How Did You Learn To Squat and Deadlift?

Training Bodybuilding
1

Okay, first and foremost I do not believe myself to be a seasoned weightlifter. I have been working out for two years and after these two years I have realized that it is just beginning and I have alot to learn. I am learning though and loving every second of it. I have gone from 163 pounds to 189 pounds, I have learned more about nutrition, about my body and I have found a sport that I love. Finding T-Nation has made my training better and I owe alot to the members of this board.

So now I need help in learning perhaps the two most important lifts for gaining mass and strength, the squat and the deadlift. I do not know how to do these lifts, I do not understand them and I make no claims to understand them.
People on this board have been doing them probably since I was very young and I respect that very much but now I ask for assistance in learning these lifts. Anything you can message me, anything you can post, any pictures of form, any insight into where to find help on how to do these lifts would be great. The trainers at my gym shy away from these lifts and push me towards machines but I do not want machines, I do not go to lift weights to adjust pads, I go because I want to build a stronger (and yeah I admit, a much bigger) body.

So if you can help, please do, I know some of you learned from trial and error, and yet others learned from mentors and friends, so if you could help a beginner out now it would mean alot.

-Hawk

2

mike robertson:

precision pulling

6 tips for a sexy squat

flawless squattin’

dave tate:

squat 900 pounds

for me squatting, the most important points:

back arched TIGHT and core stiff (like someone’s gonna punch you, squeeze abs and lock the ribs), elbows forward, shoulderblades together, head back, and “spread the floor” with your feet and knees. look upwards, not in a mirror. weight is on the heels, and my knees bend slightly (not going in front of my toes!) before I sit back with my hips, and my hips rise before my knees as I’m coming out of the hole.

deadlifting:

my shins are touching the bar, my weight is on my heels. the set-up is the most important part. I take a huge breath, tense up, bend my knees to about a 115-120 degree angle (wider than a right angle), bend down and grab the bar “over-under” style with one palm facing me and one palm facing away, then I take all slack out of my arms and get ready to lift…at which point my chest is above my hips, which are above my knees, which are at a 120 degree angle.

I think ‘3-2-1 BLASTOFF’ and explode from my upper and lower body, with my back arched or flat (NOT ROUNDED). the first portion, where the weight’s coming off the floor, comes from the glutes and lower back, the second part where I’m trying to get my hips locked is coming mostly from the lower back, and the last part is where I lock my knees. some people will lock the knees before the lower back, which is a bad idea. I go for back first, or simultaneous lockout.

by the way, I let my breath out as I start to straighten my legs.

be sure to sit back into it as you lower it all the way to the floor, the bar WILL touch your shins. repeat. don’t think about it too much during the setup, and don’t sit in the bottom, that’s why you take the breath FIRST, to remind you to go fast!

Excuse my lack of capitalization, I’ve been chatting using AIM. That’s my description of the way I lift, you will find a more lengthy and detailed description of the lifts in Mike Robertson’s and Tate’s articles.

Enjoy and good luck. Consider box squatting (even onto a bench) to learn the form, especially if you have trouble getting out of the hole. Practice form, not heavy weight, form is more important than weight, and your BODY has to learn it as well as your mind! That’s why you see PTs who can spot bad form but have it themselves.

Make sure you go a bit below parallel, or all the way “ass to grass” on squats

3

Also, you need to be looking up during the deadlift too. And think of pulling the weight BACK, not UP, while deadlifting it.

4

double post

5

Ian King’s guide to both on this very site.

That and a lot of practise and feedback from those around me.

Remember, you can always just ask one of the guys at the gym if your form looks alright.

6

Yeah, I was in the same position as you - put off doing squats and deadlifts for a long time. My rationale was that I wanted to build up my leg and back strength first on machines. I regret that now; I should have started the basic compound movements earlier.

A few thoughts:

I didn’t learn to squat deep until I finally got over my gym ego and did squats with very little weight on the bar.

Flexibility was a big problem for me with squats. Still working on it.

A guy at my gym gave me some valuable help with my squat form when I was first starting out, after watching me do a few sets, and after politely asking me if I wanted some advice - which is the right way to offer it.

Seeing videos of these lifts helped me a lot. Use Google to find some.

For the record, I do trap bar deads, not regular deads. Of course this is only an option for you if you have a trap bar available. Great exercise.

7

[quote]conwict wrote:
mike robertson:

precision pulling

6 tips for a sexy squat

flawless squattin’

dave tate:

squat 900 pounds

for me squatting, the most important points:

back arched TIGHT and core stiff (like someone’s gonna punch you, squeeze abs and lock the ribs), elbows forward, shoulderblades together, head back, and “spread the floor” with your feet and knees. look upwards, not in a mirror. weight is on the heels, and my knees bend slightly (not going in front of my toes!) before I sit back with my hips, and my hips rise before my knees as I’m coming out of the hole.

deadlifting:

my shins are touching the bar, my weight is on my heels. the set-up is the most important part. I take a huge breath, tense up, bend my knees to about a 115-120 degree angle (wider than a right angle), bend down and grab the bar “over-under” style with one palm facing me and one palm facing away, then I take all slack out of my arms and get ready to lift…at which point my chest is above my hips, which are above my knees, which are at a 120 degree angle.

I think ‘3-2-1 BLASTOFF’ and explode from my upper and lower body, with my back arched or flat (NOT ROUNDED). the first portion, where the weight’s coming off the floor, comes from the glutes and lower back, the second part where I’m trying to get my hips locked is coming mostly from the lower back, and the last part is where I lock my knees. some people will lock the knees before the lower back, which is a bad idea. I go for back first, or simultaneous lockout.

by the way, I let my breath out as I start to straighten my legs.

be sure to sit back into it as you lower it all the way to the floor, the bar WILL touch your shins. repeat. don’t think about it too much during the setup, and don’t sit in the bottom, that’s why you take the breath FIRST, to remind you to go fast!

Excuse my lack of capitalization, I’ve been chatting using AIM. That’s my description of the way I lift, you will find a more lengthy and detailed description of the lifts in Mike Robertson’s and Tate’s articles.

Enjoy and good luck. Consider box squatting (even onto a bench) to learn the form, especially if you have trouble getting out of the hole. Practice form, not heavy weight, form is more important than weight, and your BODY has to learn it as well as your mind! That’s why you see PTs who can spot bad form but have it themselves.

Make sure you go a bit below parallel, or all the way “ass to grass” on squats[/quote]

These are solid descriptions, couldn’t have done better myself! :slight_smile:

Do what conwict just said and then search google for deadlift and squat videos.

Also check these sites out:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html

http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/videos/video_index.htm

They have a lot of videos and are very useful. Not only for Squats and Deads.

8

I’ve got the elitefts squat/DL exercise index. This is the best thing you can get for your form if you can’t get someone trustable to show you in person.

9

I think you learn by doing. Good recommendations so far. But the best way will be for you to apply them and have an experienced lifter watch you while you do it and work with you if you’re struggling.

10

[quote]conwict wrote:
Also, you need to be looking up during the deadlift too. And think of pulling the weight BACK, not UP, while deadlifting it.[/quote]

That’s a such a good point and really pushed my weight up up when I started that you want to pull back and not straight up, whether that’s mental or not, my weight shot up immediately after figuring this out.

11

you should probably have someone help you learn. i learned without anyone helping me . and there were alot of days with some back pains untill i figred out what the hell i was doing lol

12

I learned how to deadlift from Pavel Tsatsouline’s book Power to the People, I recommend it for learning the deadlift. For squats, I just focused on arching my back and finding a stance that worked for me. A close stance back squat was a complete waste of time. I have long legs and find that a powerlifting style wide stance squat allows me to handle the most weight.

Using a box for squat depth was really helpful, because I could focus on a achieving a specific depth.

I also asked for tips from lifters who had good form. Some of this was a waste of time as some people naturally squat with a narrower stance than me, trying to emulate that got me nowhere.

13

Ian Kings video series. “How to squat” & “How to deadlift”.

Get em. Use em. Don’t forget to use em

14

[quote]MNguns wrote:
Ian Kings video series. “How to squat” & “How to deadlift”.

Get em. Use em. Don’t forget to use em[/quote]

Where can I find these ?

15

when you squat go ass to grass or to where your thighs are parallel to the floor,NO Quarter squats…they look stupid and arent needed

16

To a certain extent, you just need to do them. “Book learning” the lifts will help and is probably a good tool for great form, but really you just need to do them. Just load a light barbell and practice your squat. Use a weight that’s not easy, but that you feel comfortable with and practice until you “feel right”. Having someone who knows what they’re doing watch you is a good call too.

The more you do, the better you’ll get. Case in point, my squat sucks and my deadlift is pretty good. This is probably because I’ve done alot more deadlifting then squating. If I’d grab a light barbell and practice my squat for a couple months, like I’ve done before with the deadlift, I’d have alot better squat. Maybe I should take my own advice here…