Haven't watched your squat vids in a while. You're very high in fact, I think you need another 4-5 inches. The crease in your shorts near your thighs should be slightly below the top of your knees, i.e. just breaking parallel. It's easier to see if you film from the side.

You are definitely high on your squats - although for the best angle (I just looked at your last vid) you want it from the side. You definitely want to try getting lower and lower although be careful not to do so if it causes your lower back to flex and bend significantly.

One thing that's very helpful for this is setting up box squats with steps or something. Doing some box squats to help learn ideal form can be helpful but you don't have to pause at the bottom - you could use the box as a guide and go up as soon as you feel it. This however would help you get used to the feeling of going lower. And you could hopefully adjust the box lower and lower as you get closer to parallel. Of course, if you have the flexibility/mobility to go to parallel now, no reason not to (and many reasons to do that). Your squat #s will go down temporarily for sure, but realize this is way better training overall for your knees, posterior chain, and body in general.

I guess ill work on this next workout.

Thanks Soulman, I think I agree that it is better to be on your toes for the bench.

echoing others, squats are very high. Can you get all the way down with no weight on your back? I think your hips need to go back a bit more than they do now, if you watch the bar path it kind of goes diagonally forward on the way down.

re bench: you need a more consistent bar path. some reps you flare elbows, some you tuck. Just need to find which one is best for you, then try and hit it every time. Most people will say tucking elbows is better for shoulder health fwiw.

deadlift: not much to say. I don't think it looks as bad as soulman though. the only thing I would watch for is don't let your elbow bend on the arm where you palm is facing away from you. That can certainly lead to bicep tears. Actively flexing your tricep on that arm can keep the elbow straight.

Agreed on squat depth. It's a bit of an awkward feeling to go to full depth with a decent weight on your back when you aren't used to it. Just keep doing it and you'll eventually feel more comfortable with it. But those are essentially quarter squats because a good portion of the bar movement is coming from dropping your chest instead of your hips.

Re: deadlift, why are you using mixed grip? I would just go double overhand until the weight is heavy and your grip is failing. Your grip shouldn't fail at 265 if you're hook gripping. And HS is def right about bicep tears but it won't be a real risk until you're doing heavier weights. But you should be in the habit of keeping straight arms so you don't end up with a tear down the road.

Okay guys, I've got the fire again. I think it was the line by about concentrating on form and not worrying about prs. I thought I was doing really good form but I was just trying to move more weight. Well I went in to the gym literally inspired by those posts and worked on form all workout. Here goes. Three videos of my squats, I tried 215 to start and failed on my fourth rep mostly because of a bad breath. Then I went down to 205 in the last two videos. I think these are deep enough and I practiced with a bench underneath me to simulate box squats.

215 fail


205


205


Here's my ohp at 100 which is the weight I reset too after failing 115. Any advice, really worked on keeping my core tight and not using legs at all. Thanks for all the help guys.

ohp


squat 2x5x205 (gonna use this weight next workout)
ohp 3x5x100
barbell rows 3x5x140 (still hate these a whole lot)

Squat: Looks better. could still go deeper. Try doing it with your heels on 5lb plates, and no weight on your back. This is to simulate weightlifting shoes which have a build in raised heel. If it feels a lot better, you may want to invest in a pair. I love mine.

Press: Tightening up is more than just flexing abs & valsalva. One thing that really helps is squeezing your glutes and pushing your hips forward. Having a tight core doesn't do much if it is sitting on top of a loose base.

Id go 5,5,failure-1 on the press reset, you're not going to get stronger by just doing the same 3x5x100 you hit a month ago.

hs: Ill try to squat on some plates and see how that feels. I don't really have an extra $200 for some shoes. Do you have any suggestions for some lower priced shoes.

spenda: That's a good point on the press. 100 felt like a joke.

http://wlshoes.com/

workout time!

did squats at 205 again, felt good, and got real low. happy with these. bench sucked @155 so i did 135 the last two sets. video of deads at 270, at the start of the video this 140lb kid tells me how great deadlifts are and how he is going for 405 next week. After this he did 10lb db flys. If he gets 405 or even attempts it, I'm quitting lifting. My grip was not working for me using hook grip so I switched to mixed grip. these were really tough for me and I dont know why.

squats 3x5x205
bench 1x3x155, 2x5x135
deads 1x5x270

Pretty sure your back looks way better on the DL there. Good job.

Yeah really focused on keeping it straighter, I can improve!

now correct me if I'm wrong, but deads are supposed to feel heavy as **** right? Like oh my god how am I going to get this up heavy?

That looked like a very heavy set. I was surprised you finished the set after seeing the first rep, but it got better. You can still take a bit more care resetting between reps and really tightening everything up, plus you still break too early in your knees on the descent. But huge improvement nonetheless.

Yeah, pretty much.

Much better back from what I remember. Keep trying to keep it straight and as tight as possible!

Try to keep it tight on the way down too, I didn't see anything wrong but it seemed like you relaxed a bit at the top b4 going down. I have trouble keeping tightness when coming down with the bar, so it could just be that I'm paranoid.

I agree Yugo. Nothing horrendous, but definitely a bit more relaxed on the descent.

Yeah, I kinda am just like "well I got it up, let's put it down, and who cares how."

"When the iron sharpens the iron"


Worked on form. Still bad at ohp. Barbell rows still suck. Working out with a headache sucks also.

squat 3x5x210
ohp 3x5x110 (tried 120 and failed on the fourth rep)
barbell rowz 3x5x145 *pr*

I have a constant nagging lower back pain, and I can't ignore it any longer. I also don't really know how to go about fixing said pain. Foam roll?

did it start after your previous WO?

You have lower back pain because your deadlift form is so bad. You are lifting to heavy. As you come to the top of the lift you are leaning over and placing all the weight on your lower back which makes it look like you are bowing to somebody. You need to get your hips and ass lower at the start and explode thru your heels from the lift-off and come up in one straight motion. You will seriously hurt your self if you keep lifting like that. Get a good trainer or coach who knows the deadlift and work on the form with much less weight. You will get to the heavier weight quicker when you use correct form. I am 40 years old and have done competitions for 15 years. I still can do 600 for a deadlift without a belt or wraps because I have worked on form forever. I would hate to see you get hurt and stop because of it.

yay another form error! ill reread ss on deadlifts again.

1) He's definitely not overextending at the top

2) No. Youtube "rippetoe deadlift" to see examples of this DL style. It's definitely not worse than setting up lower with your ass. In fact, it's very probably better for most since it ensures a tighter setup, while the style you advocate generally tends to lead to looser hamstrings.

Other than that, post looks good. I don't think Jeff's setup looks dangerous anymore though.