Yeah I felt like I was leaning forward a lot, but I didn't realize my heels were coming off the ground until I watched. I have SS and will reread and retry on Monday

For the first few times I squat, I had to concentrate on really "driving" the weight through my heels on the lift-off. You will notice your motion is lot more explosive if you do this on the lower weights as you warm-up for your sets.

Squat form check 205: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzhVPt9OBP0

I tried to clean up the problems pointed out last time by calmasahinducow.

Squat looks pretty good, I'm jealous.

Like miles said, get the bar as close to your face a possible on the preyess.

squat looks good TP. maybe look slightly further ahead. you're staring straight down. if you start to pitch forward when it gets heavier, give that a shot.

konrad,

they look decent, but I can't tell if you're doing high bar or low bar.

kidcolin,

thanks for your reply. its tough to tell from that angle but I do low bar squats. do you think my form is decent enough that I can add 10lbs next time?

Squats 66kg all 3 sets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSZl1SaMmYM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqnPjwSIbfg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-IETz12rU

I concentrated in shoving knees out this time.

Bench presses 56kg all 3 sets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM7G6BBgJpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmCqezsiiEc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk747g_R-yM

I concentrated in not cocking wrists back, not having too wide a grip and having an arch.

i think so. you could sit back into it a bit more. you have a bit of lower back rounding at the bottom, so try to focus on keeping that extended. the flexibility should come.

get a video from 45 degrees behind you so we can see your knees and the bar placement better.

Thanks. I think I'm overcompensating because I used to look almost straight ahead and almost strained my neck. I'll try to keep it more in line with the rest of my spine, yeah?

Cross-posted from the log

I have a strange form issue with my squat, but I'm not sure what to look for to determine what's going on.

Here is a screenshot taken from this squat video:



This is around the very bottom of the squat. The red line clearly shows the difference in height between the left and right knees, but I have no idea why that is. I always pay attention to where my feet are before I start doing reps and do my best to keep them at an identical angle. Also, I think the knee thing tends to be expressed more with an empty bar. The uneven knees has been a recurring thing with my squats and you can see it happen on most of the reps in the video.

Is there some setup issue that I keep overlooking? The most common response I've seen for something like this is "are your legs different lengths?" I'm nearly certain this is not the case - are there any other potential causes?

***

As an aside, I also highlighted the fact that my right elbow seems to pop out of alignment with the other one. I have no discomfort from holding the bar or at any time while I'm getting into position. Not sure if this is an issue or not.

I'm not exactly sure what to make of the leaning. Does it feel like something is causing you to do that?

As far as the elbow - I have that same thing happen when I squat. I know exactly what my problem is. I had surgery on my right shoulder to relieve an impingement, and the left one is still slightly impinged, so I have better mobility in the right one. The right elbow always sticks up more for me when I squat. I suspect you have better mobility in your right shoulder, but I'm not sure.

Yeah I have same thing for my elbows. Pretty positive mine came from playing golf all my life, my right side is more limber than my left. Do you play golf, or even baseball probably same thing.

Your left knee is shoved way out and your right knee is caved in

Squat 275x5

I've hurt my back everytime i attempt to start squatting again so time to actually post some vids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z89fWwKtBbk its 3 sets squats at 135. Last set probably got the best angle where you can actually see my knees.

Wrists are under the bar, this will cause some pain later on as the weight gets heavier. Shove those elbows back and straighten out your wrists so the bar is supported by your back muscles instead of wrists. Body looks a bit loose as well. Take a breath in between each rep and hold it while you do the rep, all while keeping your core tight.

Can't really tell much else cause of poor angle in vid. Try and get your full body in the shot next time if you can.

squat 185x5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM5BMxtpD6Q

here is the second set of 185x5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T-EjWnfD8w

looks like the first three are better than the last two in that I start to bring my knees forward? i'd appreciate any comments

DL 235x5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3X0cvyukzg


this doesn't look right. it looks like i'm setting my back correctly and then abandoning that when i actually go to pull. help please?

links are bad

should be fine now?

Not that I can tell. I can get both legs down into an even, deep squat position no problem if I'm not holding a bar on my back, so it doesn't seem to be a flexibility issue on the surface. It's like the left leg is programmed differently than the right and just stops short of the bottom. Maybe it's a mental thing, though I can't imagine what it would be based on.

Pecota,

Might be a little lateral movement as you descend? This squat RX video might be of interest.

AB/That Other Mod we never see,


how about putting Rip's DL setup into the OP, or somewhere reachable through links in the OP? Text goes like this:

The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time



1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.

Squat form check. As some of you might know I have really been struggling with form. I really do know want to start adding much weight till I get at least acceptable form. Let me know what you think. Is this good enough to at least start climbing again in weight while ironing out my form?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPkkp6ISV10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t1jclee3sU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK1kvc7ujXw

as always, thanks

Genuinely lol'd at the double stomp.

I am not sure about the reverse air-hump you do to start the decent. It seems like it would get the bar moving forward slightly, increasing the chance that you accidentally good-morning it. I think a less exaggerated breaking of the hips would be fine.

Xpost from my log:

Videos! Like I said, camera angle sucks, and looking at my deadlifts I might have screwed up the math somewhere because it doesn't look like 215 is loaded on, maybe when I took the five pound plate off from my 195 warmup set and added the tens I forgot to readd the fives to get it up to 215? I don't know, you can't read the weight of the plates, but it looks wrong unless I just slid the tens over the fives, which I normally don't do.

Squat: 5x195, second work set
Squat: 5x195, third work set

Bench: 5x140, first work set

Deadlift: 3x195, warmup set Really didn't like how I was rounding my back, especially on the 2nd and 3rd rep, so I tried to fix that for my work set.
Deadlift: 3x215(buttnah...or maybe) Can't really see the back as well, but I think I did a much, much better job of keeping my chest high and my back straighter

I also know my shoes suck, but haven't got around to buying a pair of nonrunning shoes yet.