Form check videos
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Thanks so much for the feedback! I definitely think I'm going to just drop back to the bar for a bit and focus on form.0
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Would love feedback on my squats. I think I am bending forward too much????
This is at 95 lbs warm up weight. Sorry about the crappy angle, but I had to prop my phone up on the leg press.
https://youtu.be/v5Gkvldgx60 0 -
@JennWeighZen I'm a little late on this, but my first thought it: do you have any flatter shoes? Running shoes are terrible for squatting. They're squishy and usually curved which is a recipe for instability and heels raising up.
Second thing I would suggest is to work on getting into the bottom squat position without any weight (or a front counter balance) and spending some time there while working on keeping your back as upright as possible. You're more or less "bending" into it instead of "sitting" into the squat, which leads to a bit of an awkward bar path and the weight pulling you forward. You might need to spend some time working on your ankle mobility - if you're anything like me, years of being overweight have probably made the tissues around them super stiff and it makes it hard to keeps your heels down at the bottom of a squat (And I'm a men's size 8.5, so much wider base of support here!)
Last pointer I'd give today is upper back tightness. Ideally, you'd want the bar so stable on those shoulders you're barely holding on to the bar at all. Before you even get under the bar, contract your traps and keep them tight throughout. Makes a ton of difference. And it'll also release your wrists so you can work on keeping them as neutral as possible and prevent potential shoulder or elbow impingement further down the line.
Hope that helps!
@mirrim52 You have a low bar position and your filming angle is a bit behind you, so it'll sure look even worse than it feels in regards to the forward bend. You look like you're handling that weight well - you don't end up moving the weight back up in 2 very distinct movements (hip extension then good morning) like a lot of people will do when they start struggling. So it's not something to worry *too* much about yet.
Can't really see your head so it's hard to comment on your upper body position, but I'd say if you feel like you're bending too far forward anyway, tilting your chest up even just a bit might fix that. And the rest of it might together if you break more at the hips first rather than the knees. Think of it more as sitting back than down.
And now you guys reminded me I wanted to post my own videos fro feedback. I've been so distracted lately *shakes head*0 -
@mirrim52 You have a low bar position and your filming angle is a bit behind you, so it'll sure look even worse than it feels in regards to the forward bend. You look like you're handling that weight well - you don't end up moving the weight back up in 2 very distinct movements (hip extension then good morning) like a lot of people will do when they start struggling. So it's not something to worry *too* much about yet.
Can't really see your head so it's hard to comment on your upper body position, but I'd say if you feel like you're bending too far forward anyway, tilting your chest up even just a bit might fix that. And the rest of it might together if you break more at the hips first rather than the knees. Think of it more as sitting back than down.
And now you guys reminded me I wanted to post my own videos fro feedback. I've been so distracted lately *shakes head*
Yes, the angle makes it hard to tell if the bar path is aligned with the mid-point of the foot, which is the first thing I look at when checking my form. Soooo not an expert, here. I pretty much rely on Starting Strength's guidelines. Being mindful of the bar path, proud chest, gaze front and down, and the shoulder blades are pinched to create the shelf for the bar which helps with pushing the chest forward. The "lean" is pretty forgiving on low bar to accommodate body mechanics. You look good!0 -
@mirrim52, i just had this conversation for most of my training/group session tonight. so i feel wisdom-dispensy. two things might help with your 'lean':
1. eye gaze - fixing your focus on something a long way in front of you. even if there's a wall just a few feet away, try to pretend you're looking at something about an alley's worth of distance away. idk why, but it it keeps my chest naturally 'up' and that makes a silly amount of difference to my balance. so then i don't have to fold as much.
2. along with that, hips more aggressively 'back'. i've been thinking about those collapsible tent poles that you chop sideways with your hand to get them to fold up. or the table legs that are hinged in the same way. that's the effect i try to keep in my mind as i 'break' to start my descent. another image that works for me is hitching an arrow into a bow and drawing it back.
i love your foot placement and how open you're getting your knees though (sounds so wrong, but you know what i mean). and also, congratulations. i think you mentioned some weight loss/something like that recently, and it really looks good on you.0 -
Alright, it's my turn to sit on the chopping block so to speak. I have noted a few things myself on these but don't wanna bias other people's feedback with my own ;P
Squats @ 155
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuK0Gok_kxo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2hhMARBQFE
Bench @85 (keep in mind I haven't benched heavy since even before my shoulder injury, so we're talking 2+ months since the last time I was over 100. Thats makes me sad
)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo3O0pOFWWc
No rows - they hurt. Form check would be pointless atm.0 -
all i can see is it looks kind of like you're left-dominant? there's a bit of a drift to the right on the front-view of your squats. on the side view, the 3rd and 5th reps had the bar doing a bit of a curve out in front on the way up, but i guess you know both of these points already.
i'm the last person who should give anyone tips about bench, i'm afraid.
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just a tip to the next person who posts in this thread: let us know in one of the regular threads, otherwise we might never notice you've posted. don't want anyone getting accidentally ignored and feeling sad.0
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I'm brand spanking new to this - just started with SL last week. This video of squats was from the third time I've ever done them (with a barbell - I've done so many without weight or with small hand weights! Lol!), so I'm sure there's lots to work on! I hope to post some videos of the other exercises as well. Just from reviewing this myself - based on the feedback I've seen provided to others who've posted in this thread - I think I need to work on my wrists and on keeping my neck more neutral at the very least. Thank you in advance for your help - really want to make sure I nail my form before I get to heavy weight!
https://youtu.be/XaF_GQ-yCPM
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The angle isn't very good, but there are two things that stand out to me...
The first couple reps look ok for depth, but you don't seem to quite break parallel starting on rep 3.
You seem to have a high bar position, but are leaning forward like a low bar squat. It is hard to tell from the angle of the camera, but it looks like the weight is centered more over your toes than your mid foot. This will throw you off balance, especially as the weights get higher.
Keeping the camera directly beside you centered around waist height gives the best angle for form checks.
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Thanks I'll try to get a better angle during tonight's workout. Btw - I had two vids to choose from to upload and I thought I'd picked the other one - so apologies for my hubby's comments in that one! Lol! Men.0
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I really should do this one of these days. I have one video but it's not sufficient because the way the power cage is set in relation to the camera, a part of me goes off camera each rep. It was interesting showing a couple of coworkers who know nothing about lifting though. Next time lower power is on a late night lifting session, maybe I can try to video squat and deadlift.
@krokador - I'm not really knowledge for criticism, so I just have a question. Where do you look when squatting? Just curious. In the first one, the front video, it's almost like you are looking at the camera. Kind of like, yeah, critique this. hehe ;-)
@kristinels - haha on the comment in the video. I'd say pfft men but that's what I noticed on a woman's youtube channel who recently showed some a lifting session that included squats so... Well, actually I noticed the way her pants handled the move of the squat since many tend to wear the tight leggings, but close enough in concept.0 -
I watched it at work, so it was muted! Now I am curious
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@kristinels - i like how you keep your hips open (knees don't fold inwards), but maybe consider a more neutral head position? it seemed like you started out that way and then you were getting more and more baby-bird as the set progressed. not as comfortable as neutral, and apparently it also wastes some of your hip power too.
other thought: if you keep your wrists straight, that might help with keeping a tight upper back. and that in turn might make it easier to keep your chest up.0 -
Thanks everyone! @canadianlbs - I have been noticing my head position as well. It's like I forget about it halfway through a set. I noticed it a couple of times last night and had to remind myself to return my head to the neutral position - so I'll continue to work on that. Based on @mirrim52's feedback, I also tried to have the bar a bit further down my shoulders as I did the squat last night. I really felt that in my rotator cuffs though - but not to the point where it caused any issue after I was done. It just felt very tight and stretched. I had the hubby take another video that was more straight on and at mid-level. It's a little close quarters in the room where I'm setup, so hopefully this angle is better:
https://youtu.be/zPPlAEiorTA
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Hmmm - on my phone the video captures the whole top of the bar and weights. YouTube formatting must have cut it off a bit I notice my wrists were still not straight though! 0
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the head thing dogs me. i initially started out with the rippetoe idea of eyes-down and i carved myself such a deep mental-habit groove that i'm still fighting it now. one suggestion i got from the squat-monster dude in my weekly group was: pick something FAR AWAY to focus your eyes on, not something up close. i did find that the best i've done so far was when i was focused on a spot on the ground at least 20 feet away, so this is my new rule-to-live-by.
works great when they leave the loading-bay door open in the group gym, and i'm using the rack that faces out across the alley ;-) not so easy when i'm trying to look 'through' something that's only 4 or 5 physical feet from my eyes.
which part of your rotator cuff hurts - front or back? it sometimes takes me quite a while to get comfortable too, but fwiw, i tell myself 'FIRST rule is straight wrists. SECOND rule can be 'closest grip you can get'. over the course of a workout my grip tends to narrow to where i've got the first joint of my thumbs inside the knurl, but my first set can start a ways off from that. two things seem to help me:
1. pinch your shoulderblades together, towards each other - not 'up' towards your neck. this means rhomboids and traps, basically.
2. pec stretch, believe it or not. pec major attaches to the front of your humerus, so if that's tight then you can't get your humerus back very far, no matter what your shoulderblades are up to. then (if you're me) the collarbones/shoulderblades can draw back but the head of my humerus pulls forward within the acr. and that puts a nasty strain on my front delts when it's not actually giving me impingement worries. pec minor is all up in the collarbone too, iirc. so tightness in either of those can make squat grip a problem for me.
i also do the band pull-apart and broomstick-dislocate drills pretty religiously before i start, just to limber up my shoulder capsules a little bit more.0 -
First and second video bar position both look like low bar to me just slightly different placement. If the lower one is hurting your shoulder move it back up a bit. I have to use a pretty wide grip personally (right inside the rings), and don't have issues staying tight in my upper back. YMMV of course. I do warm up both my upper and lower body before squatting which includes both a lat and pec stretch.
I look up when I squat, but I focus on something up across the room like the gym clock. #rebel
Lower your stands and mini squat the bar out- don't tippy toe it out.
It looks like your knees come in for just a twitch on the way up. This might be caused by several things, but one of them is unstable/weak ankles. You might want to try lifting in your socks to see if this alleviates the issue since the cushioning in running shoes causes instability.0 -
Thanks again for the feedback @Fittreelol and @canadianlbs. I do stretch before lifting workouts. I do a full range of leg and hip stretches, and some chest stretches - but I'm usually in a hurry to get downstairs and get dinner ready afterwards, so I'm guilty of not stretching afterwards. I'll have to fix that. @canadianlbs, the discomfort is in the front of my rotator cuffs with the lower bar placement. I do think I need more work on stretching my whole chest area as I tend to have naturally poor posture most of the time unless I'm really paying attention. Since @Fittreelol thought the bar placement in my first video was ok, I may just go back to that one next time and focus on incorporating more stretching beforehand, a closer grip with straighter wrists, and a better head position. Can you describe 'band pull-apart and broomstick-dislocate drills'? I've never done those.
I definitely have unstable/weak ankles - I've recently learned a few stretches I can do for those as well. On Saturday, the peroneal tendons in my left ankle started bothering me and were causing some 'pain' (more like an ache - 1 or 2 max on a scale of 10 I'd say), so maybe that contributed to the knee twitch observed. The left ankle has been feeling a little better over the last 24 hours and I will definitely try in my socks next time. The floor in that room is not exactly level either - I live in a very old house that's been remodeled, but no one ever bothered to level the floors on the 2nd level of the house!0 -
kristinels wrote: »Since @Fittreelol thought the bar placement in my first video was ok, I may just go back to that one next time and focus on incorporating more stretching beforehand, a closer grip with straighter wrists, and a better head position.
Where you put the bar on your back doesn't matter as much as keeping in centred over your mid-foot. How high or low the bar is just determines how much of a forward lean you have to keep it centred.
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