Form critique thread, post your videos here.

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  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    For the past month I have been working on my squat form (it was really horrible, I had a bad time with leaning too far forward). I was just curious as to what others thought of my form now. I took videos of my first set and my last set.

    First set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Kxe6hVJYA

    Last set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPUwQCG9gp8

    Thanks for any feedback! wink 60 pounds isn't hard for me, but I wanted to get opinions before I moved on adding more weight to the bar.

    I would need to see it heavier and with a front or back view as well. Nothing glaringly wrong, though it was hard for me to tell if you hit depth.

    Okay I'll keep that in mind when posting videos in the future, thanks. Maybe I'll post again when the weight gets to over 100 pounds? And I do think I'm just hitting parallel. (i know its hard to tell in the video, though)

    When I say heavier, I mean heavier for you. It doesn't matter if it's 100 pounds or 1000. The video you posted is at a weight too light to be challenging, so issues that might show up (or disappear) at heavier weights for you muddle the critique.
  • Rays_Wife
    Rays_Wife Posts: 1,173 Member
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    Okay, I get what you're saying now. Sorry if I was being dense lol

    btw I like your tat :smile:
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    Wanted to check my DL form again so I took a quick vid last night. 275x5 and 315x5

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7KBUyXfIRs

    I feel like I have a small round in my lower back, but at the same time I feel like I'm really focusing on keeping it straight when I'm doing the lift. I looked at some old vids and even at 225 it still looks the same. How bad does it look to you? The last 2 reps at 315 I can see a little more rounding but not too horrible yet. 315x5 is close to my all-time max so I expect some form breaking down. Best I've ever done is 325x6.

    So basically, long post short, how bad does my back look? Any thoughts, ideas or cues to correct it if it's bad? How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

    I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

    I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.

    Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

    I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.


    Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.

    I think fixing the descent will help the above issue. Rounding the knees causes you to set the bar a bit ahead. I also think you're potentially getting a bit too deep with the hips and then the hips go a bit early on the pull. It's minor, some people don't think it's an issue in general.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

    I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.


    Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.

    I think fixing the descent will help the above issue. Rounding the knees causes you to set the bar a bit ahead. I also think you're potentially getting a bit too deep with the hips and then the hips go a bit early on the pull. It's minor, some people don't think it's an issue in general.

    You need to find a position where the bar isn't rolling during setup. I see the left side rolling out more than the right, which can be a pretty big injury risk.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

    I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.

    Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.

    Your shins are pushing the bar forward--that's what I meant. This means that your back angle is not correct, most likely, and needs to be more horizontal in the starting position. You could try pointing your feet out more, which will give the bar some more clearance. But your legs aren't as short as you think, and your knees are bent too much in most reps (both on the way down and on the way up).
  • Leigh14
    Leigh14 Posts: 871 Member
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    Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

    Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

    Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

    Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

    Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI

    Will need a front or back view to confirm, but I'd bet a dollar if you widened your stance 1-3 inches you'd be able to hit depth more easily. Try bottom position body weight squats to work on flexibility. Take a long pause in the hole when you do it.
  • Leigh14
    Leigh14 Posts: 871 Member
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    Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

    Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

    Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI

    Will need a front or back view to confirm, but I'd bet a dollar if you widened your stance 1-3 inches you'd be able to hit depth more easily. Try bottom position body weight squats to work on flexibility. Take a long pause in the hole when you do it.

    I'll work on another camera angle. :) I'm attempting to do one week of regular stance squats, wide stance the next week and narrow the following week. Is it okay to not go deeper with regular and narrow? My feet were about shoulder-width apart with my toes pointed out.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    How's everything else look? I feel like the rest of my form is pretty solid I just don't like that little hump in my back. I can take more vid to demonstrate how it looks at lower or at pure max weight too.

    I would watch your starting position--you roll the bar forward of the mid-foot a bit with every rep. Watch the video and just the position that the plates start from at each rep. (I actually put my finger on where the plate edge is.) The position varies slightly with each rep, but your feet don't move. Also, you are breaking at the knees too early on the way down.

    Good observation. I'm not sure if the bar rolling is a problem, it's my shins that are pushing it out as I get down into position. The bar is still riding up my shins, you can see it dragging on the shin skins I have. I'm not sure if that means something else is off with my form though, the bar is already 1-2" away from my shins when I'm standing up. I have a bit oddly shaped body though, shorter legs and taller torso.

    Your shins are pushing the bar forward--that's what I meant. This means that your back angle is not correct, most likely, and needs to be more horizontal in the starting position. You could try pointing your feet out more, which will give the bar some more clearance. But your legs aren't as short as you think, and your knees are bent too much in most reps (both on the way down and on the way up).

    Gotcha, I didn't put two and two together. I'll try for a bit higher hips and record this week's DL session. Funny thing is, in the last few months I've tried raising my hips quite a bit. I used to get much lower and basically squat the weight. As a result I was really grinding the bar into my shins and causing heinous bruising. I improved it a lot since then but apparently not enough...
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

    Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

    Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI

    Will need a front or back view to confirm, but I'd bet a dollar if you widened your stance 1-3 inches you'd be able to hit depth more easily. Try bottom position body weight squats to work on flexibility. Take a long pause in the hole when you do it.

    I'll work on another camera angle. :) I'm attempting to do one week of regular stance squats, wide stance the next week and narrow the following week. Is it okay to not go deeper with regular and narrow? My feet were about shoulder-width apart with my toes pointed out.

    If you're going to vary stances, do it at bodyweight until you're comfortable with them and hit full depth. If you can't, stick with bodyweight and work on flexibility until you can.
  • Leigh14
    Leigh14 Posts: 871 Member
    Options
    Hello out there! I've been lurking here for quite some time and *just* got up the nerve to video myself squatting this morning.

    Behold: the Squishy Squat. I'm squishy and squatting. I do not like what I see both in form and in physical shape. I'm not new at this, but have never seen my form from the side. I need help and advice. Can squishy people really do proper form squats? I mean ... look at my legs. They're huge! I feel like I can't even see if I'm coming near parallel, much less breaking it. Or if I even CAN break it at this point in my fat loss career.

    Here you go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuhgfWPBVI

    Will need a front or back view to confirm, but I'd bet a dollar if you widened your stance 1-3 inches you'd be able to hit depth more easily. Try bottom position body weight squats to work on flexibility. Take a long pause in the hole when you do it.

    I'll work on another camera angle. :) I'm attempting to do one week of regular stance squats, wide stance the next week and narrow the following week. Is it okay to not go deeper with regular and narrow? My feet were about shoulder-width apart with my toes pointed out.

    If you're going to vary stances, do it at bodyweight until you're comfortable with them and hit full depth. If you can't, stick with bodyweight and work on flexibility until you can.

    Will do! Thanks so much for the reply. I didn't realize flexibility would help with that; I thought I was lacking strength to get down that low!
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

    I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

    Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    I like how the earth shakes and the camera vibrates every time the bar comes back down. :smokin:
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
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    Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

    I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

    Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.

    looks fine but you would be better to keep your head in a neutral position instead of looking right up like you do, this will help with the back rounding also.

    If you watch some of the form check videos from supertraining Mark Bell emphasises this point all the time.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/supertraining06/search?query=coaches+eye+form
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

    I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

    Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.

    looks fine but you would be better to keep your head in a neutral position instead of looking right up like you do, this will help with the back rounding also.

    If you watch some of the form check videos from supertraining Mark Bell emphasises this point all the time.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/supertraining06/search?query=coaches+eye+form

    Thanks, I'll try that next time. I tend to look up on DL and squats a lot. I'll see if it makes a difference.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

    I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

    Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.

    looks fine but you would be better to keep your head in a neutral position instead of looking right up like you do, this will help with the back rounding also.

    If you watch some of the form check videos from supertraining Mark Bell emphasises this point all the time.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/supertraining06/search?query=coaches+eye+form

    Thanks, I'll try that next time. I tend to look up on DL and squats a lot. I'll see if it makes a difference.

    That roll is very likely the most dangerous part of your lift.

    The looking up thing is true as it tends to hyperextend your low back and can strain those muscles, but I'd focus on correcting the roll no matter what first.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    Update to my previous DL post. This week's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ku-hUG-C8

    I added 5lbs to all sets (doing Madcow) I tried keeping hips higher this time. Back seems flatter, the stutter at the beginning of the pull is (mostly) gone, and the bar isn't rolling anymore (sometimes on first rep but it goes away after that). My back feels better too even though I did more weight. Final set is only 5lbs off of my PR 5RM max and I feel like my form was pretty decent. 320x5 felt easier than 315x5 too so I'm pretty psyched. Now I just gotta stop breaking my knees so early on descent.

    Any major things to note form-wise? This was my first DL session since I got a bunch of suggestions so I will continue to work on it. Shooting for 405x1 by end of year. If I can pull 345 or 350 x5 in a month or two of progression I think I will go for it.

    looks fine but you would be better to keep your head in a neutral position instead of looking right up like you do, this will help with the back rounding also.

    If you watch some of the form check videos from supertraining Mark Bell emphasises this point all the time.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/supertraining06/search?query=coaches+eye+form

    Thanks, I'll try that next time. I tend to look up on DL and squats a lot. I'll see if it makes a difference.

    That roll is very likely the most dangerous part of your lift.

    The looking up thing is true as it tends to hyperextend your low back and can strain those muscles, but I'd focus on correcting the roll no matter what first.

    Yeah, the roll is still there. I would take longer to set up before each rep--I think you are too far from the bar at the beginning (more than an inch between your shins and the bar), and then you bend your knees too far and bump the bar forward before liftoff. The plates should not move at all between the point when you set the bar down and when you pick it up again. And you are still hitting the knees on the way down--have you tried pointing your toes out to give the bar more room to clear the knees?