Form Check on Various Lifts

Training Powerlifting
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So this is my third cycle of 5/3/1 SST (not my third overall 5/3/1 cycle though). Recorded some of my lifts today for critique. This was the first time I’ve back squatted in almost a year, maybe a year in a half. I had a spinal defect from birth, which led to a severe herniation (L4,L5-S1) February of 2011. Started deadlifting and front squatting last year at some point… now I’m squatting and deadlifting weekly and my back has never been better.

Anyway, video has my top sets my 5/3/1 front squat and 10/8/6 trap-bar deadlift. I did the back squats for practice; I would like to start back squatting again but I realize I may have to relearn how to squat properly, especially if my form is crap.

Thanks in advance!

Brandon

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Edit: Sorry extremely slow to appear, video there now, still won’t load though… Must be just me?

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Uploaded again… better?

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Dude what kind of camera are you using its awesome haha.

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[quote]Reed wrote:
Dude what kind of camera are you using its awesome haha.[/quote]

iPad :slight_smile:

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Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man

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[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room.

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I realized that the video may make it difficult to properly evaluate my form, so I edited the video to have a more natural feel (iPad dimensions). I also added my second-to-top set for back squat and trap-bar deadlift to help reveal any form breakdown upon increasing weight.

Sorry for the double post.

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Looks pretty solid to me. I hate high rep front squats - a nightmare to keep tight in that position for so long.

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Honestly, what I thought might be off in your original video disappears with the better video.

With that said, nothing to really be nit picky on the squats. On the trap bar deadlift, I think it looks too ‘squatty’ and could use more of a hip hinge, but I guess it depends on what you are going for.

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[quote]gtl wrote:
Honestly, what I thought might be off in your original video disappears with the better video.

With that said, nothing to really be nit picky on the squats. On the trap bar deadlift, I think it looks too ‘squatty’ and could use more of a hip hinge, but I guess it depends on what you are going for.[/quote]

I pull conventional weekly as well, so I get plenty of hip hinge work there, in addition to Romanian deadlifts and pull-throughs. I figured I’d use the trap-bar deadlift as a quad accessory movement so I take the low-pull approach and try to emphasis my quads.

I’ll post another video with my conventional deadlift later this week.

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[quote]baugust wrote:

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room. [/quote]

Those are relatively long legs budy im 5,7’ and have 28" to 29" inseam haha these short little fuckers are great for Squating and Sumo Pulls though

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[quote]baugust wrote:

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room. [/quote]

I’m 6 foot 1 and have about a 30-31 inch inseam… you’ve got long legs and I’ve got short legs.

And vibrams should be fine for deadlifting.

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[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:

[quote]baugust wrote:

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room. [/quote]

I’m 6 foot 1 and have about a 30-31 inch inseam… you’ve got long legs and I’ve got short legs.

And vibrams should be fine for deadlifting.[/quote]

Oh… learn something new every day! Thanks.

Vibrams fine for squatting as well?

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Well, you don’t need to change anything with your shoes, your form is pretty much spot on, weightlifting shoes help a ton, but aren’t totally necesarry unless you want to compete.

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[quote]baugust wrote:

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room. [/quote]

The next time your in a line, look at the guys in front of you. Your legs will be longer than a lot of guys who are 6 feet tall and over. The only reason I know this is because I’m 5’9" as well with a 32 inch inseam and have noticed over the years standing in lines that most of the guys at or around my height have much shorter legs and longer torso’s than I do.

On to your lifting, form looks good-now put some weight on the bar. All of those lifts looked very easy and it’s time to start adding weight.

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[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Well, you don’t need to change anything with your shoes, your form is pretty much spot on, weightlifting shoes help a ton, but aren’t totally necesarry unless you want to compete.[/quote]

Awesome, thanks Mat. I would like to compete eventually, so I’ll keep what you said in mind.

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[quote]DBasler wrote:

[quote]baugust wrote:

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room. [/quote]

The next time your in a line, look at the guys in front of you. Your legs will be longer than a lot of guys who are 6 feet tall and over. The only reason I know this is because I’m 5’9" as well with a 32 inch inseam and have noticed over the years standing in lines that most of the guys at or around my height have much shorter legs and longer torso’s than I do.

On to your lifting, form looks good-now put some weight on the bar. All of those lifts looked very easy and it’s time to start adding weight.[/quote]

Interesting. I really never noticed. And thanks for the feedback.

I’m pretty confident in most of my lower-body lifts, mainly because I make a point to be as strict as possible to avoid aggravating my lower back injury. With all the positive, helpful feedback, I grabbed a shot of my chest workout today which I’ve attached. I would love some feedback on my bench; hopefully the angle isn’t too poor for critique.

Bench has been the lift that I’ve struggled with the most the last few months. All of my other lifts are climbing, some faster than others, but bench is barely budging. I’ve read that increasing the frequency might be helpful (as well as hammering the upper back, which I’ve been doing), but I’m not quite sure how to incorporate an increased frequency yet adhere to the “rules” of 5/3/1. Also, I know the go-to answer is going to be “gain weight.” I’m doing that, just at a very slow, “lean” pace. I’d like to increase my bench relative to my weight, regardless, so I am looking for other solutions.

Thanks again everyone.

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the greatest benefit i find with weightlifting shoes (apart from the flat, wide, sole practically glued to the floor) is that it gives your knees a bit more freedom. i find this not just in terms of “pushing” the knees further over the toes, which can be problematic for some, but in terms of lateral positioning as well. im able to push my knees wider without changing my foot position much and therefore get right down into the bottom of a front squat.

not sure what you plan on competing in but if you like the olympic lifts, or even just front squatting, being comfy at the bottom is invaluable. and if its powerlifting youre more inclined to i have found ATG front/high bar squats make a lot of parallel squats feel like partials.

you look great though, massive congratulations and crack on to the platform brother

p.s. fivefingers are the dogs for deadlifting but i was forced into (i really twisted my own arm) doing an oly workout in them a little while ago…it was an interesting experience to say the least: basically all the stabilisers of the lower leg were going mad trying to stop my feet from doing cartwheels

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[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:

[quote]baugust wrote:

[quote]Mathew Bertrand wrote:
Hey man, lifts look great. 200x9 on a front squat is a nightmare to hold onto, so you must have a strong upper back.

The only thing is get weightlifting shoes, i couldn’t tell if it was your camera or body, but your legs look extremely long, weightlifting shoes could help, but you don’t necessarily need them.

Great work man[/quote]

I’m about 5’9" with a 34" inseam… I don’t believe that’s very tall or long-legged, so it must be the camera.

Much appreciated on the feedback. Any specific recommendations on shoes? I’ve been wearing Vibram FiveFingers for the past couple years. Casually and in the weight room. [/quote]

I’m 6 foot 1 and have about a 30-31 inch inseam… you’ve got long legs and I’ve got short legs.

And vibrams should be fine for deadlifting.[/quote]

Yeah I’m just the same on the leg front, 6’ (possibly a little bit over) and 30 1/2 in inseam. I do wonder what squatting must feel like for those 3+ inches shorter with the same or longer legs!
Just wondering, I use a “semi-sumo” style deadlift stance and it feels better than conventional, would this be expected with a long back, short legs and moderate arms? My deadlift has never been my best lift (about equal to squat or a few kgs above, raw w/o wraps).

No thread hijack intended