Form Critique...

[sleepingdog]

You Tube

You Tube

Fully aware that my hips are way too high once the pull starts, but this is happening despite what my brain is telling my legs to do. BtB has already got me talked into rackpull/powershrug combo. Anyone else see anything I can do to fix this? Be brutal, be honest. Going easy on me isn't gonna help me pull more. If something looks weak, hit me with it.

[Cutty]

Squat looks good, try to sit back a little more, toes seem to be going over feet a lot which is why when you start coming back up your hips rock back and you start doing a good morning.

I would try a little wider on stance, making sure to keep the knees tracking your feet. You're staying pretty tight, I think with wider stance and point feet out a little bit it will help a lot.


For Bench, your form itself isn't bad, I would recommend trying to tuck your shoulder blades back on the bench and make an arch like someone smacked you in the middle of the back (like touching your elbows together), try to stay tighter, you can see when you bench your body goes up and down on the bench, use your legs to keep yourself tight on the bench. You should feel pressure on your traps and back when you bench. Maybe try to keep blows tucked in a little bit more, it's hard to see from this angle but they look a little flared out.

Just saw the second video, the way you tucked shoulder blades back was good, do that, keep legs tighter. Overall it looks great.

I'm def. not a pro so not trying to put you down, just some tips I've picked up along the way

[Cutty]

Sd, def. have some lower back rounding, I think with the power shrugs you will get a better grasp on it. The power shrugs should help you from raising your hips and locking legs and having to SDL the rest of it too.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Tomsen

Hey Guys!

Today I had the chance to record my benching and squating again.

Squats...improved but your knees still look like they are facing forward. This will limit your ability to hit depth, and can lead to anterior chain dominant squats which can contribute/lead to knee injuries/issues.

You want your toes pointed out about 20-30 degrees and your knee angle to follow your toe angle, something like this:



Bench Press...Improved. Right now you need to work on setting up with a tight back. Imagine you're trying to squeeze your lats together and hold something between them. Next, arch your lower back a little, and think about driving your hips towards your lats. This will help build a more stable benching platform.

Good work. Nice improvements.

[Tomsen]

Thank's for your advice Cutty and BTB! I will try to work on these points, but I'm happy that I made some progress in my form.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by sleepingdog

Be brutal, be honest.

You rang!?!

Right look at your back angle in this screenshot I made for you:



First your head's pointing up, then your upper back flattens out, then it rounds, and then it's back down. You've got two points there where you're bent way out of shape. You are going to hurt yourself like that and even worse... your progress might stagnate.

Fixes

1) Get your head down. Look at the floor a little infront of you. This will eliminate that first spinal bend.

2) Drop your hips, you're going to round your back anyway so why not use it to your advantage from the start? Drop your hips and start with a rounded upper back, this will allow you to start with your knees forward and your quads in a position where they can help get the bar off the floor. Brace your abs and hold it.

3) Begin the lift by holding the same back angle and driving from your legs. Then straight out.

4) Get a new camera man.

[sleepingdog]

Fazc, first I laughed my ass off, but them I put in my serious face. Thank you for taking the time to give a detailed critique. I'll address each point in order.

1 I never really tried anything with head position for DL. I'll be looking to get my upper spine straight next time now.

2 Should I allow the rounding and just compensate, or just fix the rounding? Some of the things you mention seem a little counter-intuitive. Will training knees forward now hold me back later? Bracing abs might be a weak point, I'm aware that my abs are not as strong as I'd like.

3 Hoping this comes with the the other items.

4 No doubt! This was one of the better ones!

[Cutty]

SD, before you take a pull, inhale as much air into your belly and just hold it and try to flex abs, it makes a difference.

I always keep my head neutral, some say look up but mine is better neutral.

I don't drop my hips so much that my quads get too much activation (think squat).

Just drop the weight, I'll try to do a couple videos of what I do to see if it helps. I'll have to record it in gym and voice overlay it but I'll try it out and see if I can help. I'm not flexible so this is going to have somewhat of the same problems you may have.

Def. keep the upper back rounded, there's a technique to that, I use personally. I usually am starting to "pull" in a sense when I go to drop hips down a little bit, basically like a stretch reflex. Keep in touch I'll try to post some helpful vids.

[Creechur]

Trying to take a break from sumo deadlifting for a while. It's been forever since I lifted conventional, and my form has always sucked with that discipline. Here's two views of two sets of 445. Instead of sinking my butt really far and depending solely on leg drive, I really tried to stop my hips where I felt the greatest leverage. Unfortunately, with hexagonal plates this sometimes resulted in the bar not touching my shins . Any advice welcome!

Conventional Deads - YouTube

Conventional Deads - YouTube

[Cutty]

@Cheech: Looks good, I am going to the gym soon I'm going to try to make a video of some form help, some cues that help me. I'll have to do a voiceover later but if I can demonstrate it right in the video, I know a part that will help you. Extremely strong pulls though man.