The dude in the background is a clown. It seems I have about 20 of him at my gym.
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
I do paused squats/bench all the time and now I don’t know how to not pause my squat or my bench anymore, haha.
What kinda stuff can I do to keep my chest up more? Is this more of an upper back weakness thing or something??
THANKS [/quote]
Not an expert at the assistance work needed to fix it, depends on the reason you’re doing it which I don’t know… formwise, keep your elbows under the bar, and think about driving your elbows and forearms/hands up into the bar. Helps me.
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
What kinda stuff can I do to keep my chest up more? Is this more of an upper back weakness thing or something??
[/quote]
i have found facepulls, with some snatch grip deads, farmers, and inverted rows have helped my upper back strength tremendously.
i am not sure i am totally agree with other on the squatmornings though. what i see is more what mark rippetoe explains as driving with the hips. and with such a low back position that i see you squat with i think it is normal.
i have been accused of squatmorning many of times. and it does appear that way with my low bar squat. hell i seemingly fold in half at the bottom. switch me to a high bar or front squat and i stay upright easily.
this link IMO explains it well why one seems to lean too far forward with a low bar squat:
especially the first pic.
now if you were to squat geared and could widen the legs as far as some geared people do then you could stay upright more. it may just also be like me where i have long legs and short nubby torso. box squats and low bar just fold me over due to lever lengths not strength/weaknesses.
[quote]asooneyeonig wrote:
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
What kinda stuff can I do to keep my chest up more? Is this more of an upper back weakness thing or something??
[/quote]
i have found facepulls, with some snatch grip deads, farmers, and inverted rows have helped my upper back strength tremendously.
i am not sure i am totally agree with other on the squatmornings though. what i see is more what mark rippetoe explains as driving with the hips. and with such a low back position that i see you squat with i think it is normal.
i have been accused of squatmorning many of times. and it does appear that way with my low bar squat. hell i seemingly fold in half at the bottom. switch me to a high bar or front squat and i stay upright easily.
this link IMO explains it well why one seems to lean too far forward with a low bar squat:
especially the first pic.
now if you were to squat geared and could widen the legs as far as some geared people do then you could stay upright more. it may just also be like me where i have long legs and short nubby torso. box squats and low bar just fold me over due to lever lengths not strength/weaknesses.[/quote]
Low bar can make you end up with significant lean, but the hips still shouldn’t rise before the shoulders.
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
Low bar can make you end up with significant lean, but the hips still shouldn’t rise before the shoulders.[/quote]
x2.
Hai Spockie! You might not have an upper back weakness. It might just be a matter of getting your upper back arched, locked in and tight and keeping it that way throughout the lift. Just looking up doesn’t necessarily mean your upper back is solid.
Check out Mike T. (best raw PLer in the world, IMO. And he trains by himself. Crazy). Low bar position, doesn’t look up, drives with the hips but his hips never come up before his shoulders even when using 705 for reps.
You new look is quite…fetching 
K IS THIS SOMEWHAT BETTER PEOPLE?? I think I look a little more upright/less butt winky. :S
Still pretty butt winky and good morning’d. A little butt wink is common and usually fine but this was still a little extreme. Try some hip mobility drills and really getting your elbows under the bar. Also spreading the floor apart with your legs and trying to sit back a little more should help. Also you have to drive the bar up with your neck, you’re losing a lot of pounds just by how much your leaning. SSB good mornings pretty much fixed this problem for me.
I was told I had these same problems after I posted a form check and these are just things that helped me out. My form definitely still needs some work, but stretching my hips/hip flexors and ssb good mornings made it MUCH better.
Lots and lots of excellent advice here.
In a nutshell: The limitations for this are
- lift-off from the ground
- back rounds i.e., loses neutral spine
Note that in neither case is the hip the limiting factor, even though everyone wants to do this for posterior chain work. Remember this – other factors will lag behind hip power. This is why people get injured on this lift more often than not. They know that if they “just get it right” their hips can lift a bit more than the last time, then something goes wrong… Therefore, treat the amount you lift as a measure of how good you function as a system.
Physics: A properly done dead uses your back like a 3rd class lever (e.g. baseball bat). As soon as you get a kink any place along your back, your back becomes a 1st class lever (like a see-saw) and all the forces go right to the kink (fulcrum). Whatever is trying to stabilize the kink will get injured. Maintain neutral spine at all costs. If you lose it, then either the lift is over for that day or reduce the weight until you can maintain form.
→ weights are metrics, not goals. ←
For 1., this is pretty much either quad weakness (fix using a trap bar for a month) or some inflexibility the prevents getting into position. Vid looked ok for this part of it though.
For 2. Train the back indep. of everything else. Several other people have said this though perhaps not in this way. I normally alternate month of deads with things like rack pulls or RDLs (For you, RDLs and practice keeping your back fixed while you lower the weight. 3 sec down, 1 sec up, repeat. Aim for 8 reps per set first month (high reps = set the pattern), then increase the weight later.) If you really want/need more power in the hip, do single leg deads with a bar. This will let you hammer the glutes/hammies while you work on RDLs or whatever. You will like the result.
Don’t be in a rush. Doing a dead right requires that almost all of you work and your weakest link should be identified. This will vary from month to month.
– jj