you are shoving your belly down between your thighs. When you do this you should feel a large amount of tightness in your low back and maybe even a stretch in your hamstrings. After you set your back, your knees are what starts the exercise. Keep your back tight and straighten your legs. Try that out and let me know how it goes!

[Newbie@1]

Thanks for the review. Couple of clarifications: squat-"keeping chest up"- if I try to do that won't it make my back vertical to start with? Isn't the correct stance is the nipple point 4-5 feet on the floor? About wrist- I think the wrist are straight throughout, my hand knuckles are over the bar...let me know if you think otherwise. Can elaborate on the "little bit softness on the upper back" ? All other points , I would agree, will work towards that. On deadlift- yes the arrangement on floor is due to non standard size. Mine is 1 inch less in diameter, so I use a wooden plank. Thanks for the input.

I think I have to do a major reset in deadlift. Cue myself not to squat my deadlift... Shall I deload by 30-40 lbs and start over?

[Newbie@1]

[QUOTE=JarrodSchaefer;1788031. Try that out and let me know how it goes![/QUOTE]
I have tried the suggestions for squat. Please review- squat for same weight 145 lbs:
Squat- follow up - 145 lbs - YouTube

[Mark Rippetoe]

Squats look fine now. Get some shoes.

[Newbie@1]

Dear Coaches,
This is a follow up for the deadlift suggestions( refer to previous post for videos). I realised that i have to do a major reset, and start from beginning. Please review my technique at 135 lbs, I want to do it correct before I start adding more plates. Changes incorporated:
1. Start the lift my knee flexion, rather than try to pull it up, followed by engaging hip drive
2. Keeping lower back tight.

Deadlift @135 lbs:
Deadlift-followup-135lbs - YouTube

Thanks