Hey everybody, I’m fairly new to the powerlifting scene. I have yet to go to my first meet but I’m wanting to train to improve before I actually go. Just curious as to how my form is. This video is 405x8 with straps. Thanks for any advice
You should try a video from the side. From the front, it looks as if your knees are soft at the top and it looks like later reps are being ramped a bit. It’s difficult to tell from the front.
My advice with respect to competing is that you don’t wait until you think you are good enough. Just go out and compete. You’ll never be good enough if you wait but you can get better than you are while you’re competing.
Okay thanks for the advice. I will look into local meets coming up and get to it
Like ouroboro said, knees are not locked out plus hitching. Also, it looks like you are leaning way back at lockout and that can hurt your back. Just stand straight with your shoulders pulled back.
Do you follow George Leeman?
Yes I follow him on YouTube. I’m trying to do what I can to learn better form. I literally deadlifted for the first time three months ago
[quote]Eboyd75 wrote:
Yes I follow him on YouTube. I’m trying to do what I can to learn better form. I literally deadlifted for the first time three months ago[/quote]
Haha, I was wondering if he had some influence on the way you lift - pulling conventional, touch-and-go, with straps and a high belt placement. He’s a great person to learn from.
With the deadlift, the main things to keep in mind are to pull your shoulder blades down to get as much involvement from your lats, traps and serratus anterior as possible while bracing your abs. Get your hips involved and make it a goal to keep everything tight while placing your arm pit over the bar. If you do the above, everything will eventually fall into place.
Alright thanks. I’ll put that to use and get a video from an angle. I appreciate the help
You obviously are very strong, so good job on that front. However, I did not like the form. You went beyond upright at the top, which is asking for an injury. Also, even though you managed to do each rep, I would say that the last few reps were laboured (not a spelling mistake - I am Canadian :)), so I would suggest dropping the weight to make sure each rep is done without contorting and hitching. It’s hard to see from the front, but I suspect your back may have rounded. I would also suggest a side video to make sure. Also, do you always train with straps? I did for a while, and although I loved how my numbers went up, they didn’t really go up because it was a different lift.
You may have a hard time getting your grip strength to catch up to the rest unless you drop the straps. I’m also not a fan of touch and go deadlifts, because they aren’t lifted from a deadweight position. My own personal rule is to remove both hands from the bar before initiating each rep, but that’s just me (I know many who disagree). Anyways, I don’t mean to sound so negative - the strength you displayed at that weight and # of reps is impressive regardless of how it was lifted.
I appreciate the compliment and advice. I’ll be sure to start doing videos from the side to get a better view. And I only use the straps on a heavier set with several reps like that. My warmups and low rep sets I do with a hook grip which is something else I’m still learning. I’ve tried the mixed grip but it feels like my body is twisted. Not sure I that’s a normal feeling or something I do wrong
[quote]Eboyd75 wrote:
I appreciate the compliment and advice. I’ll be sure to start doing videos from the side to get a better view. And I only use the straps on a heavier set with several reps like that. My warmups and low rep sets I do with a hook grip which is something else I’m still learning. I’ve tried the mixed grip but it feels like my body is twisted. Not sure I that’s a normal feeling or something I do wrong [/quote]
For what it’s worth, I train and compete exclusively with a hook grip. I pull heavy singles with my hands but use straps on reps. Once I knew my grip wasn’t a weak point I started using straps so my hands wouldn’t get so chewed up. It’s harder on your hands than a mixed grip.
So I tried it again this morning based on what y’all said. I know it’s not perfect but I feel like I have made somewhat of an improvement. I did 365 for three, 405 for two, and 500 for one whixh ia also a new max for me. Also didn’t use straps this time and I didn’t feel like I had an issue with grip strength so much as my thumbs feeling like they were ripping apart. Not sure if that’s normal with hook grip.
Looks good to me. Btw, it doesn’t really matter if you use touch-and-go or reset with each rep. Just try to make them feel the same so you get carryover. Keep doing whichever helps you get stronger. It might be useful to improve the one you suck at. Also, congrats on the PR.
[quote]MarcF wrote:
Also, do you always train with straps? I did for a while, and although I loved how my numbers went up, they didn’t really go up because it was a different lift.
[/quote]
I’m not hugely strong like most on this board, but this hasn’t really been my experience.
I’ve never found 1RMs in competition to require much grip strength. Even with a mixed grip my hands feel locked into place. But it could also be that grip has never been my weak link despite the fact that I use straps exclusively in training. Figure out what works for you, I guess?