Form critique thread, post your videos here.
Replies
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Ok, deadlift. YES, I absolutely see what you guys are talking about with the hips. I was even noticing that as I put the *fail* clips together that my hips kept looking like they were trying to jump up but I wasn't sure what was happening to cause that. And yes it can tweak my lower back sometimes which has probably contributed to making me a bit jumpy on this lift. I have mild sciatica through my right hip and while the lifting has made my back much happier overall I always get a bit jumpy when the first pull off the ground causes a twinge, after the first pull the twinge always goes away but.... I'm betting then that the setting up too far forward is why that first pull twinges and the others don't.
For OHP, I have some cheap adjustable DB's from walmart at home so it actually should be pretty easy to work my left side a bit on my time off. I'll watch the video oh the arm alignment and see if focusing on that when I lift again on Monday helps out.
Tonight is bench press, it's may favorite!0 -
For OHP, I have some cheap adjustable DB's from walmart at home so it actually should be pretty easy to work my left side a bit on my time off. I'll watch the video oh the arm alignment and see if focusing on that when I lift again on Monday helps out.
Work both left and right, just make sure that you only do what your left can handle (i.e. if you were doing one side at a time start with your left and do that many reps with your right even if you could do more)0 -
Was wiped after my run so couldn't get to video editing until this morning. Ok, here's my bench press from last night. I think I see an issue but I'd like to see what you guys have to say first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-iEjjwBYg&feature=youtu.be
squats tonight could be interesting, I'm a little achy from the run, but hopefully not too bad.0 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdJ2Vyu_U5g
Sorry for the constant posting, but, I got the videos if you got the time.
Thanks all0 -
Hi,
First time uploading video for critique. Here's a video of me doing squats. It's my last set of 5x5 at 175lbs. Things I'm looking for:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwCK1TkRrwKrbHR3WEpoQTk2UjQ/edit?usp=sharing
1. Am I breaking at the hips correctly.
2. Am I going low enough.
3. Am I leaning too forward (might be hard to see at that angle)
Anything else that would be helpful. I will try to get a better angle if it helps.
Thanks,0 -
Bar path looks good. Are you wearing shoes or just socks? Since it looks like you are at home and if those are shoes, I'd just go barefoot or socks unless you have some Chuck Taylors or skateboard type shoe with a minimal, flat sole.
1. Am I breaking at the hips correctly. Looks good
2. Am I going low enough. Looks a little shallow
3. Am I leaning too forward (might be hard to see at that angle) I don't think so
Anything else that would be helpful. I will try to get a better angle if it helps.
Thanks,
Video advice: get a tripod or just prop the camera/phone on something rather than have someone try to hold it. Or tell them to hold the camera/phone steady. If you can set the camera up at or just below your knee it's easier to judge depth.
Here's an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ihSJ85QMlQ
This was a PR for me at the time, I realize my form wasn't great especially the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rep.0 -
Thanks. I'll try to do a better video. I wear flat crocks (with no cushion). I feel they work out pretty good since they don't "give" when I push up.0
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Hi,
First time uploading video for critique. Here's a video of me doing squats. It's my last set of 5x5 at 175lbs. Things I'm looking for:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwCK1TkRrwKrbHR3WEpoQTk2UjQ/edit?usp=sharing
1. Am I breaking at the hips correctly.
2. Am I going low enough.
3. Am I leaning too forward (might be hard to see at that angle)
Anything else that would be helpful. I will try to get a better angle if it helps.
Thanks,
Needs more depth but otherwise fine.0 -
Was wiped after my run so couldn't get to video editing until this morning. Ok, here's my bench press from last night. I think I see an issue but I'd like to see what you guys have to say first.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-iEjjwBYg&feature=youtu.be
squats tonight could be interesting, I'm a little achy from the run, but hopefully not too bad.
Way bigger back arch
Needs more (or any) leg drive
Tuck your elbows better, they are almost 90* to your body, especially the last few reps. You want them maybe 45* to your body. Bar should touch down the bottom of your sternum/ribs as a result.
You will have way more power and stability that way. Though your 115x5 (I think) is pretty impressive regardless. The form however, looks troublesome for injuries. Do you find that the front portion of your shoulders is sore/painful after benching?
Edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw
Watch all of them and practice about a thousand times.0 -
Was wiped after my run so couldn't get to video editing until this morning. Ok, here's my bench press from last night. I think I see an issue but I'd like to see what you guys have to say first.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-iEjjwBYg&feature=youtu.be
squats tonight could be interesting, I'm a little achy from the run, but hopefully not too bad.
Way bigger back arch
Needs more (or any) leg drive
Tuck your elbows better, they are almost 90* to your body, especially the last few reps. You want them maybe 45* to your body. Bar should touch down the bottom of your sternum/ribs as a result.
You will have way more power and stability that way. Though your 115x5 (I think) is pretty impressive regardless. The form however, looks troublesome for injuries. Do you find that the front portion of your shoulders is sore/painful after benching?
Edit:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw
Watch all of them and practice about a thousand times.
LOL, I've been doing bench press for years (but mostly on machines in college) without a back arch at all so that was a very new concept for me. The only issue I have with it is it can irritate my lower back some but I will try and see what I can get.
I'm a little flummoxed by the entire concept of leg drive so anything that would help me figure that out would be appreciated.
Will work on tucking elbows, don't know why but I always thought they were supposed to be 90 degrees, probably from the years of doing this lift wrong :ohwell: I haven't noticed any real soreness in the area but it does feel very awkward trying to bring the bar down to the sternum from that position and that's probably why.0 -
Here's the squat from tonight. I realized after recording my warm up set that I have been setting up with the safety bar just a little too high.... I dropped it a notch and think it was ok at the lower weight, but probably caused some issues when the weight went up on the last few sets.... I have some hip mobility issues. I'm stretching and stretching but getting low is something I know I'm struggling with...so yea advice definitely needed on this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xax0YZMbCqg&feature=youtu.be 0 -
It honestly just looks like a strength and/or confidence issue to me. The first couple of sets were fine, and pretty good depth. The last set just looked too heavy and it looks like you were worried about going to depth for fear of not coming back up. Your set at 115lb was very good so to me it doesn't appear to be a mobility issue.
I'm sure most people have experienced this, we don't want to fail on squats so we sacrifice depth to make sure we can push it back up. Personally I'd suggest backing off the weight on your final set a bit, and building back up - concentrating on hitting depth on every rep.0 -
It honestly just looks like a strength and/or confidence issue to me. The first couple of sets were fine, and pretty good depth. The last set just looked too heavy and it looks like you were worried about going to depth for fear of not coming back up. Your set at 115lb was very good so to me it doesn't appear to be a mobility issue.
I'm sure most people have experienced this, we don't want to fail on squats so we sacrifice depth to make sure we can push it back up. Personally I'd suggest backing off the weight on your final set a bit, and building back up - concentrating on hitting depth on every rep.
Definitely a confidence issue when it comes to working with heavier weights. I don't trust myself at all with it. It's happened every time I go up in weight since about 130lbs and that was only the second time I attempted with 150lbs. I was only working with 140lbs when I was doing SL but when I switched to 5/3/1 it wanted me to go to 150 for 3 and to try 155 for 1 next week so I figured I should at least try it since I thought most of the issue was probably in my head.....0 -
Was wiped after my run so couldn't get to video editing until this morning. Ok, here's my bench press from last night. I think I see an issue but I'd like to see what you guys have to say first.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-iEjjwBYg&feature=youtu.be
squats tonight could be interesting, I'm a little achy from the run, but hopefully not too bad.
Way bigger back arch
Needs more (or any) leg drive
Tuck your elbows better, they are almost 90* to your body, especially the last few reps. You want them maybe 45* to your body. Bar should touch down the bottom of your sternum/ribs as a result.
You will have way more power and stability that way. Though your 115x5 (I think) is pretty impressive regardless. The form however, looks troublesome for injuries. Do you find that the front portion of your shoulders is sore/painful after benching?
Edit:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw
Watch all of them and practice about a thousand times.
LOL, I've been doing bench press for years (but mostly on machines in college) without a back arch at all so that was a very new concept for me. The only issue I have with it is it can irritate my lower back some but I will try and see what I can get.
I'm a little flummoxed by the entire concept of leg drive so anything that would help me figure that out would be appreciated.
Will work on tucking elbows, don't know why but I always thought they were supposed to be 90 degrees, probably from the years of doing this lift wrong :ohwell: I haven't noticed any real soreness in the area but it does feel very awkward trying to bring the bar down to the sternum from that position and that's probably why.
It kinda all works together. A big back arch and tucked elbows will naturally cause the bar to hit lower on the chest. You don't really need to "aim" it necessarily, it's just a side-effect of the "correct" setup (for powerlifting anyway).
I understand the arch thing hurting your back, it hurts mine too. I'm not comfortable with as big of an arch that I can possibly achieve. I dial it back to the point where it's just a littttttle uncomfortable and use that. Will it limit the weight I can use? Probably. Does my back not cramp up and hurt like hell? Certainly. Maybe I'll take a vid tonight to show what I mean.
As far as leg drive goes, the best way I can describe it is - try to push yourself down the bench.
Another way to think about it is the leg extension machine. Ever use it? You sit down with your legs bent (like you're in a chair) and you just try to extend your legs. If you've never used it, go try it for giggles to get used to the sensation. Then do that while lying down on the bench. You can really move a lot more weight when incorporating leg drive, and it really seems to help stability too by keeping tight.
Hope any of that helps. The problem with "bad" engrained habits is just that, they're hard to shake. You can do it right normally, but when the weight gets heavy you tend to revert back. The only way around this really is stupid amounts of practice (like literally, a thousand practice reps). Lots of sets of lighter weight/high reps for practice might be helpful.0 -
Here's the squat from tonight. I realized after recording my warm up set that I have been setting up with the safety bar just a little too high.... I dropped it a notch and think it was ok at the lower weight, but probably caused some issues when the weight went up on the last few sets.... I have some hip mobility issues. I'm stretching and stretching but getting low is something I know I'm struggling with...so yea advice definitely needed on this one.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xax0YZMbCqg&feature=youtu.be
RE: Hip mobility, I start every squat session with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBHzXF-mVjY
Worlds of help. The difference is enormous. It takes a little time and is really painful but my squats have been sooo much better.0 -
It honestly just looks like a strength and/or confidence issue to me. The first couple of sets were fine, and pretty good depth. The last set just looked too heavy and it looks like you were worried about going to depth for fear of not coming back up. Your set at 115lb was very good so to me it doesn't appear to be a mobility issue.
I'm sure most people have experienced this, we don't want to fail on squats so we sacrifice depth to make sure we can push it back up. Personally I'd suggest backing off the weight on your final set a bit, and building back up - concentrating on hitting depth on every rep.
Agreed. You gotta deload that weight, probably a lot. You weren't hitting depth at 115 and by 150 you were miles off.
Practice failing on squats a bit. Dump forward, dump backwards, do it a bunch of times. You've got safety bars, you're not gonna get hurt. Get comfortable at failing so you're not worried about what's gonna happen. I'd rather do 1 good rep at 150 than 3 half squats at 150. Those half squats aren't going to prepare you for next week's/month's workout since they will need to be full ROM as well. So you're just kinda digging a hole and making the problem worse. Lighter weight, full depth or die (bail) trying. (I've fallen into the same trap before, I know how it is).0 -
First, that hip mobility stretch scares the crap outta me, can't wait to give it a try. :drinker:
As for backing off, no problem there. I do think I could have hit depth at 130 (especially if I was going for it because it was my last set). I was actually touching the safety bars on 115 and 130. I sort of use that as an auditory/tactile cue for trying to hit depth, but it sounds like I need to drop the bars another notch.
I don't know why I never thought of practicing bailing on the squats, that seems so obvious....:embarassed:
And the visual on the leg drive helps. The leg extension/curl machine and the seated leg press all got plenty of use in college :grumble: Really wish someone had suggested a barbell at the time. :ohwell:0 -
You raise a good point there Dope, I actually see failing on the squats as a good thing as you are starting out. I sacrificed form for a while as I was scared to fail a rep - after pushing myself a few times and having a couple of failed reps I no longer had anything to worry about. All I had to do was lower further down and rest the bar on the pins (and then unload all the weight to re-rack it... :laugh: )
Thankfully in the end I was more self conscious about being a half-repper than I was about failing a rep!0 -
First, that hip mobility stretch scares the crap outta me, can't wait to give it a try. :drinker:
As for backing off, no problem there. I do think I could have hit depth at 130 (especially if I was going for it because it was my last set). I was actually touching the safety bars on 115 and 130. I sort of use that as an auditory/tactile cue for trying to hit depth, but it sounds like I need to drop the bars another notch.
I don't know why I never thought of practicing bailing on the squats, that seems so obvious....:embarassed:
And the visual on the leg drive helps. The leg extension/curl machine and the seated leg press all got plenty of use in college :grumble: Really wish someone had suggested a barbell at the time. :ohwell:
I took this for you tonight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D9XdJY6OLM
It's a bit sloppy as I'm pretty wrecked from my workouts this week so I apologize. But if you put your thumb over my upper body, watch my torso and legs at the bottom of each rep. Look how I'm pushing with my legs and you can see my whole body tense up to drive from the floor.
Then look at my arms and how they're about 45* from my body. My forearms stay pretty vertical and my elbows don't really dip below the bench much (kinda hard to see this due to the angle). I took note of where the bar is hitting my chest and it's right at the bottom of the sternum, around my last rib or two. An inch or two below my pecs.
I don't have perfect form (who does?) but that's pretty good in my eyes. My arch is decent but moderate enough not to strain my lower back. I can get a much bigger arch but it's not worth it to me.0 -
RE: Hip mobility, I start every squat session with this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBHzXF-mVjY
Worlds of help. The difference is enormous. It takes a little time and is really painful but my squats have been sooo much better.
Agree.
And thanks for the link, hadn't seen that one.
I start every squat day with Defranco's Limber 11: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc
Here's a google doc you can print out for reference too: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1pvZkencdL2N05VUjduekNNSXM/edit
After realizing my form and depth were crap I deloaded, big time, and spent a month working on mobility and depth.0 -
So I tried that hip stretch out last night........that may be the closest I've ever gotten to a religious experience! :laugh: Seriously, I'm pretty sure some of those muscles have never been stretched in my life.
Interestingly enough, I'm already doing a lot of what's recommended in the limber 11 series including the foam roller and lacrosse ball work and the glute and piriformis work because that really helps with the sciatica issues, but I saw a few other ones that I definitely think I could incorporate.
Also, thanks for the bench video Dope, that actually helps quite a lot and I think I've got a good idea of what I need to do for my bench next week. :flowerforyou:0 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9zV3TMr1EM&feature=youtu.be
Well ya'll, it's PR's from now on with DL (not that the bar was set too high to begin with). This is relatively heavy for me, I have never repped 215 lbs. before and hope to continue the up swing!
All critiques welcome.0 -
Just wanted to update and say thank you for all the help and input.
I managed 1 rep at 80lbs for my OHP and 1 at 125lbs for my bench this week. Keeping my elbows tucked on the OHP was a little trickier, there seemed to be some stability issues there that I'll need to work on. Also noticing some serious tightness through my biceps and forearms this week so I'm going to work on getting that out during my deload next week.
After adjusting my form a little bit on my DL I suddenly felt that glute activation I keep hearing everyone else talking about :laugh: . My glutes were completely exhausted by the time I hit 145lbs but my back felt much better so I think that's going to improve now.
I've been working on that deep glute/hip stretch Dope recommended all week along with a lot of work with my foam roller and lacrosse ball. My hips have never felt so limber, it was honestly awkward during my squats because I felt like I wasn't stable, but I managed to get well below parallel all the way up to 2 reps at 125lbs before I felt like I was toast and then did some practice ditching out from under the empty bar to try to get used to that.....
Anyways, just wanted to say thanks again for all the tips and suggestions as they have been incredibly helpful and I feel like I'm going to start seeing a lot of progress now that I've gotten some of those details under control. :drinker:0 -
http://youtu.be/drwpM6ncXdI
Today's DL. I feel like my grip was limiting my lock out abilities especially rep 4. At what point would one switch to alternate grip?0 -
http://youtu.be/drwpM6ncXdI
Today's DL. I feel like my grip was limiting my lock out abilities especially rep 4. At what point would one switch to alternate grip?
If I remember, I think I switched to mixed grip around 225x5.0 -
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http://youtu.be/drwpM6ncXdI
Today's DL. I feel like my grip was limiting my lock out abilities especially rep 4. At what point would one switch to alternate grip?
Reps are getting better every time Smitty, nice progress.
As for the grip, I don't think there's any real rule. I started using mixed grip pretty early as my grip SUCKED! I also spent a decent amount of time doing things like bar holds and dead hangs at the end of my workouts to help my grip.
Just the volume of barbell training was the biggest help though, things like doing bent over rows instead of pendlays, and holding my last deadlift reps for an extra 5-10 seconds all work to strengthen the forearms/grip.0 -
At what point would one switch to alternate grip?
I haven't switched yet but I'm only pulling 280x5. I started using chalk @ about 225.
Whenever you think your grip is the limiting factor is when it's time to switch. I have been holding my last rep as long as possible in an attempt to increase grip strength and delay switching.0 -
Thanks for the suggestions y'all, as well as the encouragement.0
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I don't see anything really wrong with your form. Hard to tell how your grip width looks but bar path looks good, setup looks good, form stays solid throughout. Looking a little lean there, maybe add more cheeseburgers to your diet?
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http://youtu.be/jzCT_Wn4ePU