*** H&F Form Check Thread ***

[bixby snyder]

Love the idea for this thread, inspired me to finally get some videos up. Would love any feedback, it's been too long since I've checked in with people who know how to lift.

2 sets of squats from tonight from two angles, here and here.
3 sets of PCs tonight from different angles, here here and here.

Should have got presses up too but camera battery was meh. Next time.

[kidcolin]

the squats are two different people, right?

first set is pretty good. Could focus a bit more on shoving the knees out. They're caving a tad. Get better shoes.

set two has some issues. Flexibility towards the bottom of the squat seems to be an issue. Depth isn't quite there and what depth is reached seems to be achieved by rolling a little in the lower back. Knees out helps with depth. I can't tell how wide the stance is either. The wider, the harder depth is. Really sit back into it.

I'll defer to others on the PC.

[bixby snyder]

Yup, my bad on that. Was trading vids with someone else, I'm the second haha... appreciate that though, I'm not very flexible but the form checks I'd had up previously passed on depth, although I've added a lot of weight since then. I think my stance is if anything too narrow, because I feel it a bit in my groin/inner thigh if I go any further out and I decided to avoid that.

[saw7988]

Hey guys, finally have videos up for the first time ever. Any tips I could get would be greatly appreciated.

Squat - 255

Brought the bar down lower on my back for the first time, was doing a weird low bar/high bar hybrid before.

Side view
Quarter view

Deadlift - 315

Was a little sloppy after taking like a 2-3 week break, but was pretty glad I could do 315 again.

Side view

EDIT: thanks for the tip kidcolin that was me. I have noticed that my knees do cave in, any way to fix this other than just focusing on it and making sure I don't do it? Also yea my shoes suck, I'll get better ones soon.

[ScoobyDooo]

Originally Posted by bixby snyder

Love the idea for this thread, inspired me to finally get some videos up. Would love any feedback, it's been too long since I've checked in with people who know how to lift.

2 sets of squats from tonight from two angles, here and here.
3 sets of PCs tonight from different angles, here here and here.

Should have got presses up too but camera battery was meh. Next time.

im not an expert on the PC but a few things stick out to me. first off your starting position needs some work and i think that'll help to straighten out some other parts. i think youve got a bit too much knee flex and your back should be much straighter (edit: the knee flex might actually be ok, but your back and arms definitely need to be much straighter to tighten up this whole starting position). the starting position is supposed to be much "tighter" than that with straighter arms and the bar going straight down through from the shoulders and over the mid foot. if you have unusually long limbs or something it might make it more difficult to get in this position, idk. but your first move off the floor is supposed to be more of a tighter pull or tug, it looks like you're starting with too much slack and its a little jerky at first.

you also need a lot more hip thrust into the bar. this will greatly improve your jump and send the bar much higher which will help you to rack it in a better, higher position because honestly your elbows are way too low at the rack point and this is going to seriously hurt your wrists once you get up to higher weights. rotate those elbows under the bar and get them high!

take a look at both these two and compare them to yours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tXcS0Xp1aE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCUmi...eature=channel
look how high she racks it
side note: i dont care how young she is it is so ubelievably sexy to see a girl PC this well. a proper squat gets me too omg

[ScoobyDooo]

i didnt mention it but you seem to be lifting the weight up too much with the arms. that isnt how youre supposed to get the bar up there. the bar should be thrown up by the pull from the floor and the power into the bar from the hips, resulting in the jump. its easy to involve the arms too much at light weights though.

[bixby snyder]

Originally Posted by ScoobyDooo

im not an expert on the PC but...

Interesting, appreciate the analysis. I see my starting position is a bit off. I guess my question... I kinda "get" that it should be more hip and less arms, and that should launch the bar higher, but I've just never had luck actually DOING that. Any suggestions on resources, drills, or cues it might make sense for me to revisit to really get that hip thrust going?

[Carl Sagan]

Originally Posted by bixby snyder

Interesting, appreciate the analysis. I see my starting position is a bit off. I guess my question... I kinda "get" that it should be more hip and less arms, and that should launch the bar higher, but I've just never had luck actually DOING that. Any suggestions on resources, drills, or cues it might make sense for me to revisit to really get that hip thrust going?

Gotta learn how to do it from the hang position first.

I like this guide:
http://stronglifts.com/the-ultimate-...-power-cleans/

Also these vids are good:
http://www.californiastrength.com/olwete.html (click on clean tab)

[YetioDoom]

Originally Posted by bixby snyder

Interesting, appreciate the analysis. I see my starting position is a bit off. I guess my question... I kinda "get" that it should be more hip and less arms, and that should launch the bar higher, but I've just never had luck actually DOING that. Any suggestions on resources, drills, or cues it might make sense for me to revisit to really get that hip thrust going?

I've heard doing kettlebell swings is good for feeling "hip thrust."

[ScoobyDooo]

well for starters the tighter starting position will greatly improve the pulling mechanics of the lift and help you generate some power, so that will definitely help. you really need to learn what it feels like to have a good jump...sorry i know it can be hard. rip talks about the jumping position in that first link i posted. keep in mind that the bar must touch somewhere on your upper thigh before you jump, and the jump must start with straight elbows. i also mentioned if this weight is too light for you, itll be very tempting to use your arms. a bit heavier weight may force you into using your bigger muscles with better timing and more efficiency, just out of necessity.

[jsnipes28]

Originally Posted by bixby snyder

Love the idea for this thread, inspired me to finally get some videos up. Would love any feedback, it's been too long since I've checked in with people who know how to lift.

2 sets of squats from tonight from two angles, here and here.
3 sets of PCs tonight from different angles, here here and here.

Should have got presses up too but camera battery was meh. Next time.

i would start w hang cleans as well. your starting position def needs a little cleaning up--i think scooby's description was pretty good (part of that is it looks like u are a reasonably tall guy and doing from the floor cleans w the smaller diameter weights is just gonna be awkward no matter what).

for form review also it'd be easier to tell if u weren't wearing long sleeves because keeping the elbows locked out as long as possible is pretty important. it doesn't look like u are getting near enough power from your hips or your shoulders. really, when you shrug and get your hips into it, you should feel the weight naturally rising and that will break your elbows for you. you are relying too much on your arm strength to get the bar up. ive always been told to think of it sort of as shrugging your shoulders and trying to curl your wrists inward as you extend from the hips. may be worth just practicing some clean pulls w lighter weight to try and feel the way the weight is supposed to come up w/o having to worry about catching it.
http://cathletics.com/exercises/exer...?exerciseID=98

[bixby snyder]

Originally Posted by Carl Sagan

Gotta learn how to do it from the hang position first.

Originally Posted by jsnipes28

i would start w hang cleans as well... it doesn't look like u are getting near enough power from your hips or your shoulders.

Makes sense-- back to hang cleans I guess. I did them for a while but couldn't really get them right and thought I might be forced into better position coming off the ground. It seems the problem I had with hangs has transitioned over, so I'll go back until I have that fixed. Thanks everyone, expect more clean vids.

[downtown]

Originally Posted by YetioDoom

I've heard doing kettlebell swings is good for feeling "hip thrust."

I disagree and I think this would teach you the very bad habit of banging your hips against the bar.

[YetioDoom]

Originally Posted by downtown

I disagree and I think this would teach you the very bad habit of banging your hips against the bar.

I've seen that happen in videos, and I guess I assumed that was desirable. Shows what I know.

[bixby snyder]

@kidcolin and whoever else agrees with his advice on my squats or has advice on my squats-- for a fix, is there anything specific I should be looking to do flexibility or technique wise, or perhaps just make an effort to go deeper next time?