why'd you bail? Did the black dude ever actually squat?

They look OK. Knees out, chest up (tight upper back). Agree they're a bit leg-pressy. To help with knees out, think about twisting your feet out without actually moving them. i.e., externally rotate the hips. This should open up your hips and allow you to squat between your legs better.

I bailed because I'm wimless I guess

Hadn't heard that cue before, thanks. I've been doing those 10-minute squat tests from MWOD once a week or so and really cranking my knees out so I was kind of surprised to see them coming in like this.

The black guy did some fairly erratic jump squats. I think it was with 225, I remember being impressed and worried.

DWarrior, it looks like your elbows are drawing a triangle during the movement, when I believe they should be drawing more of a straight (diagonal) line. Seems like you might be raising your shoulders a bit on the press.

Yeah I wasn't expecting a bail there either.

Your form and depth look really good on the early sets. Didn't start noticing the knee cave until much heavier. Noticed that there's a little forward motion every time coming out of the bottom, almost like you're loading your quads instead of driving through your heels (couldn't see your feet to confirm). Chest up will help with that and I'd focus on driving with your heels.

Also at 335 there seemed to be more of a general form breakdown, especially with the first 2 reps. The first rep is a little jerky and almost looked like there was a little twist in it. It might be beneficial to do a 1 rep at your work weight before starting work sets so you can feel the weight and prepare for it.

Interesting idea on doing a single with the working weight. Might have to try that next time. I usually do the last warmups with something comparable (this time it was 305), but it's never really the same. I'll try to get a video that shows my feet next time, oops.

I do a single at 5-15 lbs below the work set to get a feel for the weight.

Press check!

This one took a few tries, I think this vid is my best effort so far but it prob needs work. I'm having a little difficulty sequencing the press so it's a natural movement. Right now I compensate by tilting my back to start, then pressing and straightening my back.

Comments/berating appreciated.

http://youtu.be/aVjCQ0CsR6o

Squats

zinna,

looking good. Guessing that's not a work set since they looked so ez. Work set vids are way better to post since form is obv harder to keep on those. Also looks like you're keeping the bar a bit high for a low bar style squat (which is what I assume you're going for).

I tried a much narrower stance with feet pointed more forward than usual. The weight actually felt easier doing this. I know the vids only 2 reps, but is there something wrong with these? I still feel like Im leaning more forward than most, but IDK how to correct it

That was a "work set". I have done about 20kg higher before I dislocated my knee cap in may and I started squatting again about 1.5 month ago. Im raising the weight each session and I assume I will fail sooner or later.

Not sure if Im going for high bar or low bar

PJ, those look a good amount better (and more weight?) than the last time i saw. it still looks like youre not as tight as you could be before you begin the rep--deep breath, tighten your lower back and abs.

as far as the weight falling forward thing, my roommate just got SS3 and rip has a new paragraph called "THE MASTER CUE." i havent tried it yet but basically he says just simply try being very conscious of keeping the bar over midfoot throughout the entire rep. let me know if it works?

edit: also maybe it's just the angle but your hands look pretty far apart. keeping them closer together might help you get tighter? idk im not really an expert at all

Thanks man, thats actually LESS weight than usual bc im rly trying to focus on not falling too far forward, been having lots of issues with that on 4th and 5th reps at higher weight. How do you tighten your lower back? I feel like I do a better job with the deep breath and ab tightening, but I fully agree I just look kinda flimsy.

Narrower grip actually makes the whole squat feel better, but I have a lot of flexibility work to do before I can go much narrower. I always get shoulder pains with narrower grips.

tightening my lower back took me a long time and im still nowhere as good as people who are good. it's hard to describe how to do it--it takes a while to be able to contract them at will if you're like me and never really did it.

rippetoe describes doing the superman (http://yoga.prevention.com/slideshow...superman_1.jpg) to get a feeling of what a tight lower back feels like. then he just says to recreate that feeling, which seems to be unhelpful but there's really no other way to explain it. one way to know youre doing it right is you'll see your shirt wrinkle in your lower back if youre standing in front of two mirrors so you can see your lower back.

ps your undertitle is outdated go celtics woooo

I always forget to do that in between sets. Not even sure Im doing it right though lol

Hows the undertitle now?

"inaccurate" is the first word that comes to mind

zinna,

you feel ok with your feet like that? that's a super wide angle, seems past 45deg.

pj,

look decent but you're losing the weight a bit forward. upper back real tight, chest up. lol bulls.

grrrr, I cant! I cant do it! lol

No problem with the angle, its probably right around 45 degrees

Not a big deal. I'd try it with the bar lower, since you're bending over fairly far this should make it easier to keep your back angle constant once the weight gets heavier. Didn't look like a work set, heh.

hmm embed not working

230 squat

Depth is way off. Put your phone in a higher position next time.

This is how to get youtube embedded:
[ youtube ]Xj5UPgeyAng[/youtube]

Just starting to learn hang cleans; any tips would be great.

http://youtu.be/2umgK4U8Yro

Thanks.

Looking for the video Rippetoe did on this. While I was looking I saw this and lol'd

Edit: Not a video, article on tnation : http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...tion_for_power

Squat check please. Something does not feel right. Can't put my finger on it.