Newbie Form Checks

[Vanessa Hill]

I've been practicing the Starting Strength squat and deadlift. Here are my first videos. Thanks for checking my form.

Deadlift
Deadlift 2024.08.31 - Google Drive

Squat
Squat 2024.08.31 - Google Drive

[BareSteel]

Hi Vanessa, your deadlift is decent. Be mindful not to bend your elbows before the pull. Over time, this could cause you to try to jerk the bar of the floor, which is not desirable. Think of squeeeezing the bar off the floor. As weights get heavier, this will make more sense.

When you put the bar down, be sure to use hips and knees. On a few of these it looks like you might slightly be leading with knees. Don't get me wrong, you absolutely use knees to help the deadlift (both up and down) but if you lead with the knees when putting the bar down, it could push the bar forward of your mid foot. I hope that makes sense. You're only doing this slightly. If you're in the learning phase of the deadlift, you might just slightly slow down your descent to get this right.

There is some room for personal preference on stance. I like to point my toes out a little bit and spread the knees accordingly to get some adductor involvement. I see that you use a toes forward stance. Just something to consider trying.

You might post a video from another angle to help us see more about your mechanics.

Your squats are high bar. I don't perform these and can't give too much valuable advice. Maybe just be mindful of safeties if you're squatting alone.

[Maybach]

Have you read the book?

The bar needs to be an inch or two lower on your back for the squat. Your stance needs to be about six inches wider on each side.

You are rushing the deadlift setup. You are "bouncing" into it in the bottom, and the back loses extension immediately off the floor. Follow the five step deadlift setup detailed in the book and make sure each step is done no shit. Give yourself an out loud count of a second after each one if you have to. Do not let the steps bleed into each other.

(Notice how you bend your arms during it? That means that your chest cannot be in the correct position, which means your hips cannot be in the correct position. Widen your stance a good shade on these too. )