Critique my deadlift, version two.

distinctlybeautiful
distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
edited November 30 in Fitness and Exercise
I posted a video before, but I was just starting and wasn't lifting any real weight because I was trying to get the form down first. As y'all told me, it was hard to see from that what my form would truly look like when I actually had some weight on the bar. So here it is. Any constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

https://youtu.be/4ptYMJ9rwg4

Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    edited March 2016
    To be honest... =\

    You look very flimsy and floppy. I can tell that you aren't activating core musculature and therefore you aren't working with a neutral spine. You are also putting a lot of excess stress on your shoulders from the looks of it.

    The hip and lower body don't look too bad, but I think your overall form would look better and be more effective if you began by a simple routine. Drawing in and bracing. The core consists of your internal obliques, transverse abs, pelvic floor, diaphragm, and multifidus. You need to activate these muscles in order to stabilize your core.

    Once you've drawn in and braced you want to keep in mind that you should have a neutral spine and therefore you should be performing scapular retraction to fix the issue with your upper back.

    P.s. Flimsy floppy is just a term I use for lack of core stability, not a personal attack ;)
  • MichelleLea122
    MichelleLea122 Posts: 332 Member
    I agree with everything rainbowbow said

    My observations are
    1) You're pulling mainly with your back (notice how it curves even on the first rep)
    2) You're rolling your shoulders
    3) You're overall very unstable.

    Rainbowbow already addressed the back issue, so I won't repeat. But as for your shoulders, make sure your arms don't go limp. Notice how you're bending your arms every time you begin to pull? Your arms should be straight and elbows tucked in before you even try to get the weight off the floor.

    Also why are you wearing socks? This is probably contributing to your instability. Either ditch the socks and deadlift barefoot or switch to flat soled shoes.

    I think the best way to think of the deadlift is think of it as a pushing motion rather than a pulling motion. Right now you're trying to 'pull' the bar up with your arms and back. Instead you should be thinking of pushing through your heels into the floor (which you can't do well in socks!). You want your power to come from mostly your legs rather than your back and shoulders.

    *Disclaimer, I'm not actually certified in anything nor a serious powerlifter, so my advice is just from personal knowledge and experience.
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
    You definitely need to maintain more of a neutral back and push more with your hips. Id lighten the load up and practice on driving with your hips and making sure you don't allow your back to ark.

    Same here, not certified. Just personal opinion.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    MichelleLei1 wrote: »
    I agree with everything rainbowbow said

    My observations are
    1) You're pulling mainly with your back (notice how it curves even on the first rep)
    2) You're rolling your shoulders
    3) You're overall very unstable.

    Rainbowbow already addressed the back issue, so I won't repeat. But as for your shoulders, make sure your arms don't go limp. Notice how you're bending your arms every time you begin to pull? Your arms should be straight and elbows tucked in before you even try to get the weight off the floor.

    Also why are you wearing socks? This is probably contributing to your instability. Either ditch the socks and deadlift barefoot or switch to flat soled shoes.

    I think the best way to think of the deadlift is think of it as a pushing motion rather than a pulling motion. Right now you're trying to 'pull' the bar up with your arms and back. Instead you should be thinking of pushing through your heels into the floor (which you can't do well in socks!). You want your power to come from mostly your legs rather than your back and shoulders.

    *Disclaimer, I'm not actually certified in anything nor a serious powerlifter, so my advice is just from personal knowledge and experience.

    Tony Gentilecore has a real nice IMO cue, pretend you are squeezing an orange in your armpit the entire lift.
    http://vitals.lifehacker.com/pretend-you-re-squeezing-juice-with-your-armpits-to-imp-1759294871
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    Thanks for the detailed feedback! I'm gonna get to work!
  • Erik8484
    Erik8484 Posts: 458 Member
    Think tight lats, tight upper back.
  • daynaxxanne
    daynaxxanne Posts: 77 Member
    If you're gym has a smith machine it might be helpful and you can start from a bit higher up. I just started deadlifting like a week ago so I'm not much to help with form but it does look like your back should be straight instead of curved. I've been using the smith machine (I know a lot of people have issues with the machine but I've found it helps a lot in terms of learning proper form before trying without assistance) Also if your gym has mirrors that you can move putting one in front of you or beside you may help as you can watch yourself and correct as you're doing the movement
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I am a powerlifter. I like the pushing your feet into the floor cue mentioned above. I also agree that your upper back needs to be tighter. You probably also want to look up valsalva maneuver so you know how to breathe. Using it will also help properly stabilize your core. For beginners, a full reset is usually best instead of touch and go so you can get all muscles engaged every time and not get sloppy. That will also prevent you from taking advantage of any bounce. Your position is actually not too bad, so these fixes should be pretty simple.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    daynaxxanne wrote: »
    If you're gym has a smith machine it might be helpful and you can start from a bit higher up. I just started deadlifting like a week ago so I'm not much to help with form but it does look like your back should be straight instead of curved. I've been using the smith machine (I know a lot of people have issues with the machine but I've found it helps a lot in terms of learning proper form before trying without assistance) Also if your gym has mirrors that you can move putting one in front of you or beside you may help as you can watch yourself and correct as you're doing the movement

    If you want to start a bit higher up I would recommend using risers (from a step aerobics step).or the safety pins in a rack. I would stay away from the Smith machine
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    When I told the hubby about y'all's tips, he said, "don't worry, mine's probably bad too," but I don't feel bad about it! I just really wanna get it right, so thanks again!
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    edited March 2016
    i didn't read others comments, but your lats and shoulders are way too loose, roll and lock your shoulders back and squeeze them tight before you pull. Pull the slack out of the bar and be tight. Drop your butt way down lower for the lift, and push the floor away rather than lift the bar up. If you are pulling conventional, lower your rear and engage your whle body for the lift. Also, you are pretty wide stance, i'd suggestbring your feet closer together. And get the bar closer to you, pull in towards you and up. slide the bar up your chins, bruise your chins are the way up. thats my input.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I would like to see the following changes take place first.

    a) Stand slightly closer to the barbell before you bend down to grab the bar. It appears to me that you are not quite over the mid-foot at the start and this gets worse as the set goes on.

    Which leads me to

    b) Stand up in between reps and reset your starting position. Primarily because this will force you to go through the set up multiple times per set which will reinforce learning the proper set up. It will also prevent you from rebounding off the floor as someone previously mentioned.

    c) I would like you to cue "chest up" and squeeze oranges with your armpits before you pull. This will both extend your spine and tighten your lats.

    Finally

    d) Before you pull you should take a deep breath and hold it in as you drive the earth away with your feet.


    This is a lot to do at once and if I were coaching you I wouldn't do it in this fashion. I would start with one of the items (in your case it's a toss up between a and c) and I would review a new video to see what that looks like before further modifying it. Primarily because it's not generally a good thing to be thinking about several different cues at once and secondarily because changing 1 positional or technical aspect of a lift can change other things so it's best to reassess them 1 at a time.
  • MichelleLea122
    MichelleLea122 Posts: 332 Member
    daynaxxanne wrote: »
    If you're gym has a smith machine it might be helpful and you can start from a bit higher up. I just started deadlifting like a week ago so I'm not much to help with form but it does look like your back should be straight instead of curved. I've been using the smith machine (I know a lot of people have issues with the machine but I've found it helps a lot in terms of learning proper form before trying without assistance) Also if your gym has mirrors that you can move putting one in front of you or beside you may help as you can watch yourself and correct as you're doing the movement

    Honestly, the smith machine is probably hurting your form rather than helping it. It does a really poor job at mimicking the motion of a deadlift. Plus it supports a lot of the weight for you. Ditch the smith machine and start with a relatively light weight (even if it's just the bar). If your gym doesn't have bumper plates, you can use risers as someone else suggested.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    a deadlift on a smith machine is not a deadlift. Unless you have some injury or disability, or are rehabbing, stay away from it.
  • Walter__
    Walter__ Posts: 518 Member
    The first post hit the nail on the head. Your form is loose and floppy. You're not bracing your core and keeping a neutral spine.

    Your back is looking like this:
    cat-arching-back-istock-000026991210.jpg

    It needs to look like this (on the right):
    nkhgbs9rxksfxm8byvxq.jpg

    The very first thing you need to work on, before anything, is learning to brace and keep a neutral spine.

    Here's a good video that sums up how to do it:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_StSjmX1BOg

    Watch it, learn, and practice, practice, practice. A braced, neutral spine is the single most important thing when deadlifting or squatting.





    Your second issue is your upper back is loose. Pull the slack out of the bar before you begin the lift. You must be tight and tense before you start.

    A big thing that helps keep a tight back is learning to activate the lats. Other posts have addressed this already, but here's a 2-minute video so you can see a visual demonstration of how to do it:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuV_ZMZU9qc


    The final thing I'd suggest you work on is load order. Basically, you need to learn to set up for the lift the same way every time. You don't want to have a bunch of different set ups.

    Here is an excellent 5-min video from Kelly Starrett that combines all these concepts I've discussed into one (core bracing, neutral spine, tight back, load order):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-DJu0bEVPw
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    Some great advice above (which I agree with).

    Something that I think may help you is that, once you have the bar in your hands and your down ready to lift, rock back a little. As posted it looks like you too far away from the bar, by focusing more on your weight being further back over your heels you will naturally keep the bar closer on the first part of the lift.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Video shows nice idea to train lat tension:
    https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-fire-up-the-lats-to-deadlift-better
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    Holy kaschmoly! Today was my first chance to try it with all this great advice, and it was hard! I've got a lot of work to do for sure!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    Drop your hips down a bit more, push your chest out, pull your shoulders back. This will help keep a flatter back. Also get your breathing down. Exhale on the way up. That will help with keep your core tighter.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png


  • drwilseyjr
    drwilseyjr Posts: 225 Member
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    When I told the hubby about y'all's tips, he said, "don't worry, mine's probably bad too," but I don't feel bad about it! I just really wanna get it right, so thanks again!

    That's a good attitude to have. You don't want to do deadlifts with poor form. The more weight you put on, the more critical form becomes to avoid injury and to work the correct muscles.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member

    breathing is super super important. master it from the beginning and it will benefit you a long way . Hold your breath in and core tight the entire way up until you lock out. Letting it out on the way up is gonna cause a loss of core strength. Suck in a deep breath at the bottom of the lift while you are setting up. Hold it all the way up until you lock it out, then you can exhale at the top or slowly exhale as you are lowering the bar back down. i prefer the exhale on the way down so i retain some core strength to lower the bar controlled. If you are doing sets, you'll be ready for a deep breath again at the bottom. For every type of lift in the gym keep your breath in for the whole lift, only let it out after you've completed the lift or when you are resetting for the next rep.
  • SIMAKRA
    SIMAKRA Posts: 97 Member
    Thank you OP for starting this thread and putting yourself out here. All the advise is so helpful for me too.

    So again, thank you and happy lifting :)
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    daynaxxanne wrote: »
    If you're gym has a smith machine it might be helpful and you can start from a bit higher up. I just started deadlifting like a week ago so I'm not much to help with form but it does look like your back should be straight instead of curved. I've been using the smith machine (I know a lot of people have issues with the machine but I've found it helps a lot in terms of learning proper form before trying without assistance) Also if your gym has mirrors that you can move putting one in front of you or beside you may help as you can watch yourself and correct as you're doing the movement

    lol...deadlift on a smith machine??? no. take the advice others have offered.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    yes, no smith machine. Also mirrors are tricky. Every time i have seen someone watching their form in the mirror, they break their form to turn their head and look. you are better off setting up your phone to video, and focusing on the lift rather than trying to see yourself in a mirror.
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