I can’t really say I’m proud of any of my lifts, they suck. Period. That said I realize that in order for me to get to some sort of respectable strength level I have to get through these lower levels first.
I decided to record my lifts the other night when I was going to test my 1RM. Overall, I was happy with the night since I had a total of 30lbs increase in my squat (315lbs from 285lbs) and a 30lbs increase in my deadlift (345lbs from 315lbs).
After watching my lifts I thought I should post them to get comments on my form. I won’t post my thoughts as I’d rather not lead the discussion.
I also posted, in my profile, some of my lifts when I was working up to my max if you want to compare to my technique with less weight.
I plan on competing in a powerlifting meet (eventually), most likely IPF sanctioned, so I would like to make sure I’m training with form that would get passed in a meet.
You didn’t go low enough in the squat and it looks like your falling forward as well. I have the problem of falling forward, very common, when I am fatigued. I’ve read that I need to strengthen my abs to help correct that problem. I found the article and it should help you as well.
I just looked at your profile and it looks like you are doing some more advanced programs. I’m a beginner as well my advice may not be the best but I would stick to programs meant for beginners that have higher volume. I’ve been doing a 5x5 upper/lower split and it’s been doing great and I’m going to switch to a 3x10 program which will allow me to increase both my volume and weight.
[quote]Schmazz wrote:
You deadlift in front of your car also?
I thought I was the only one…[/quote]
Looks like he’s got a couple of choppers too.
The form on both is mostly good, in my view. On the squat you should probably remain a little more upright. On the deadlift, have the back a little less rounded.
Well I’m not an elite lifter, but here’s my two cents for what its worth:
With the squat you seem to be getting rounded over in your upper back. Possible causes are bar placement, hand placement, not pushing your traps or neck back enough to make a solid shelf, not actively pulling the bar into your back (some people lift worse when they do this though) or simply not be strong enough through the upper back. Everything else with the squat seems good enough that it shouldn’t be holding you back.
Deadlift all that seems to be really iffy is the starting position. Your hips are going up before the bar starts moving and it puts you in a position where you use more back at the start. You can either lift the same way but shift your hips back (like you would at the start of a good morning) so you are using your weight and not hunching forward over the bar through the lift, or hold your hips lower at the start of the pull until the bar moves. Only real strength issues would be if your abs and back will let you lift that way, but they need to be strong regardless for deadlifting.
Hope that all helps.
Nice start ruggerlife. On the squat #1 I’d say spread your feet apart another foot. Your feet should be as wide as your power rack, at least. You seemed to sit back instead of down; which is good. Your placement looked decent from that angle. Spread your feet and then spread the floor. If you wanna start like a powerlifting its knees out wide or not at all.
Hard to evaluate your dead from that angle and with your baggy clothes. I would echo the thoughts above about prioritizing your abs a bit more. In both the squat and dead you seemed to struggle when starting the upward motion. Abs play a key role here.
I never realized I lean forward so much in the squat until I recorded it. I guess that’s a draw back of training alone.
I will definitely be adding in more ab work and I’ll focus on arching and keeping tight.
I’ll try and mix in a few different squat stances and see what difference it makes. In the past, any time I tried a wider stance I had trouble with depth so I kept using a narrower stance. I’ll mix my stance up more in the future and record it to see how low I am able to get.
As for the deadlift, I need to find a way to keep my hips down more.
Depth trouble in the squat shows your have muscle imbalances and weakesses. Spread the feet and spread the floor in a month or three you will be much stronger in the squat
I agree with sapsions advice on your squat. Overall, it’s not bad, but you do come forward a bit. Widening your stance a bit and really working on spreading the floor should help this. Really work on driving your traps into the bar and activating your glutes.
With your deadlift, you are starting with very high hips, which in itself may not be a bad thing for you, but your hips are also rising faster than your shoulders. This can also be caused by a lack of glute activation. Some tips to help this are again to concentrate on spreading the floor. You probably don’t want to widen your stance, but pointing your toes outwards can have a similar effect. You can also concentrate on pulling back as you pull up. Some light weight, slow reps can help reinforce this movement. Really work on driving with your heels, to the point where your toes may even come off the ground. Make sure that you are fully contracting your hips at the top, and concentrate on driving them forward. Hump the bar. You may also want to throw in some sumo deadlifts too, as they will help reinforce the feeling of using your glutes.
One more thing, go buy yourself another set of 45’s.
Yeah…not quite deep enough. With that narrow of stance you are not going to want to sit back that far. Think more about sitting between your legs. If you consciously spread your knees out to the side this should almost come naturally. The slight rounding of the upper back is result of you not getting your elbows under bar. Rotate them forward as you descend and really force them to stay there on the way up.
DL - I am pretty sure that lower back rounding can remedied by simply pulling more air into your stomach and pushing out on them hard.
For both of them…you probably have weak abs, but I think it is more the case that you are not utilizing the ab strength you have. Focus on suck as much air into your stomach as possible and make yourself look pregnant.
those lifts looked easy for you. If you just concentrate more on your form, esp your lumbar curve and core tension, you will rip a ton more of the rack next time you test.
Maybe pop the bar a bit (just a bit) higher on your back to allow yourself to get lower and support more weightwith your legs as opposed to your back/abs.
With the DL keep those shoulder blades tuckedand the back straight. Also lift hard with your hips as in “thrust” them forward to make the lift.
I recon with a couple changes in technique you can do way more.
I haven’t read all the comments, but I do have some observations;
-It looks like you’ve relatively long legs compared to your torso? If this is the case then you’re probably gonna end up with more of a forward lean when squatting, and have to start with your hips higher when pulling (but this is not an excuse to not work your form hard!)
-Depth, as mentioned is a tad high, but not by much I’d say.
-It looked like you could do your PR for 3-5 reps there. Fairly comfortable I’d say
-Your pull off the floor was soft. Instead of getting a tight starting position and really leading back with your head and chest you rounded out in your lower back. It’s probably the reason why the lockout was hard too.
Overall they looked pretty good. Just keep hammering away and work your form on every set and ever rep. There’s loads more to come from you real soon by the looks of things.
On your squats your bar position is too low and you initiate the movement with your chest collapsed. You are also very soft in the hips at the start and end of the lift.
Your rack height looks a little high, too. Set your upper body, get tight, stand up with the weight and let it settle before you step back. You are rushing your set up and walk out.
Moving your stance out will NOT make it easier to get depth and will likely create other problems as I suspect your hips aren’t very strong.
Your pull was basically a stiff leg. You use almost no leg drive at all. Your chest is collapsed on this lift, as well and you pull from the front of your foot.
I would work some deep front squats to help your flexibility and total leg strength and work on body position.
Like others have said, aim for a wider stance with your squat. Also, I would lower the pegs the bar is resting on in order to set yourself under the bar with more tension. Once you get up to heavier weight and a wider stance, you will be struggling to rack the weight after the squat at the current height.
As for the deadlift? Don’t ask me, mine sucks.
Good job and keep up the hard work. You asked for help so that means you are doing something right. I look forward to seeing your progress.
You never lock your hips. Squeeze your ass. You want to start with the most upright position possible. If you are soft in the hips you are basically leaning before you even start the lift.
