I’m friends with a few people down on the FDU team, and in the next week or two, I’m heading down to FDU to train with one of them and he will be teaching me form and such on the lifts.
I am working on the flexibility issues as we speak. Even though this doesn’t look like much flexibility to you guys, its 10 times better then what it used to be. 
Until then I’ll just keep away from the full lifts, and do clean/snatch pulls and front squats
[quote]lucasa wrote:
romanaz wrote:
Any closer and I can’t get down enough to grab the bar. :-/ I’ll work on the wrist and hip flexibility for that.
IMHO, forget about the full lifts from anywhere near the floor for the near future. Three reasons;
- You need flexibility. Some of this may be related to the low bar and lack of weight, but you can’t drop low enough to grip the bar and your start position needs work. You have trouble racking the bar.
You have trouble with you footwork in the clean. I can’t say they are all 100% flexibility problems, but there are some obvious flexibility issues and they are all over (wrists, shoulders, chest & abs, hips, glutes, quads & hamstrings).
- Objectively, your physical fitness could use some work. Were you a heavyweight lifter with flawless technique and years of training, then by all means eat and grow large.
Unfortunately, you don’t appear to be a heavyweight lifter and as such weight class and work capacity will be significant factors. Big physiques don’t justify bad form and bad form doesn’t treat a bad physique very well.
- You’re going to be joining the team at FDU. I think they’d have a hard time turning down someone who shows up in shape and who is willing to, and capable of, work hard. And while it might be nice to think that you could learn flawless form on your own in the three months prior to showing up, I don’t think it’s going to happen.
I’m pretty sure the coaches there would rather work with a tabula rasa than try and bleach out any bad form that you’ve ground into your system. More over, why waste three months learning technique on your own (the hard way) when you’re going to have someone teach you in the near future.
Focus on pounds, partials, and work capacity for now. IMO, for you right now, as long as you’re hitting full extension (no matter where you started) with as heavy a weight as possible, as often as possible, you’re going in the right direction.
My $.02 anyway.
BTW- Stacking plates on the floor is a good idea short term but forget about making plywood discs. Eventually, you’ll need the plates you’re lifting off of to lift and if you’ve got the tools/time to make plywood plates you can make yourself some boxes that you’ll use even after you’ve got some bumpers.[/quote]
