Form critique thread, post your videos here.
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Hi--- I would love to get some input on my squat form! The first time I recorded myself, a few months ago, there were obvious problems even I could see (not going deep enough to be parallel, serious back rounding) but this time I'm not sure what to think about my form so thought I'd check with the experts.
http://youtu.be/bEHIbz3tHfg
There's a set at 95 lb first (yes, that's my working weight this week, I realize it's like half what the other ladies here can squat) and I also recorded a set at 85 lb from before that, which I included in the video in case that's helpful.
Sorry it's backlit. Also let me know if I should get other angles like from the front.
Thanks
Your form is pretty good but you're running into a bit of a problem at the bottom of the movement. It appears that you're doing low-bar squats, which is fine. However, it actually looks like your squat depth is TOO low for a low-bar squat. As a result, your butt is wrapping under you to an extreme ("butt wink") and you're leaning really far forward. This results in you having to "Good Morning" the weight as you come back up.
I would recommend stopping the motion a little higher up. You want your femurs to be JUST breaking parallel to the ground. A good cue for this is the crease of your hip joint should just be dropping below the top of your knee (if you drew a perfectly horizontal line between the two points).
Like this:
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Your form is pretty good but you're running into a bit of a problem at the bottom of the movement. It appears that you're doing low-bar squats, which is fine. However, it actually looks like your squat depth is TOO low for a low-bar squat. As a result, your butt is wrapping under you to an extreme ("butt wink") and you're leaning really far forward. This results in you having to "Good Morning" the weight as you come back up.
Oh thanks! ---I didn't realize the difference between high bar and low bar until now (I was just doing "put the bar where it doesn't ouch your back" squats) but that makes sense. I kind of thought the lower the better, but the guys telling me this were probably high bar squatters.I would recommend stopping the motion a little higher up. You want your femurs to be JUST breaking parallel to the ground. A good cue for this is the crease of your hip joint should just be dropping below the top of your knee (if you drew a perfectly horizontal line between the two points).
Cool thanks. I've had trouble propriocepting this (which is partly why I've ended up erring on the side of *kitten*-to-grass ever since last time when I saw that I was stopping higher than parallel) so maybe I'll find a box I can squat to that'll get me to the right height without having to take pictures every time? Unless there's other good tricks for finding parallel?0 -
Your form is pretty good but you're running into a bit of a problem at the bottom of the movement. It appears that you're doing low-bar squats, which is fine. However, it actually looks like your squat depth is TOO low for a low-bar squat. As a result, your butt is wrapping under you to an extreme ("butt wink") and you're leaning really far forward. This results in you having to "Good Morning" the weight as you come back up.
Oh thanks! ---I didn't realize the difference between high bar and low bar until now (I was just doing "put the bar where it doesn't ouch your back" squats) but that makes sense. I kind of thought the lower the better, but the guys telling me this were probably high bar squatters.I would recommend stopping the motion a little higher up. You want your femurs to be JUST breaking parallel to the ground. A good cue for this is the crease of your hip joint should just be dropping below the top of your knee (if you drew a perfectly horizontal line between the two points).
Cool thanks. I've had trouble propriocepting this (which is partly why I've ended up erring on the side of *kitten*-to-grass ever since last time when I saw that I was stopping higher than parallel) so maybe I'll find a box I can squat to that'll get me to the right height without having to take pictures every time? Unless there's other good tricks for finding parallel?
I usually set the safety bars to the point where I hit a little below parallel, while I'm warming up. I'll tap them for the first few warmup sets. Then as I get heavier I try to stop just before I hit them. *shrug* works for me. I tend to video a lot anyway. You get used to it after a while.0 -
Hi folks, can I get some feedback?
Squat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKRjKiRPRnc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSX1cfERkDs
Camera angle isn't the best, but I use an Olympic style stance and trying to focus on pushing my knees out going down and back in going up. I had the benefit of watching myself for the first time in between the sets so I tried to keep my elbows down on the second video. My thumbs wrap around the bar but reading some posts above is false gripping the norm for squatting? First time wearing squat shoes too.
Bench
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6nNFhK6OYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJjfkF-k77U
Row
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK1q1c9rn70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJG_UjExqnI
Think I'm doing pretty good on bench and row, but questioning whether my hips shoot up early on squats. A guy did come up to me and tell me that my back is too curved before this but I think it's okay (I don't know whether wearing squat shoes has helped this as I was wearing tennis shoes for squats and they were less stable).0 -
Hi folks, can I get some feedback?
Squathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKRjKiRPRnchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSX1cfERkDs
Camera angle isn't the best, but I use an Olympic style stance and trying to focus on pushing my knees out going down and back in going up. I had the benefit of watching myself for the first time in between the sets so I tried to keep my elbows down on the second video. My thumbs wrap around the bar but reading some posts above is false gripping the norm for squatting? First time wearing squat shoes too.
Benchhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6nNFhK6OYQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJjfkF-k77U
Rowhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK1q1c9rn70http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJG_UjExqnI
Think I'm doing pretty good on bench and row, but questioning whether my hips shoot up early on squats. A guy did come up to me and tell me that my back is too curved before this but I think it's okay (I don't know whether wearing squat shoes has helped this as I was wearing tennis shoes for squats and they were less stable).
Your squats are basically perfect, I really don't see anything to nitpick. As far as grip goes, it's more of a personal preference. It is generally recommended to use a false grip (thumbs over) because the idea is to let your back carry the load. Your hands gripping the bar are basically to keep the bar set on your back. That's really it. With your thumbs wrapped around the bar, there is a tendency to support some of the bar's weight with the hands. You don't want to be carrying weight on your wrists, you will hurt them eventually. Maybe not now, but when you're squatting 200, 300, 400, 500lbs it's a bad habit to get into. Hell, you'll even see some people who can squat with no hands, once they have a developed enough back mass. The hands just hold the bar to the back, that's all. I have tweaky wrists (right wrist mainly) so I am hypersensitive about this. I basically just have my hands draped over the top of the bar, pressing it into my back. Most people recommend this but it isn't absolutely critical. You'll see some powerlifters squatting 800lbs with their thumbs wrapped around the bar (but note, they are almost always wearing wrist wraps as a result). TL;DR, sorry.
Your bench looks pretty good too. My only tip here is, maybe look into incorporating leg drive a bit. It doesn't look like you're using any. It's not critical BUT it will help you stabilize and lift heavier weights over time. One of my favorite bench videos is Dave Tate's "So you think you can bench" series. It starts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw&list=PL38D8B0C3BFDB82F2 It has lots of good points around bench setup and execution. He talks about leg drive for a decent portion of one of the videos (too lazy to watch them all to point it out right now).
Rows are probably your worst exercise, IMO. You're definitely putting a lot of body english into the movement, ideally you want to be as tight and rigid as possible. You're basically using your whole body to perform the movement in the video. Your torso is also angled up quite a bit, up to 45* (especially at the top of the movement). Ideally you want your torso to be basically parallel to the ground and stay steady the whole time. I would probably deload the weight and work on that one a little bit. One random thought, I preferred Pendlay rows (bar starts from the ground for each rep). Reason being, during normal BB rows I was in sort of a hurry since holding significant weight while bent over for a while can be very taxing on lower back and grip. With pendlay rows, the bar rests on the ground for each rep so you're not straining grip or back and you can take your time. Just food for thought.
Great work overall though.0 -
Ok I'm going to ask for someone to look at my squat. I think I may have a but wink problem. I did see the post about a slight flexation being ok but I thing mine may be excessive.
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy127/morninglory1981/1C82DF9E-3FF2-4ADF-9A9B-819ACA8643C0-601-000000B4367F6664_zpsc041f6f9.mp40 -
Ok I'm going to ask for someone to look at my squat. I think I may have a but wink problem. I did see the post about a slight flexation being ok but I thing mine may be excessive.
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy127/morninglory1981/1C82DF9E-3FF2-4ADF-9A9B-819ACA8643C0-601-000000B4367F6664_zpsc041f6f9.mp4
I would work on some hip and hamstring stretches/mobility work. You can youtube about a billion of them. Your form looks good, I think you're just running out of flexibility at the bottom of the movement, limiting your depth without butt wink.0 -
Thank you I will look into that.Ok I'm going to ask for someone to look at my squat. I think I may have a but wink problem. I did see the post about a slight flexation being ok but I thing mine may be excessive.
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy127/morninglory1981/1C82DF9E-3FF2-4ADF-9A9B-819ACA8643C0-601-000000B4367F6664_zpsc041f6f9.mp4
I would work on some hip and hamstring stretches/mobility work. You can youtube about a billion of them. Your form looks good, I think you're just running out of flexibility at the bottom of the movement, limiting your depth without butt wink.0 -
Okey dokey...Here are my forms for critique. Please let me know if these links don't work! TIA!!!
Squats:
1st Set:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_221309_zpsiof5wcju.mp4.html
2nd Set after watching first video (I did 4, instead of 5, and didn't know it...lol!):
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_221527_zpskbe1sd27.mp4.html
Deadlifts:
Side: http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_224949_zpsfrvrqy8o.mp4.html
Front: http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_225410_zpsfacxl0qz.mp4.html
Pendlay Rows:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_225743_zpscthqlio4.mp4.html 0 -
Okey dokey...Here are my forms for critique. Please let me know if these links don't work! TIA!!!
Squats:
1st Set:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_221309_zpsiof5wcju.mp4.html
2nd Set after watching first video (I did 4, instead of 5, and didn't know it...lol!):
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_221527_zpskbe1sd27.mp4.html
Deadlifts:
Side: http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_224949_zpsfrvrqy8o.mp4.html
Front: http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_225410_zpsfacxl0qz.mp4.html
Pendlay Rows:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_225743_zpscthqlio4.mp4.html
Your first squat vid doesn't work for me for some reason. Just gives a black video screen. The rest work though.
Squat looks pretty good, just really shy of depth. You should be going quite lower than that, at least 6" if not more to break parallel. Probably need to deload weight if your current configuration is heavy for you.
Deadlift looks pretty good, maybe consider sitting back a bit and getting your hips a little lower. Sink your hips and raise your chest.. Depends on your bodily proportions but most people have at least a bit of an upright posture when they start the deadlift, whereas your body is completely horizontal. Puts a lot of stress on your lower back, IMO.0 -
Squat: Looks ok, and I know you're just beginning... Are you starting light? You should be. Main points from what I can see is that you're not reaching parallel (squat is shallow), and your hips are coming up first out of the bottom (when your shoulders and hips should be straightening out evenly).
Here's my squat for comparison:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rOzlpujZwBA
The trouble you run into when your hips come up quicker is that you end up putting more stress on your back to lift the weight. At heavier loads this can be problematic, or potentially dangerous. That said, of all the big lifts, the squat is easily the most technical. It just takes time and a ton of recordings to get right.
Make sure your knees are coming out to allow your hips room to sink down, and if you have to lower the weight some, there's no shame in that. Once you get the squat nailed down (took me months to consistently do it well) you'll be glad. I actually had to back down my squat by around 60lbs once I realized my form wasn't great, and I routinely practice with the bar even now.
As for the deadlift, honestly everything looked pretty good. You don't need to control the weight so much on the way down, so long as you keep it from hitting your knees or coming out in front of you. Only real problem I could see, your knees are bowing inward as you pick the weight up. DONT DO THIS. Make sure your knees go outward, not inward, just like the squat. If it helps to angle your toes out a bit that's fine, just make sure they don't come in.0 -
To all you weight training guys and gals -
WARNING: Skinny 51 yr old guy lifting weights (comes from not doing any exercise for too long).
Here are a couple videos shot this morning showing my squat and dead lifts. I really appreciate any feedback, comments, and critiques. First the squats. Weight is 95 lbs and is not my working set...but maybe too much? Watch the video.
Squats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7STn5KciRMY
I don't think I'm going low enough in the squat. Maybe take some weight off and try going lower to the bottom? Also - any thoughts on my posture, back angle, where the bar is placed, arm and hand position?
Deadlift next. Weight is 95 lbs. Not my working set. Those are at 115 lbs.
Dead lift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UnNetVmteg
Thanks,
Elia0 -
You have the privacy options for the videos set to "Private", meaning we need permission. Set it to "Unlisted" instead and we can use the links.
Unlisted means that it is not searchable, but someone with a direct link can view it.0 -
Okey dokey...Here are my forms for critique. Please let me know if these links don't work! TIA!!!
Squats:
1st Set:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_221309_zpsiof5wcju.mp4.html
2nd Set after watching first video (I did 4, instead of 5, and didn't know it...lol!):
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_221527_zpskbe1sd27.mp4.html
Deadlifts:
Side: http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_224949_zpsfrvrqy8o.mp4.html
Front: http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_225410_zpsfacxl0qz.mp4.html
Pendlay Rows:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/metalfemme131313/media/20140123_225743_zpscthqlio4.mp4.html
Your first squat vid doesn't work for me for some reason. Just gives a black video screen. The rest work though.
Squat looks pretty good, just really shy of depth. You should be going quite lower than that, at least 6" if not more to break parallel. Probably need to deload weight if your current configuration is heavy for you.
Deadlift looks pretty good, maybe consider sitting back a bit and getting your hips a little lower. Sink your hips and raise your chest.. Depends on your bodily proportions but most people have at least a bit of an upright posture when they start the deadlift, whereas your body is completely horizontal. Puts a lot of stress on your lower back, IMO.
Gah! I don't know what happened to that vid?! I deleted it from my Photobucket, somehow. :grumble:
So, if my improved sqaut is still really shy of depth, then, I'll be starting back from square one, because that was the best I could do at that weight. :laugh:
Noted on the DL back position.
Thank you for taking the time to help me!!! :happy:0 -
Squat: Looks ok, and I know you're just beginning... Are you starting light? You should be. Main points from what I can see is that you're not reaching parallel (squat is shallow), and your hips are coming up first out of the bottom (when your shoulders and hips should be straightening out evenly).
Here's my squat for comparison:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rOzlpujZwBA
The trouble you run into when your hips come up quicker is that you end up putting more stress on your back to lift the weight. At heavier loads this can be problematic, or potentially dangerous. That said, of all the big lifts, the squat is easily the most technical. It just takes time and a ton of recordings to get right.
Make sure your knees are coming out to allow your hips room to sink down, and if you have to lower the weight some, there's no shame in that. Once you get the squat nailed down (took me months to consistently do it well) you'll be glad. I actually had to back down my squat by around 60lbs once I realized my form wasn't great, and I routinely practice with the bar even now.
As for the deadlift, honestly everything looked pretty good. You don't need to control the weight so much on the way down, so long as you keep it from hitting your knees or coming out in front of you. Only real problem I could see, your knees are bowing inward as you pick the weight up. DONT DO THIS. Make sure your knees go outward, not inward, just like the squat. If it helps to angle your toes out a bit that's fine, just make sure they don't come in.
Ok, saw your vid and can see the differences in form. Thanks for that!!! I'll just start with the bar again and get it right before moving on.
Knees caving in? Yes. I have to really watch that. I'd like to keep my knees! I also noted that I pulled towards my dominant side. So much to work on, but I'm glad to have the input on this. I'm, by nature, very cautious, so form is definitely something I've been concerned about before taking on heavier weights.
Thanks for your help!!! :drinker:0 -
Whoops. Sorry about that. I'm as new to posting videos as I am to lifting. Permissions to the videos have been changed to unlisted.
Squat:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7STn5KciRMY
Deadlift:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7STn5KciRMY
Elia0 -
Just recorded these lifts yesterday and I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help!
Squat -
http://youtu.be/Rwb4bDzoV64
Deadlift -
http://youtu.be/O0QKXzBXV5w
Stephen0 -
Whoops. Sorry about that. I'm as new to posting videos as I am to lifting. Permissions to the videos have been changed to unlisted.
Squat:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7STn5KciRMY
Deadlift:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7STn5KciRMY
Elia
Both of your links are the same video, btw.
I don't think anything obnoxiously wrong with your squat (from the limited angle) other than the fact that you aren't reaching a good depth (parallel or breaking parallel). Some work on increasing range of motion and you should be pretty good to go.0 -
Just recorded these lifts yesterday and I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help!
Squat -http://youtu.be/Rwb4bDzoV64
Deadlift -http://youtu.be/O0QKXzBXV5w
Stephen
Same as the above, squats look pretty decent (first looked a little hokey but you picked it up after that), just need to go a few inches further down to break parallel.
Deadlifts, your hips are shooting up before the bar starts to move. You're basically doing two lifts, standing up with your legs and then using your lower back to move the weight. You want everything to move at the same time and at the same rate. Hips should rise with the bar coming off the ground.
Maybe this will help?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3EMnj-9Ky0 0
