Looking at that again, I watched your back more closely and it does look like you are losing extension a little bit - especially when you lower the weight. You want to keep it tight the whole time the weight is in your hands.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._for_power&cr=

and yes, when you lower the weight, start by pushing your hips back & let the bar pass your knees before bending them.

You could probably go a hair deeper if your feet weren't so wide, but otherwise fine.

Box squats (+ some chins)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NItUVqp1cY

thanks, ill try putting my feet a bit closer tonight...

How come no one posts any benching.
Been working on my technique so would love to see any vids people have.

i posted a bench video a while back...people commented on my lack of visible leg drive, which is something ive been working on...

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

Well finally got a video of my dl's uploaded. A few things that I've noticed that may or may not be important.

Some rounding in my middle back? Not sure whats up with that, I feel like my back is extended throughout.

I'm bent over really far with back almost parallel with the floor.

From Rip's DL article:
1) The back must be locked in extension.
2) The bar must be touching the shins, with the feet
flat on the floor.
3) The shoulders must be out in front of the bar so
that the shoulder blades are directly above the bar.

I feel all three of those are satisfied (except maybe the first apparently?

thoughts guys?

#1 is most important when you DL, but the low back is far more important than the upper back as far as preventing injury.

You appear to have a couple things going on:

- Your upper back rounds bad. Read this: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...that_hunchback

- You arent finishing the lift because your glutes appear to be weak & inactive, which is common for noobs. At the top of the lift, squeeze your butt cheeks together as hard as you can. Do not lean back - that's bad for your low back. Think about standing up tall and humping the bar. Doing supine bridges & clam shells as part of your warmup should help get the glutes firing.

The lift finishes with locked knees. Your knees don't finish correctly on any reps which makes it just about impossible to finish correctly with your hips.

Press videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGzAR_v75JM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3crG6c6RQQ

these are my first press videos
145 @ 167 for 5 reps...

comments appreciated, thanks...

more CJ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i7ZWuT10ZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-1sKzLzcRo

165 @ 167...sets 2 and 3, out of 4...

'ring row' form check

never down these before, googled it b4 the gym and was trying to follow this


set 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma_JZga3mpc
watched this, looked like i needed to be much straighter through my midsection, so tried to focus on that in 2nd set, which i think is a little better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vw42d_hzz4

in hindsight, i think i should have raised the rings just a little higher as well but not sure. appreciate comments/constructive criticism

first video: it's an awkward angle but it looks like you have a little premature arm bend on your clean although the catch looks pretty good. as far as the jerk, if you are going to do the power jerk i think you still need to try and 'shoot' your head through a little harder. these are more like push presses than jerks.

2nd: premature arm bend confirmed. same re: jerk

as far as full movements, try and get yourself into a better set position to start. you are kind of upright, then get low (i think to try and get some momentum or something) right before your 1st pull. i think you would be better served by starting in a more correct position in the bottom. i would also prob work from the hang because i think that could help you solve the premature arm bend issues easier/faster than doing the full movements.

can you explain a bit more what you mean by "shoot" my head through?

also, good suggestion about doing hang cleans for a bit...ill do that my next round...thanks...

here's a post from evoken's log where he talks about it pretty well:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=283

but basically, if you think about pushing or shooting your head through your shoulders on the jerk you get in a better position for your shoulders strength/stability wise. if you watch any oly vids on youtube you will see everyones jerks they kind of push their head through. some are more accentuated than others. actually, looking at some now, they appear to be the most accentuated when doing the push jerk.

awesome...tbh i didn't do any real research into what i was doing, i just called it a jerk...ill take a look at some jerk/push press vids and try and figure out what i want to do...any reason to do one over the other?

note, ill be doing these the same day as strict military press...

i really don't know a whole lot about programming so take what i say w some grains of salt. my guess is that it doesn't really matter unless you are planning on competing or are looking to just see how much you can c&j. if you want to raise your c&j you will probably want to go with a split jerk. it is just easier to learn, more stable and, for most everyone, you can do more weight. if you don't really care about that, doing push presses or power jerks is fine and is a good exercise. i would imagine you could do them on the same day as military press as long as you aren't doing too much volume.

Thirddan- you aren't retreating your hips when you catch. i would watch the clean progression vids on californiastrength dot com and i would google dirty dancing by don mccauley on youtube as well as his rock-n-roll drills and sweep the bar. really great stuff.

everyone could stand to work on these drills daily, and they make good warmpups.

These look like a variation of what I do with blast straps.

Yeah, you're right about your midsection sagging. You ideally want to be straight or slightly arched backwards. Either do them without the box (feet on floor) or raise the rings higher until you can do a better job of straightening up your body.

The guy in the video does a good job with them imo.

bench form check
2 angles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7qfMnis1Jk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cpbQITGJr4

I like the Dave Tate style setup. Your hands are a little wide, which works the shoulders more than the triceps & pecs, and ultimately will put a lot more strain on the shoulder joints when you start doing heavy benches. I'd narrow the grip a bit if I were you. Get it so your arms are straight under and perpendicular to the bar. Its kind of hard to tell much else other than that - I cant see if you're keeping your shoulders tucked or not.

Is there anyone who knows they have respectable form at HBBS that can post a video of themselves doing it? Or perhaps a video of someone else doing it somewhere on the internet?

I feel very confident about my form on every lift except squats, which are coincidentally the most important. I've already given up on LBBS because I can't seem to place the bar in the right spot. But I at least feel like with some improvement I might be able to do high bar. For now though it is the only lift I have made almost no progress at in a long time and can't seem to fix whatever I'm doing wrong.

Have you tried watching "So you think you can squat" on youtube? Its a HBBS.

yes, hasn't helped

the diff. I see is his hands are turning the rings during the lift, while yours stay in the exact same spot