I think these are looking better Neither the back nor knee movement is looking egregious, so you're on your way. Maybe the tennis ball under the chin for some air squats will help you with head control, rather than gaze control?

I definitely wouldnt go out any wider based on these views, and in fact would say you could come back in an inch if you wanted to and it felt better - sorry But I think the knee movement is definitely improving.

I spot from the 45 degree angle that your heels sometimes lift slightly, so I think you might want to stretch your calves a bit as part of your warmup if you arent already. This JTS article has some ideas.

Not egregiously bad. I'll take it! It is definitely a massive improvement from where I was before I started posting vids.

I think the chin/tennis ball thing is a good idea. I'll try to work that in for sure. I'll give the ankle mobility stuff a try too at some point.

As far as warm-ups go, that my be a leak for me. My warm up for squats is to squat. I do about 50 air squats, 3 sets of 10 with just the bar and then I see how I'm feeling. If something feels tight then I may do a stretch of that muscle group specifically (but this doesn't happen too often). I guess I just feel like doing the movement a lot helps stretch things out. Thoughts?

Unfortunately I hurt my ankle playing soccer today. It's not too bad I don't think, but it may be a while before I squat again (hopefully not more than a week). At least it's not a torn achilles.

Thanks again for taking a look.

Also can you help translate this comment from the SS forum on the vid you posted there

I'm not quite clear on what he means on the bolded stuff. I think he may be on to something though.

Im lazy when it comes to warms up too, basically the same as you with maybe some foam rolling chucked in. It definitely feels better like today when I spent a bit of time doing those drills, plus some couch stretch and hip openers.

I think he wants a bit more sit back couple with more forward lean to really load the posterior chain, then driving the hips up to get out of the hole. I would be a bit cautious as you are specifically trying to reduce loading on your spine, so it may not work for you as you've mentioned before. A bit more even force spread through your foot is what he is after too.

Thanks, that was kind of my feeling about his suggestion, but I was confused about the high bar comment. Does that really load the spine less?

Also the foot comment is something that I'll pay attention to I guess. When my form breaks down, the problem is almost always is that the weight is too far forward (i.e., on my toes, which is not an uncommon problem). Maybe I'm compensating for that in a way that I haven't appreciated.

Also with respect to the vids. Can you comment on the depth. I still feel like most are a little high. Would you agree?

Depth seems fine to pretty good to me. The videos are sometimes slightly leaning, but nothing seems too off with the depth.

I think it has to do with the length of the lever arm created in a low bar position vs a bigh bar position:



There will be less torque on the low back in a HBBS compared to a LBBS.

We've talked a bit about limiting your forward knee travel, remembering that the further forward your knees travel the lower you need to get. I think working on keeping them super solid and set early in the rep and more loading on the posterior chain should help.

Thanks. I'll really focus on this during the next few sessions (whenever that ends up being --- ankle may be a little worse than I first thought).

DL 1x350

97% of my previous 1RM a number of months ago.

Back seems just a bit rounded on the lift, but fine on the lower. It also looks like my hips are high, but it really doesn't -feel- that way. Thoughts otherwise?

Video is in progress of being trimmed by YouTube so its longer then the final version.

With the caveat that near max attempts aren't great for form check, it doesn't seem as if you get your back set hard enough prior to starting the pull. A slight bit more patience there might help. Maybe hips a touch low but I'd need to see something lighter to really judge that

Eh, you're right. Was a last minute decision to film it last night and decided to upload it today.


Part of why I went at it real quick was that in a vid I posted like a year ago or so somebody commented about spending too much time setting up. I was doing the Lillibridge thing of 'priming' the hamstrings.

riming the hamstrings" seems like fps to me, but kc does it and his deadlift is elite so I dunno. Maybe it will take a few more heavy attempts for it to be practiced enough for you to hit the right starting position.

Try and lock elbows under the bar( imagine arms are almost parallel to you're back). Reason the bar is moving is you're elbows aren't under it so it rolls down back,i think. lock elbows down and under the bar and think about keeping chest proud, should help to get bar much more secure. Could try different grip, I moved off SS thumb-less and unto pinkiless at my gym. That reset at the top just doesn't seam sustainable as you move up.

That sounds like almost exactly the opposite of SS/rip advice of keeping elbows up, but I'll give it a shot.

Keeping the chest up is actually something that I've stopped doing as much on the advice of coach Aidan as he explains here:

This advice really helped on the back rounding, so it gonna be hard to go back.


You're right that I need to address this bar shuffling problem if I want to move up.

[QUOTE=Melkerson;46164545]That sounds like almost exactly the opposite of SS/rip advice of keeping elbows up, but I'll give it a shot.

yeh coaches at my gym hate Rippitoe,and honestly all i ever got from SS was disc herniation and constant re-injury of the back.(Not that I can really blame that on SS, obviously my crap form and ****ty reading comp was an issue) Another interesting cue they hate is the look down in front of you, which I know rip pounds at and criticises others for ignoring. I think their point is once you train the proper hip and knee movement looking up isn't going to prevent you from getting hip drive.

As for Aidens advise I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. His advise is technique for tightening you're core( which a good cue for is breathing in and filling belly w air) This should be done in all power lifting exercises and rehearsed in breathing exercises in warmups. Honestly I'mnot sure you are breathing into you're belly. You're stomach should be expanding into the belt, that's when you know you are getting correct tightness. As for chest up obviously advise taken too far becomes incorrect and too proud of a chest would be bad. Cues really do suck in general but the idea I am trying to express is you're backs starting position is going to dictate the entire lift. If it's not upright then the bar is going to force you into rounding you're back.

Maybe you have a wide grip on bar? Wider grip you're elbows are going to be more behind you. Honestly give the elbows under the bar a shot, if you cant get into position because shoulder flexibility try alternate grips see if it helps.
Don't do any of this under any kind of serious load obviously.

One last peace of advise don't take so long between reps. Breathing obviously fine but longer you got that bar on you're back harder it's gonna get to finish set. I am in no way a coach and if any of this is wrong im sure Aidan will come in and correct me but guys I train with really no their **** and have kept me injury free/ built me up to the point where i can even beat some cross-fitters in our powerlifting meets, lol.


as for breathing exercise to see if you are getting proper tightness try this:

lay down on you're back and put one hand on chest one hand on belly. Now breathe into you're belly which should elevate you're hand that is on you're belly , hold for 3 seconds and release. Still laying down put you're hands at your sides above youre hips. Breathe into you're hands and feel you're stomach expanding into hands. Both of these breathing patterns together is the 360 degrees Aiden is referring too. Replicate this same breathing before deadlift and squat while standing obviously. If it feels looks same way as how you have been following his advise then my bad ignore me

Thanks for the advice.

I'll experiment with hand position. Shoulder mobility is not really an issue though. My hand are roughly on the same place on the bar as they are when I bench, which I think is narrower than average.

I agree on the time between reps, but I'm completely reconstructing my squat so I'm trying to focus on 5 different things prior to every rep. When these things become more ingrained, then I think I'll go a little faster.

I don't disagree with anything you've said on the breathing and what you're describing as correct is what I'm trying to do with every rep. I'll keep an eye on it.

I've gone through cycles of how I set up. I started out never doing it, then did it like 3 times and once between reps. Now I do it once at the start. And it's not to prime the hamstrings, whatever the f that means. I find it easier to get air and set my back/trunk from the straight-ish leg position.

3rd set of 3x5 squats here @ 122.5kg, first time in WL shoes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eNcnznglDk

Thoughts?

Solid looking hbbs imo, nice job.

Thanks man (somewhat belatedly)

1st time deadlifitng in a while, not sure about form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKczuaOFdNw

Pretty good again, though this seems quite light for you. The bar has a tendency to get further and further forward as the set progresses, you want to start each rep with the bar the same distance from your shin.

I think as the weight gets heavier you might find that your hips are a bit too low in the starting position. Your hips will shoot up a bit right off the floor if that is the case, so it will be easy to spot and rectify.

Thanks Aidan

Just started DL'ing, how does this look?

Pretty good imo. Finish with a good squeeze of your glutes at the top, and get your knees back (ie straighten your legs completely) to lock it out properly each rep.

Can you deadlift in socks only, or a shoe that has less compression? You might find it a bit easier than doing it in trainers.

Hello, and thank you for having this form check thread. Here is my squat

I was told that I am leaning forward too much. Is that accurate? Are there other places where my form could be improved, also?

Thanks, looking forward to trying it in converse.

Do many gyms allow you to lift in socks/barefoot?