Some people are never really able to tell when they get their lower back loose. You make it seem like he'll figure this out one day. (See the numerous people who experience some rounding at limit weights.)

I don't think the latter person exists. The ROM of an RDL from a hip mobility limited lifter would be a fraction of what they could DL. You seem to have found the answer (RDL) and are looking for the problem. (Some esoteric use case.)

I'll try those 45* hypers as a warm-up. For some reason I'd thought that was an exercise that required some sort of complicated set-up.

This is me (unless it's really bad).

Today my spreadsheet told me to do a 3x6 Dl from a deficit. Even though I've always thought that going against the dictates of spreadsheet is one of the worst things a person can do, I decided to work on form instead.


I think I improved with every set, but I'll let the experts be the judge.

You're hyperextending your upper back in some of the reps (like 245)

I still think you're too upright. But not in every rep. You are a little inconsistent setting your upper back

Agree with AJ. Watch at the top of the pull.
Get tighter. Really work at that. Take a huge breath from belly up through chest.

Work on staying over the bar more.

Looks pretty good overall.

I'm not sure I understand where my thoracic position is a problem--at lockout,on the floor, or throughout?

I definitely agree that tightness is a constant issue that I am frequently lax with in every lift.

By the way, concerning tightness, BPA I'd like to thank you for the help. Dial not switch is the best cue I've ever used. I was trying to create a wave of increasing tightness throughout the body (obviously there's still work to do).

I'll try to get a little more horizontal, as long as I don't compromise my lumber. I acknowledge that breaking the floor from such an upright position will really be tough as I approach weights that are heavier for me.

It isn't your upper back at the end of the lift. You're leaning back which hyperextends the lumbar spine. Keep your shoulders and hips in line at the top of the lift.

Your head position isn't a huge worry IMO, but there is really no reason to look forward, so just tuck your chin and look down. (There are plenty of people pulling 500+lbs with violent neck whip, so injury concerns are overblown, but its just more moving parts in something that is already complex.)

JC All three of us are saying you're over****ing the bar at the top of the set.

I still think you need to do better on your setup.

Setting up properly the same way every rep (regardless of weight) is extremely important. Take your time and be methodical about it.

RAV
If possible lower the safeties. If you fail, you let the bar crunch you down to the safeties and the bar rolls back away from you...better yet is to use bumpers and squat outside a rack and dump it behind if you fail.

I agree with what Syn wrote. I don't see a huge problem there. Sitting back and widening your stance should help give you more room in the bottom. If you're doing a LBBS, you should be using a wide stance which is glute ham dominant versus a more narrow stance that is more quad like a HBBS which is quad dominant.

Stance for LBBS should be as wide as you can manage...If you are narrow, you can mark the floor (permanently) and each session you push your stance out about as much as you can manage. I don't have a very wide stance but it's about six inches wider on either side today than it was a five years ago.

Hey Rav - your forward bar path is pretty minor. Sometimes it helps to simply think about keeping the bar over the midfoot throughout the rep. Depth is borderline. I would go an inch deeper to be sure.

Thanks, I'll try

BP 70kg x5. How does it look?

Not bad, you can continue to get stronger this way.

It will help your shoulders (and stability) in the long run if you retract your shoulder blades a little harder en pinch your shoulder blades together (like squeezing a tennis ball between your back). I can see you're kind of doing this already but I think you can do it harder. This will also tuck your elbows a tiny bit more so they don't flare so much during the later reps.

Another thing I would work on is stamina/rhythm, you're losing a lot power and momentum by taking such long breaks at the top. This definitely works against you and it will get a lot harder at higher weights. Try to rep at least 3 out in one breath, and then 2 in the next.

I could use some more feedback on both lifts

Deadlift

PR attempt when I was still rolling the bar



triple 390 attempt when I tried to setup slower and eliminate that



Squat

Still excessive amounts of rounding, the bar is too far away from your shins and your hips are too low, resulting in the bad position you find yourself in close to lockout. I also don't particularly like the way you yank on the bar to get started for each rep - power should come on closer to a dial than a switch imo. Any reason you don't do a by the book Rip style setup?

Squats are very high. Given that, they seem ok. Won't know for sure until you approach depth.

I think that yanking on the bar thing comes from when Rubish trained at Madtown and the culture at Madtown has kept it around.

And Rubish learned it from the Lilliebridges. He no longer does it though.

apologies for the vertical vid



low bar thumbless grip with oly shoes.
6'1 267.5 @200bw

I guess I need another inch of depth? I've been moving the weight and my legs/butt have definitely been getting stronger and bigger. Is it the worst thing in the world if I don't get that last inch?

I have a bulging disk in my lower back from years ago but ART seemed to help it and hasn't been a issue for me in a while, although I suppose it could flare up at any moment. I also have ~1/3 less right hamstring from a ACL surgery when I was a youngin.

I've also been doing some light good mornings which I have been liking. I also do trap bar DL's instead of normal ones as I find it to be less strain on my lower back.

thanks

Tom, given those caveats, not bad. You seem to keep a decent back position so no issue there. Just watching your hips it looks like there is some shift to the right, so make sure you're driving as evenly as you can with your feet (and add in some unilateral hamstring work for the right, plate single leg RDL or something, make sure you're not shifting to the left with your goodmornings). As a gangly tall it will take some work to get to depth, but if you look at Monte's log you'll see that it is possible over time. One thing that I think has helped monte is getting his knees into the forward position they will go to earlier in the descent so that you can pivot around your fixed knees. So you break at the knees/hips at the same time, but your knees reach the final position before you're half way down. Might help with the forward drift of the bar path in the later reps as well.

You also want to make sure that it is true mobility that is stopping you get to depth, and not a lack of WIM. If your 135 is deeper than that and you're cutting depth to work heavier weights, in the long term you're doing yourself a disservice.

Can you film from behind and maybe from a 45 degree angle?

can you explain this more?

i can try to film from behind next time. I know for a fact that in years past my right knee would cave in on the way up during heavy lifts. but im pretty sure i havent experienced this in the past 6 months

What's up TH; the "knees forward/break at the same time" cues were something I struggled with for a long time (not just how to do it, but why it was important). What worked for me was seeing a few videos on Alan Thrall's channel where two Starting Strength coaches, Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum (both MDs iirc) were filmed while performing an SS interactive seminar at Thrall's gym.

Generally the gist is that if your knees don't go forward, then your ass has to go too far backwards to keep you in balance. With me, that meant that I'd be bent over too far and the bar would drift forward of my midfoot, which would put a lot of stress on my back. Knees forward allows me to stay a bit more upright while not feeling like I have to aggressively push my chest up in the hole, which messes even more with my bar path. Setting my knees in the first quarter of the movement and then (ideally) having them not move either on the rest of the ascent or until a similar point at the ascent has helped me tremendously.

270 squat. not sure if i got any deeper compared to the other day. there is definitely some knee cave especially in last 2 reps (although i think it is better than what it used to be in years past). feel like my feet also werent even when watching but maybe they were. right shoulder hurt a little bit squatting today

should i reset 10% and try to work on the knee cave or just keep adding weight and moving it, even if its microloading. I'm leaning towards keep adding weight.

i also wonder what my bf% is right now. i have a bit of tummy/hip fat but thats basically it. my shoulders/upper back/traps definitely getting burly

It would seem geometrically impossible to not knee cave with such a wide stance.

Should I narrow my stance then?

I feel like with longer legs the wider stance kind of works for me?

I squat a fair bit narrower than you do, for whatever that's worth. Just outside of shoulder width.

Ok cool. I'm going to play around with my stance on Friday and see how it feels.

Did my depth look better today? Or is a side angle needed to tell

Depth looks several inches high to me.
Also looks like maybe you're overextending your spine.