n3ver3nder Member

If you stop initiating with an arch, it'll probably stop. Maintain neutral spine throughout the entire range of motion and you'll probably be golden. I don't think your squat form would be indicative of having tight hip flexors, just that you don't have 100% control of your hips in the bottom, as you're not braced properly…

TSA has a warm up timer on their Freebie section. http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/ Works pretty well, and has been fairly consistent when I've used it for warming myself up and for handling other lifters.

Get tighter. Tighter upper back, tighter core. Learn to brace properly. I want you getting as tight as a nun's nasties before you even unrack the bar (which you should do backwards). Try this drill: Lie on the floor, hands by your sides and legs straight out. Inhale through your nose and arch your lower back, tilt your…

Get some video of your squat and post it here. A lot of novices over extend their squat on the way down and then go from over-extension to neutral at the bottom and interpret that as lower back rounding. Overall, in the best case scenario your spine should maintain a braced neutral (in it's natural curve, not poker…

I'd hazard a guess that you're probably bracing incorrectly, and a flaired up ribcage is part of the problem. Do you cue 'Chest up' or 'big chest', anything like that? Look into maintaining a 'down' ribcage and neutral hips - solar plexus and pelvic floor should line up. Here's an article worth reading;…

Your hips are going to be fatigued after squatting, making them more prone to cramp. Having a stretch and a foam roll - especially high up into your psoas as you warm up for bench helps me a lot. Also glute activation, I've found I'll get sartorius cramp if my glutes aren't firing well. Edit - why no 3rd bench? that 2nd…

If you go to twice a week you can do the 5x5 twice a week with squat/bench/dead Thurs and squat/press/row Sat. This will help with your goals of getting stronger more than the circuit training, but you could then do a reduced endurance circuit after, dependent on time/fatigue if you feel you need the exercise. You can also…

You're still flexing your arms.

Those safety bars are too high. If you were hitting full depth (hip crease BELOW knee height) I think you'd be catching them, or very near. Otherwise looks OK.

Just had a flick through your diary - you'd probably be more satiated if you hit your protein goal. With lifting goals, you don't have to follow the program to a tee. You can make your increases as and when you feel capable, instead of adding weight to the bar every session. It can be a bit disheartening, but you just have…

My physio does it, it's great. Lie heybales says this is assuming yours is a muscular problem. If your impingement is down to muscle imbalance (i.e tight chest, weak back) then it'll probably help. If it's because of something like bone spurs or just the biology of your shoulder then it might not help. Good thing about ART…

You could always continue to drop weight and reassess at 5lb intervals? Just go with what *you* feel is right, I wouldn't concern yourself with colleagues, crabs in a bucket and all that.

It's not too much. Just work on your ankle and hip mobility a bit and it'll probably stop. Or cut your range of motion just a touch, as when you've just reached below parallel your back position is still neutral.

Deload, lower the weight, build back up from proper depth. Work on your upper back tightness, get your knees out so you can hit depth and sort that walkout. 3 confident steps is all it should be. Getting tight right from the start, before you even unrack the bar, will make a lot of difference.

Build up to doing stuff in the squat. I like to brush my teeth while doing a 3rd world squat because I know it racks up to about 5-6 mins if I do it twice a day.

Go and see a sports physio. Exercise with something as significant as lordosis probably isn't something a few randomers on a forum should be advising. With regards to ab work and lack of flexion, you're probably better off avoiding flexion based exercises anyway. Look at trunk stability exercises like planks and roll-outs.

Yeah, don't pause it! Use that stretch reflex to get you through the sticking point. On a raw squat that's pretty much everyone's sticking point, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Also I'm not going to be there at Colne on the Sunday anymore, now Bryn's moved all the guest lifters and 105's+ to Saturday.

Do your sets with the weak side first, then match the numbers with the strong side. Should even things out.

Yup. Forces you to use speed and elbow snap to get under the bar instead of pulling the bar higher through the jump.

tbh I think you just need practice. Get your elbows through quicker and drop under the bar a bit better. Try doing it without the jump, without even letting your feet come off the floor, as practice to work on speed dropping under.

Just weigh in daily and keep an eye on your weight. If you find yourself over 114 a week out from the meet you can do a mild water cut (just drop sodium and then nil by mouth from 12 hours before weigh in) should drop 1-4lbs with very little hassle. If you're within your class now you're not likely to eat your way out of…

Haha, you'll have to hope Tom ends up bulking too, now Screamers made the leap. 93 also so I know those feels! I may be there on the 30th so I'll say hello if I am. Team mate should be guest lifting as he can't make YNE on 22nd, plus it's always good to see Screamer lift and I think he was planning on it last time I spoke…

I don't actually know anyone IRL that's finished the full Smolov cycle. They've either given up, been injure or had to resort to half squats and/or knee reps in the final few weeks.

What region? I'm YNE. You can do [theyoutubes] just the bit of the link after the equals sign [/youtube] to get the videos, but if you do the full link instead of the shortened version that embeds too I think. Squats look fine btw.

Stop banging off the safeties on your squat. It's what causes your hips to shoot up in the bottom. Powercleans you're doing a deadlift and a reverse curl. Arms should be used as cables, they should only bend to bring elbows through. Cal strength has a good tutorial on youtube. Deadlift looks sound. Can't tell if you're…

Your forms probably not quite right yet. Checkout this video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoZWgTrZLd8

Make sure your grip isn't too wide and you need to be absolutely solid. Core braced, glutes tight, back tight. The only thing moving should be your arms and your hips when you clear the head.

I've got some sexy knee length argyle socks, they don't need to be special deadlift socks if you don't want to spend.

Instead of a box, sets the bars at the level where your butt is when you break parallel and run a resistance band across them. Squat down to this instead of a box, the give of the band won't affect your technique like the solidity of a box can.

5/3/1 will suit you fine. Just start very light on the lower body work and give yourself time to adapt. Don't worry about lifting on a deficit for now, start worrying about that when you start stalling. Have fun.