Please try to video squats and deadlifts from the side view to get a little better feel for what is going on.

Squat: you are losing the weight forward coming out of the hole. Hard to really tell from the back, but as the set goes on it becomes more evident. Ideally your back angle will stay the same or get more upright as you come out of the hole and finish the lift. Your hips are rising and the back angle getting worse as you rise. This will lead to the squat-morning (a squat turned to a good morning finish), which I have issues with when the weights get heavy. Ways to fix this: need to work on core strength (planks, etc.) to help keep you upright and keep on telling yourself to keep the back angle throughout the set (chest up or other cues may help).

Deadlifts looked ok this new set, but looks like you are losing your tightness at the bottom (see your butt winking right near when you get to the ground with the weight). Not extremely bad, but something you should try to fix. You are still gripping with your palm in this set. Here is a fairly good explanation on the difference - https://youtu.be/9OK-S3ZJZxQ . Looks like you are setting your grip like you are about to bench. As recommended, ditch the romaleos for the DL. Socks or barefoot are fine, I like using wrestling shoes as it gives good grip and not much added height needed to lift.

And to clarify the squat-morning issue. Yours isn't major, but if you don't start correcting it early it gets really hard to get out of that habit.

Thanks skeletor, I'll look into those things

Here are my squats at 195 from two days ago - link. It's a little more to the side but not by much. Hard to get side angle with all the racks next to each other.

I'm getting lessons every 6 weeks or so to make sure that issues like the one you spotted don't manifest or become something worse.

edit-
I often confuse hip drive with hip rising and need checkups on that now and then to address it. The back angle (while keeping my weight over the center of my foot) was coached to me; I had a habit of standing up a little too much before my coaching.

Let me know what you think if this camera angle changes or reinforces any of your observations.

I've been doing some flat bench pressing again, which has always been a very weak lift for me. Here are my second and third set. I noticed my elbows were a bit in front of the bar and tried to adjust for the final set. Does this seem acceptable? Any other tips? I've included my set-up in the video, maybe someone can spot any mistakes there.

BP set 2 and 3:




I've also been front squatting for about 2.5 months now. Do you think my back is upright enough? Any tips? This was the third (final) set of today:

xukxuk - bench - I like how you're setting up, but you're not quite getting as tight as you can. Try planting your feet about 4-6" further back before you pull yourself into position. Its not going to feel good at first, but when you get this right, the weight will move easier.

Also, as soon as you take the bar out of the rack, your back comes loose and your shoulders roll forward. Part of this is because you dont have a liftoff person helping, part of it is your lats and mid/upper back muscles are weak, and part is just a form issue. Pretend you are pinching a quarter between your shoulder blades before you pick up the bar. Keep them pinched together, and pulled down as far as possible, the whole time the bar is in your hands. Again, when you get this right, the weight will move a lot easier.

While it is optimal to have the bar directly over the elbows, I dont think what I see in these vids is a huge deal. You're pretty close. The other things I mentioned are more important. Work on fixing those first.

I can't seem to get above 165 on my deadlift without running into major grip issues

This was my 165 set last week - https://www.instagram.com/p/BIQN4RWDyr3

You will notice that I attempted a hook grip - I still ended up with calluses that suggested I wasn't holding it in my fingers.

I'm a little frustrated. If I keep it in my fingers, I can't hold onto the bar and end up failing by the second rep. I guess it's a grip strength thing but still really annoying. I don't want to have to resort to using a mixed grip.

Other things I am noticing, a little rounding in my back on the way down and probably not firing my hamstrings/glutes at the top enough. Still need refining.

That does seem weak on the grip side.

Farmers Walks / Holds, static deadlift holds. May even want to consider doing rack pull height just for the hold.

I would also start doing pullup hangs.

Hold at full hang for 30s and then do a pull up rinse repeat. I can manage 2.5 when totally fresh - or if you can only make 15-20 seconds do it then. But also work towards the full 30s hang.

Then do single hand hangs for time.

Hook grip seems like something you should acclimate to over the course of weeks while continuing to do your heaviest sets with mixed grip. If you use mixed grip properly with some chalk, I have a hard time believing you would have grip issues at loads <300lb. I believe this because I have tiny little midget hands and am far from limited by grip thus far (using mixed grip).

i don't think i would have any trouble with mixed grip, i'm just trying to think longterm. i've seen a plethora of youtube people talk about shoulder muscle imbalance after going heavy with mixed grip.

that could be putting the cart before the horse... i dunno.

^ if that's your issue with it just alternate your mixed grip each set

funny enough that exact topic was covered in a video i saw this week



(from 1:45 to 3:30)

When you're doing 5-10 heavy deadlift reps a week (i.e. a novice program), I doubt you would have issues with imbalances developing from mixed grip. In that Thrall vid, he said he was having issues with 5/3/1, which has him doing tons of reps per week. That kind of deadlift volume should be a long way down the road for you.

Interesting. I never tried it but it seemed like a good idea.
Agree with Renton though your volume is probably not enough to cause an issue.

Did you try chalk?
If all else fails you can always use straps while doing grip work seperately

i think i can just switch to mix and do a little grip work on the side. reps are just way easier on mix right now.

thx hombres.

I developed imbalances* as a result of primarily using one mixed grip and an SS-based training history. External rotation ROM on my over-hand (right) is way lower than my under hand.

*likely also contributed to by lifestyle things like which hand I use for the computer mouse etc.

Hi guys,

I finally ordered Starting Strength 3 and am working my way through it.

Read half of squat section and took it to the gym, wondering what you guys think

for comparison purposes, this is pre-SS, what I guess is a high bar squat?


this is my attempt at low bar squatting SS style





Curious to hear any comments, thx in advance.

Kaby: looks like you are losing your tightness near the hole and in the hole. Your lower back goes from ) to (. That is not a good thing. It is evident in the high bar squats, less so in the low bar (but I think it is still there). As for losing your balance back during the squat (see set 3 low bar) - I think you are pushing back and up with your hips instead of just up. For SS style squats, think of pushing your hips to the roof and not back when coming out of the hole.

2 Suggestions for your videos:
1. Trim your videos to remove the excess stuff at the beginning. Good point to start is when you start to un-rack the weight and end when you rack it. If there is something in your setup you want us to help with then keep it in.

2. Bring the camera 2-3 feet off the ground. This will give us a better idea of how things are going than an upward view.

Looks like another Dutchy

You got a pretty bad buttwink/lumbar rounding going on. I'll let some members with more knowledge talk about the cause and solution for that but you got to sort that out asap because it's not good.

You have the weight shift forward towards your toes (look at bar path during reps) Try to keep the weight more centered. Perhaps you'd benefit from a wider stance so you have more room for your upper body to move between your legs.

I also suggest you lose the squishy shoes for squats and deadlifts, they're not helping your balance any.

Widen stance
Take a huge giant breath filling your stomach up through your chest in that sequence
When you squat down keep your back locked do not reach for depth with your face
A cue I like is "chest to wall"

For just starting, not bad at all .

"with your face" made me laugh - but its true.

I saw a guy squatting at my gym last night with this exact same form breakdown. Initial setup was fine, 3/4 of the motion looked good but in that last 1/4, 1/3 the entire back rounding started.

Oh, and prior to getting the bar on his back he had actual good form air squats. It was the weight of the bar that broke his form. I wasn't terribly sure what could be the reason (abs or erectors) that caused that.

Hi guys, thanks for the advice!

Some notes I had:

Low bar felt really uncomfortable and I had annoying shoulders (pain would be too strong a word) yesterday but it's better now so I guess just getting used to it will work out

My lower back is horrible, I have no kinesthetic sense, horrible posture etc. Def something to work on, I'm doing the SS drill where you're on your belly on the floor and lift the legs daily.

Already significantly widened my stance from high bar squats before, guess I'll have to widen some more

Coming up def feels like driving my feet through the floor not "hip up attached to a chain" like the SS cue.

Will get weightlifting shoes asap.

how does this match with the SS "point your nipples at the floor" (p53) advice?

I'm somewhat the opposite, I have horrible air squats, I'm barely able to not fall over. Weight on my back makes me feel more balanced if that makes sense.


Thx for all the tips, I'm going to incorporate them now =)

Sorry for the double post

everything is weird and awkward and there's way too much to think about, but here goes:





thx again!

Better I think but you still have lumbar rounding at the bottom. Couple of things that will maybe help with that and with depth:
- start with a neutral spine position. You start with a hyperextended lower back. Really squeeze the glutes and tilt your pelvis forwards. A hyperextended lower back promotes a more severe buttwink
-focus on really jamming your knees outward as far and hard as you can
-do some hip mobility work like a frog stretch or just squatting down to the bottom position of a squat and pushing the knees out with your elbows until you feel a good stretch.

Also in the top position dont push your hips forward so much like you do sometimes, like after the first rep in the last video. Your hips get in front of the bar which can cause injury especially with higher weights

Hope this helps

Squat

Power Clean

I believe I see a buttwink--not sure if it matters but I have had a spinal fusion at L5S1. I think it was the second set for both. The clean felt especially bad that set but that probably means better for the video.

Is there such a thing as having the knees too far out on the front squat? I find that a more narrow stance allows me to reach depth much more easily, but it results in my knees going way out.