Prob not going to be able to get any vids until march or so. Had my brother do the vid, and he’s headed back to school saturday. I don’t have a camera, no workout partners, etc. Who knows, I’ll see what comes up. Not sure how to get my hips much lower though, I feel like if I just drop them lower where they’re “supposed” to be, then I’ll just be tugging on the bar until my hips rise to that top position that I feel stronger in.
Is it possible that my hips are a little lower when my feet are further back like they normally are?
This might be of some help. Credit goes to Rippetoe
The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time
Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot â?? the whole foot, not the mid-instep.
Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.
Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.
Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a “wave” of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS â?? LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.
Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem “shorter” this way.
I’ve never pulled a deadlift with the bar in contact with my shins/thighs the whole time. The bar slides up my thighs, but not my shins. I know who Rippetoe is, and know he knows what he’s talking about, but I don’t think the same technique can be applied to everyone. Even just looking at that video, where my shins are more than an inch from the bar, and my shoulder blades are still too far over the bar, I don’t see how I could actually move my shins closer, while also bringing my shoulder blades back.
Arch the hell out of your back(think big chest). I think about leaning as far back while pushing my shoulders as far back too. And as soon as the bar starts going up, your shins should be in contact. If you do it right and the weight is heavy and you don’t have long pants for knee socks there’s a good chance you’ll end up with pretty raw shins afterwards.
One thing I noticed about your form is that you get your hips low enough, but as soon as you start to pull they shoot up before the bar does. Don’t let your hips rise faster than your shoulders.
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
Omg… my back is aching just looking at that. You practically stiff leg dl’d that weight. Work on your leg drive from the bottom. Make sure you pull the slack out of the bar before you incorporate your legs.[/quote]
Not that I know how to judge form but this was my first thought too. What are your squat numbers at the moment? You can also try getting a video of your next DL at 405/455 or so to compare your form. When doing reps I notice form starts to change near the end where I am using less leg drive, probably same problem as you.
Going to that seminar in Philly next weekend too, so maybe I can learn some stuff there. If anyone else is going, I’ll be wearing those black and red maryland shorts during lifting portion, and as you can see I’m bearded. Prob have that camo Syn Gates hat on too.
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
has anyone used 10x3 with 85% of the training max for assistance? i did it last night with back squats, and it felt goood[/quote]
Caveman, what rest periods would you use with this?
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
^^^^
I doubt you’ll be the weakest one. I always tell myself that no matter how weak I am there ALWAYS has to be somebody shittier. Same goes for being strong. Good luck at your meet!!
Deadlifted 230x5 today, I think that’s a PR, it was like 4 months ago I was happy with 200x4! Horrrahh [/quote]
Hey Spock, what do you weigh? being short do you sumo DL?
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
has anyone used 10x3 with 85% of the training max for assistance? i did it last night with back squats, and it felt goood[/quote]
Caveman, what rest periods would you use with this?[/quote]
i wanst timing them, but they felt pretty short. this last week i have been doing a set of squats/deadlifts then a set of dips, and while they weight felt ‘heavy’ while doing the set, after i racked it i felt nearly good to go again so…(shrugs) try and see
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
^^^^
I doubt you’ll be the weakest one. I always tell myself that no matter how weak I am there ALWAYS has to be somebody shittier. Same goes for being strong. Good luck at your meet!!
Deadlifted 230x5 today, I think that’s a PR, it was like 4 months ago I was happy with 200x4! Horrrahh [/quote]
Hey Spock, what do you weigh? being short do you sumo DL?[/quote]
I usually weigh around 140, pulled a 275 last cycle so hoping this time around I can get 280 so I can finally say I pulled 2x’s my body weight haha.
But no, I am much stronger conventional. I started out 5/3/1 doing sumo for a few cycles but I never felt very awesome doing it that way so I switched.
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
^^^^
I doubt you’ll be the weakest one. I always tell myself that no matter how weak I am there ALWAYS has to be somebody shittier. Same goes for being strong. Good luck at your meet!!
Deadlifted 230x5 today, I think that’s a PR, it was like 4 months ago I was happy with 200x4! Horrrahh [/quote]
Hey Spock, what do you weigh? being short do you sumo DL?[/quote]
I usually weigh around 140, pulled a 275 last cycle so hoping this time around I can get 280 so I can finally say I pulled 2x’s my body weight haha.
But no, I am much stronger conventional. I started out 5/3/1 doing sumo for a few cycles but I never felt very awesome doing it that way so I switched. [/quote]
So; Spock is on the road to awesomeness! Good lifting.
So I know Jim says not to do box squats with this program, but for about 6 or so cycles my squat kept getting worse and worse. I took a whole bunch of weight off to try and perfect my form but even if I was squatting with 95lbs or 135lbs my form was just as shitty. My form sucked even if I squatted with the bar. SO my trainer friend (who happens to be obsessed with box squats) nagged me to put them into my program and I finally broke down and did it. My squat days have never been so good! I used to good morning all of my squats but now I never do that and I went from being able to squat like 135lbs x’s a sloppy 4 to squatting 150lbs x7. BUT everytime I take away the box my form feels shitty again. Why is box squatting so easy?? I did a few singles after my as many reps as possible set and I had the nicest 165lb box squat of my whole life. I felt like I coulda easily thrown another 20lbs on there, but pretty sure if I had no box there I would have missed that lift.
So I know Jim says not to do box squats with this program, but for about 6 or so cycles my squat kept getting worse and worse. I took a whole bunch of weight off to try and perfect my form but even if I was squatting with 95lbs or 135lbs my form was just as shitty. My form sucked even if I squatted with the bar. SO my trainer friend (who happens to be obsessed with box squats) nagged me to put them into my program and I finally broke down and did it. My squat days have never been so good! I used to good morning all of my squats but now I never do that and I went from being able to squat like 135lbs x’s a sloppy 4 to squatting 150lbs x7. BUT everytime I take away the box my form feels shitty again. Why is box squatting so easy?? I did a few singles after my as many reps as possible set and I had the nicest 165lb box squat of my whole life. I felt like I coulda easily thrown another 20lbs on there, but pretty sure if I had no box there I would have missed that lift.
WHY CAn’T I JUST BOX SQUAT IN A MEET???[/quote]
A cue that keep me from GMing the weight is to try to pull the ends of the bar down towards my feet. This helps keep the hips from rising faster than the shoulders and keeps those elbows pointing down.
So I know Jim says not to do box squats with this program, but for about 6 or so cycles my squat kept getting worse and worse. I took a whole bunch of weight off to try and perfect my form but even if I was squatting with 95lbs or 135lbs my form was just as shitty. My form sucked even if I squatted with the bar. SO my trainer friend (who happens to be obsessed with box squats) nagged me to put them into my program and I finally broke down and did it. My squat days have never been so good! I used to good morning all of my squats but now I never do that and I went from being able to squat like 135lbs x’s a sloppy 4 to squatting 150lbs x7. BUT everytime I take away the box my form feels shitty again. Why is box squatting so easy?? I did a few singles after my as many reps as possible set and I had the nicest 165lb box squat of my whole life. I felt like I coulda easily thrown another 20lbs on there, but pretty sure if I had no box there I would have missed that lift.
WHY CAn’T I JUST BOX SQUAT IN A MEET???[/quote]
Are you doing 5 or 10lb increases for squat each cycle?
So I know Jim says not to do box squats with this program, but for about 6 or so cycles my squat kept getting worse and worse. I took a whole bunch of weight off to try and perfect my form but even if I was squatting with 95lbs or 135lbs my form was just as shitty. My form sucked even if I squatted with the bar. SO my trainer friend (who happens to be obsessed with box squats) nagged me to put them into my program and I finally broke down and did it. My squat days have never been so good! I used to good morning all of my squats but now I never do that and I went from being able to squat like 135lbs x’s a sloppy 4 to squatting 150lbs x7. BUT everytime I take away the box my form feels shitty again. Why is box squatting so easy?? I did a few singles after my as many reps as possible set and I had the nicest 165lb box squat of my whole life. I felt like I coulda easily thrown another 20lbs on there, but pretty sure if I had no box there I would have missed that lift.
WHY CAn’T I JUST BOX SQUAT IN A MEET???[/quote]
Are you doing 5 or 10lb increases for squat each cycle?[/quote]
well when I took a bunch of weight off I increased by 10lbs a cycle because I was impatient to get it back up there, but now I am doing 5lb increases for the most part. I usually see how I feel by the end of my cycle though. If my reps are quite high and it didn’t feel too difficult then I go for 10lbs.
Has anyone added a fifth day dedicated to weighted chins instead of adding them somewhere else? Not necesarily to load using 531 but does anyone see potential problems with this?
[quote]UFgator11 wrote:
^Not a 5th day, but I do the 50 reps of pullups (assistance on my OHP day) with 15 lbs hanging on a belt[/quote]
I’m also doing something similar to this. On OHP day I’ll do sets of 5-6 chins/pull-ups between each pressing movement. No added weight but I find it a good way to get 60-70 done in a session. I’ve been making steady progression on the OHP for the last 4 cycles so I’m sticking with it for now.
99.7% of the time I do sets of pull ups between my bench/military sets on both bench and military days. Sometimes I do them all bodyweight, starting with 10-12, eventually just getting 5’s. Sometimes I’ll start with first couple sets 5’s then move on to 5x5 with weight- last time was 35lb. It’s very rare that I don’t do pull ups on my upper body lift days, and once I start them I will not stop until vie done at least 50 reps in the workout (weighted days will be 25 bs/ 25 weighted), sometimes going up to as much as 70-80.
[quote]Malaka79 wrote:
Hey guys, just curious if any of you have used 5/3/1 loading for assistance exercises? And if so what were your results? [/quote]
I have used 5/3/1 for assistance and love it. I do it this way so I can track my strength progress twice and when I feel like shit or I’m sick, I’ll still hit the minimums on 1 assistance exercise.
I do:
Press 5/3/1
Deadlift 5/3/1 & Front Squat 5/3/1
Bench 5/3/1 & BB Row 5/3/1
Squat 5/3/1 & Hip Thrust 5/3/1
The front squats and hip thrust ABSOLUTELY help my other lifts and the BB Row is to make sure I get some balance, plus I love it. I also lowered my assistance maxes to 80% instead of the normal 90% to accommodate the increased load and to make sure my assistance gets more volume.
They’re all there for a reason - Front Squats to keep my chest up during pulls and to get some more time with a squat movement, BB Rows to build my back strength (I’d just do Kroc rows but the DBs in my gym only go to 100), and Hip Thrusts for posterior chain work.
I just use 5/3/1 so I’m always increasing my poundage on assists and don’t have to think about what I’m going to when I get to the gym.