^ You might want to PM PokerRon about your reply if you want a response because people generally don't check this thread a month after they posted something.

Thanks. I noticed his posting date when I replied.

This is today's workout. I was able to deadlift in socks, and also hook grip for most. Hook grip seems to help me set my lats a bit better. I think the warm up rep at 225 was one of my better looking Dls. Sadly, the form was not repeated at my workset of 265.

I know that as the reps go on, I start ignoring the need to get my chest and back positioned well. As renton pointed out, what doesn't start well won't end well.

I think they look much better, except you're dropping your hips too low. The bar won't break the ground until you're in roughly the right starting position anyway (bar under armpit, so just set with your hips higher. You could also fix your neck craning like that.

Agree with Aidan.

Also, you want to get set and super tight in position, then take slack out of bar and then pull up.

Hi guys, I'm back after a month long holiday in Thailand/Myanmar, where I got quite a bit of TWS in, basicly at every opportunity. Motivating to see people squat down and work on a bike for like half an hour, or squatwalking when sweeping etc. Not to mention going to the toilet

For reference, this was my last post before.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...postcount=4623

How do these look?
Squat set 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5EFUky82aA
Squat set 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBN8v987O9A
Squat set 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feLQu3__UVc

And how does this dl look?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyGmwkJl7w

Thx for any comments!

They all look good to me. You could maybe go a tad lower on your squat if you point your feet less outward but it's nitpicking.

Anyone to comment my DL?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_brvIrHdI

You gotta put some more weight on the bar to be able to evaluate any issues.

Kaby
DL looks ok. Maybe bar a little in front of you. Might want to get tighter at setup. Pull slack out of bar. Then pull off floor.

Squats
Weird overextension on your hips going on. Rolling almost. Need set postion and stay super tight through the lift. Otherwise not bad.

"Weird overextension on your hips going on. Rolling almost." I don't really know what this means, could you clarify? Thx!

it means you are still doing what I said not to do before. you're creating a lot of movement in your pelvis and lower back at the top by doing this forward hip thrusting motion. then when you initiate the descent you over arch your back, which decreases the rom in the front of your hip joint and causes the butt wink.

you need to lock your ribcage and pelvis in neutral position at the top of your squat and then maintain that throughout your set. Realize that the top of the squat is not like the lockout of the deadlift, you don't have to push your hips through and there's nothing wrong with maintaining some forward lean at the lockout.

watch this and maybe you will see what I mean https://www.instagram.com/p/BL3zbP2Bwm-/

Yup, that's exactly what I meant.

Thanks for the advice guys, very helpful

Tried to incorporate it. Not sure what I think. It feels more solid, but my back seems more rounded

Work sets at 77.5kg:
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mECsQB46dO4
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGd9pQwSZqg
3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnk_DrDe7yY

Looks much better already, buttwink is more apparent on some reps than others, I would keep focusing on getting your core as tight as possible every single workout and maybe cut depth by a hair (even if it means giving up below parallel squats for a while)

Adjusting form requires time, you will get better at it and stronger in all positions and depth will come back without buttwink later

Paging the bench bro's

I want to try and improve my bar path on bench since I'm pressing to much upwards on the way up. Let me know if I understand this correctly.

-For a more efficient bench, you want your bar path to move towards your face and over your shoulders asap when pressing up. So the bar path looks more like the second 2 in the picture. Mine now looks too much like the first one.



-Elbows should stay directly under the bar so to achieve this you have to flare hard right away on the way up.



Cheers

Kaby: Agree with Syn. Take a bigger breath at the top that fills your belly first and then stacks up through your chest. Stay SUPER TIGHT. For most, it's hard to actually understand what that means. You should be putting more energy, physically and mentally into keeping your back locked tight than you are putting into your legs levering down and up.

Re: rAv's video

How the hell are 6'4" people supposed to get good leg drive? Seems like the only better option than what he's doing is to have feet really far forward (like past where rAv's towel is on the floor).

sup doods. Form check on squat and dl please. Mostly trying to improve lumbar tightness.

Squat Side View

Squat Rear View


DL Side View

Your DL is not great.

First serious issue, you appear to be bending your elbows and curling the weight at the top of the pull. You definitely don't want to do that. You want to lock your arms long and tight.

There are several other issues but you can address all them by watching this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToXDFLXL1uo

Squats are not bad at all. I know you are struggling with the concept of your lower back failing. That is to be expected.

Unless you grew up on a farm or working construction, almost everyone in first world circumstance is weak. And, when it comes to starting out on the backsquat, almost everyone's back will fail before their legs fail.

For a cue, try "chest to wall". Meaning that you are pushing your chest flat against an imaginary wall and squatting down and up with your chest glued to the wall.

More importantly, understand that you have to get super tight and then stay super tight. Your focus should be on your back being locked in position through the entire range of motion. And, yeah...it's hard to do.

When you take the weight on your back, your brain's sympathetic response is like, "wtf, that **** needs to get off my back". You have to override that. It takes direct mental energy and effort to do that.

Don't overstress. Just keep working as hard as you can on every rep to keep the focus on your back. Your legs will do their job on their own.

Ok thanks. I recently introduced mixed grip (this was my fourth or fifth set ever using it) and I think that's why I've been curling it up a little. I'll try to work on keeping my arms locked. Big takeaway with the starting strength video is to squeeze the chest up and really get uncomfortable. I think I'm decent at doing that on my first rep but get lazy later in the set, not sure if that agrees with your observation or not.

Definitely. I specifically posted that video for that exact reason.

Bump. Help me out fella's

Hey just wanted to belatedly thank you two for the help. It's still a work in progress, but your comments have helped a lot.

I'm not the best this forum has to offer, but some of the Marc Bell videos have helped me. The cue to slowly "bend the bar apart" on the descent and then rapidly "unbend" it on the ascent has made gotten my bench more efficient. It's hard to tell from the angle, but it doesn't look like you are really tucking your elbows in at all. Without that, your shoulders have nowhere to flare in to during the press.

Also, sucks that you are so tall, since leg drive is really useful for bringing the bar in closer. Is there anyway you could raise the bench seat (like with plates)? Or bench in the powerrack on a higher bench?

Cheers bro. Not sure how you can say I'm not tucking. I would touch a lot higher if I wasn't.

I can't really raise the seat in the bench racks but I can try benching in the power rack and put the bench on a couple of 10's or something and see how that affects leg drive.

rAv: read the leg drive section of greg nuckols's "how to bench: the definitive guide". IIRC, he showed some options that he recommended for tall people.

edit: just did a quick search. It appears that I didn't recall correctly. I feel like I read in an article somewhere that talls should try a feet in front position.