Hi guys,

I recently switched my squat form from low bar wide (powerlifter style), to narrow high bar (oly style), cause I want to start training to improve my clean and jerk. Here are some vids:

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

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

I am dipping at the trunk out of the hole a bit, especially on the higher 5 rep sets. Any advice? A lot of other folks told me it should be fixed when I get Oly lifting shoes with a heel, so that is step 1. Any other comments?

I've always learned OLY style as you want to keep your hips underneath you and by focusing on a big chest this accomplishes this. How is the flexibility of your psoas at the bottom of a snatch? Another test is grabbing a pvc/broomstick with a really close grip and performing a OHS.

ok, real form checks this time:

Face Pulls ~48.5x12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvB_vI6duvY
Glute Bridges 155x12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTtaciRP-0w

Not sure how many reps I should go. Youtubers seem to go x5 on glute bridges, and the weight seems light at 155.

Get some oly shoes so you can get deeper with an upright torso. What's your best C&J?

Thanks, I think this will probably solve most of my issues here, and I've heard it now from like 5 different sources.

Best C&J is 300.

This is Dan John on front squats, but it also applies to hbbs and I think could really be helpful to you:

From http://danjohn.net/2009/12/the-front-squat/

thanks downtown, will try that out

there's a good Squat Rx vid on the hbbs as well, explaining much the same stuff. I think it's in the OP.

I've been having lower back pain while doing deadlifts- about an inch higher than the tailbone and 1 in off center from the spine.

325x5

excuse the douchey lack of shirt.

Your low back is rounding. Hopefully you didnt injure a disc. Dont let your low back round when you lift weights, especially heavy DLs.

Bouncing the DL is not good either. The stress is completely changed/lessened, higher weights can be handled --> bigger chance of injuries.

Bouncing makes it a different exercise for sure. While I dont necessarily think bouncing is horrible if the back is flat, the jarring motion probably makes things much worse when the back is rounded.

Wow, holy crap. That was tiring implementing that form for the 1st time last night and my sleep has been terribad as well, so it wasn't a very good night, but I definitely feel better overall and better shoulder blade tightness. Tried to fix the bar angle, and think I did, but didn't get any video since I was in a hurry, too many people in the gym.

Bench pressing takes years to get good at imo. I still have a lot of flaws in my form when I do it. Keep trying to do it correctly and it will become more natural over time.

It literally only flares up on deads- Didn't realize the rounding was that prominent I'll drop weight and pacing next week and post a vid.

Agreed. There's no real benefit to bouncing a deadlift though, if you want to train the eccentric portion do RDLs.

If excessive back rounding has lead to some low back pain, give mckenzie exercises a try. Kyleb pointed me to his book treat your own back.

Simply lying on the floor and getting on your elbows tends to help.

This is fine as long as it doesnt make it hurt. Dont do anything that hurts it.

It probably isn't that much worse from an injury perspective (as long as the trainee doesn't lift too much weight, which I think is a risk), but the lower back, glutes and hamstrings definitely get less work.

yeah, the bounce at the bottom was the way bodybuilders did those a while ago. Right or wrong, I used to do them that way because it was how I was taught. I think you're probably right about the effectiveness of them, aside from the first rep being the same either way.

posted some vids in my log, would love some feedback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6D4TDwU6g0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XndCI1HDyOA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giIuysNC5dk

squats 210 @ 175 bw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywXhWJr5H1Y dead 225 x4

285 x3

my bros lifts, squats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zahWtxXEEPk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTy97nXVppM

dead 135


thanks

Your squat depth looks great and you look solid, until the video where we can see your knees. There's some pretty significant knee caving going on. Try to focus on shoving the knees out as far as you can, and keep them out.

DL - your low back rounds a little. Tighten it up and keep it tight until the weight hits the floor. You're rounding it worse when you set the weight down right before it hits the floor. Dont let it round unless the weight is on the floor.

bro squat: pretty good, but his knees should either be shoved out more or have him not point his toes out so far.

bro DL: OW! My back hurts just watching that. Dont lean back at the top - think about standing up tall at the top - NOT BACK - and squeezing the butt cheeks together. Pulling back like that is a good way to injure a disc.

Power clean 185x2
Camera ran out of memory for rep 3
I think my hips are rising a bit too fast and my elbows were slow on rep 2. Really tried to focus on lower back tightness since the deadlift atrocity.

The bar is out in front of you and that makes you jump forward. It seems like you may be pulling too early. Finish your second pull, it should brush ever so slightly near your hips.