***Gym Exercise Guide, and Form Discussion/Feedback***

icecold said:
You are hugely quad dominant Delvis! It's not an injury risk or anything, but you need to learn to hip hinge and load your hamstrings properly. This is kind of the same thing as sticking your bum back, but a good hip hinge specifically describes the relationship between your hips, femurs and spine.

Lumbar stability looks good.

Are your knee maintaining a good position? A problem you might be having (due to not sticking your bum back enough) is that you're loading your ankle massively at the bottom. This is why you think you need more ankle range, when in reality your knees are already coming quite far forward.

What to stretch? It's STILL your hamstrings :p
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Believe me, stretch my Hamstrings every morning mate and roll them, and every workout they get stretched (so 4 times a week, plus every morning, and sometimes evenings)

Well, at least my Lumbar stability is better (I keep watching the video from earlier in the year, and ouch :()

My kness stay 'out' yes, they don't drop in loads. Ah, the ankle thing might make sense then, as my knees do go forward as you say...

I basically need to understand the following:

This is kind of the same thing as sticking your bum back, but a good hip hinge specifically describes the relationship between your hips, femurs and spine.
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Hip hinging :( So is this NOt the same as tilting my pelvis? =/ I don;t really want to do that :p
 
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I mean that you can stick your bum out and still get the movement wrong, but a good hip hinge means good hip position, good hamstring loading and spinal stability.
 
icecold said:
I mean that you can stick your bum out and still get the movement wrong, but a good hip hinge means good hip position, good hamstring loading and spinal stability.
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Well yes. But it's something I need to try. Just can't get them right it seems

I just really don't like Back Squats. Much prefer the upright positions (goblet / front / lunges etc)
 
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Are you high or low bar squatting btw? I can't tell from the vids, but they feel VERY different to do - as they should since a couple of inches bar position makes for a very different lift in terms of body position/C.O.G and what gets worked:

hi-vs-lo-bar-back-squat.jpg
 
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Well, from what I've read, low bar/powerlifter style often needs a bit of hands on teaching to really get down but of the two back squats it's more beneficial for the glutes/hams (and involves the posterior chain in more of the lift) and it's easier to push more weight and therefore gain more strength.

High bar/Oly style is easier to pick up, but obviously is more of a quad dominant lift (the other bits get activated more if you're arse-to-grassing/doing very deep) but it's less kind on the back if you're doing it wrong.

Front squats are even more quad dominant and the grip can be fun to learn for some people.

From what I've read the Oly-style squats (front and high bar) benefit from proper Oly shoes if you're squatting deep, where as low bar is better suited for flat shoes.

I'd probably get help getting your low bar squat down tbh.

I have trouble low bar squatting because I've been slouching at a desk for years which has caused some shoulder mobility problems so I've been high bar squatting for my first month and a bit of taking up lifting. Eventually I'd like to do low bar most of the time, with front squats as a secondary exercise.
 
Hence the videos mate ;)

I was going to get people to check it out at the last meet, but I was training back so never got around to it. It's no biggy, I've not been back squatting for 2+ months now, just been doing bulgarian split squats, lunges and goblets. Legs are still there.

I'd class my squats as low bar, but I have tight hamstrings so its hard to get the correct movement for myself. Previously my butt was tucking horrifically, however if I stick my butt 'out' my form just goes to pot. I also seem to keep the bar over my toes it would seem, hence the quad dominance.

No idea, I'll try again next week, but can't see how I'll ever be good with them, they just don't work for me.
 
icecold said:
...because you can't hip hinge properly and load your hamstrings without compromising your lumbar position.
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Right................???? :p

Not everyone can do every exercise sadly. I've scrapped flat bb bench now, purely because it aggravates my shoulder too much, it's not worth the risk to me currently.

Deception said:
So would stretching the hamstrings purely help with this or is there a few more that need stretching along with it?
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

As I've said, I'm hammering my hamstrings with a foam roller each morning, I'm stretching them by pushing in to a band, I'm keeping my leg upright for periods of time using the band. What else would you have me doing? :)

Also, do you do personal sessions? Or is this just a hobby? :p
 
Delvis said:
Hm, in a way I guess you are right? I can't appear to do low bar back squat, so should probably scrap it :o
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Delvis said:
Right................???? :p

Not everyone can do every exercise sadly.
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gonna be brutal here, but both of those comments are just excuses.

From the video you are clearly trying to remain as upright as possible, this is compromising your lumbar region when you get to the bottom of the lift because of the low bar position on your back.

Hip hingeing is easy to learn, you can deadlift with resonable form and you hip hinge while deadlifting so its just gumpf that you cant hip hinge.

You need to keep in your head that your back must be straight, on your previous video i pointed out where you were already compromising your lift before starting the movement. In this video your are doing the same but not until you are 3/4 of the way in to the hole. This is an improvement but continuing to add weight could bring back a return of your back issues.

As ice has said you need to stick your butt out more when doing low bar squat, it is hard to learn without direct tuition but i am sure you can pick it up.

The alternative is to highbar squat, as it is most likely that your back will not become compromised due to the bar position and you trying fight the position your body natually wants to be in.
 
Syla5 said:
gonna be brutal here, but both of those comments are just excuses.

From the video you are clearly trying to remain as upright as possible, this is compromising your lumbar region when you get to the bottom of the lift because of the low bar position on your back.

Hip hingeing is easy to learn, you can deadlift with resonable form and you hip hinge while deadlifting so its just gumpf that you cant hip hinge.

You need to keep in your head that your back must be straight, on your previous video i pointed out where you were already compromising your lift before starting the movement. In this video your are doing the same but not until you are 3/4 of the way in to the hole. This is an improvement but continuing to add weight could bring back a return of your back issues.

As ice has said you need to stick your butt out more when doing low bar squat, it is hard to learn without direct tuition but i am sure you can pick it up.

The alternative is to highbar squat, as it is most likely that your back will not become compromised due to the bar position and you trying fight the position your body natually wants to be in.
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Mate, be brutal as you want!!! :D

I'm not trying to remain upright, it's just how that set went, I was told not to tilt my hips, so I didn't and that's what happened :) but saying it's compromising my lumbar position what do you mean? My lower back isn't bending? Or atleast not half as much as shown here

Right okay, I can see what you mean now then with the hip hinging. I'm guessing it's just due to the extra weight on my back that makes me keep more upright (through fear of breaking again no doubt) I find that if I was to hi hinge as you say with the weight on my back, my bum will tuck, it's something I will have to try and just compare videos of different motions. What I'm saying is, I may be able to hip hinge on a deadlift, but I can't get it right on a squat for whatever reason.

In this video your are doing the same but not until you are 3/4 of the way in to the hole. This is an improvement but continuing to add weight could bring back a return of your back issues.
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This bit confuses me, as my hips are now neutral no? Compared to the previous video? And they don't tuck round any further on the way down as I don;t allow them to due to the upright position? :) Just need to get things in my head straight

Aye, I could high bar squat yes, which is what I've said with regards to preferring squats that favour the upright position more (goblets, front squats) I just find them a lot easier, and a lot less hassle to perform.

I'll video some more later if I can, otherwise it won't be till Monday now unless I use the bar I have at home. Apologies if any of the above comes across as aggressive :p I just like to understand what is happening.
 
sigma said:
Here is what I believe to be a handy video on the hip hinge:

http://vimeo.com/40105410

Not quite sure what she's on about when she says keep your eyes forward but the rest of the hip/glute mechanics makes it a bit clearer for me now. I can see what I do wrong when I deadlift.
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Thanks mate.

I can do the movement by itself fine I believe. It's when I try and do it with a bar on my back, or when my shoulders/arms are up in that position (as if im holding the bar on my back)

EDIT:

This was done last night:

I'll try again later if I can - As that's kinda terrible

P.S:
Would something like this help at all?
http://youtu.be/JU7Lqw1mmu8
 
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Delvis said:
Also, do you do personal sessions? Or is this just a hobby? :p
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Funny you should mention that, it's something I'm contemplating setting up.

If you can make the trip to Oxford at some point I'd be more than happy give you a session. Email in trust.


There are lots of other exercises we can do to coach the hip hinge and then integrate it properly with the squat, but it's quite technical. That video of you hip hinging is ok, but not perfect.

Ideally, you'd do a progression something like:

RDL with bar
Single leg RDL
Weighted single leg RDL
Good morning with a light bar (broom stick handle etc.)

Along with various bracing exercises, and stretching anything that needs stretching on the way (keeping our squatting end goal in mind).

That K-Star stretch you posted might be useful overall (and I'd certainly recommend you try it), but it won't directly help what I'm talking about.

The basic mechanical problem that you're teaching your body to overcome is how to maintain spinal stability when pushing into hamstring end range. There is a huge mental component to this, and yet it isn't as simple as "just sort it out".
 
icecold said:
Funny you should mention that, it's something I'm contemplating setting up.

If you can make the trip to Oxford at some point I'd be more than happy give you a session. Email in trust.


There are lots of other exercises we can do to coach the hip hinge and then integrate it properly with the squat, but it's quite technical. That video of you hip hinging is ok, but not perfect.

Ideally, you'd do a progression something like:

RDL with bar
Single leg RDL
Weighted single leg RDL
Good morning with a light bar (broom stick handle etc.)

Along with various bracing exercises, and stretching anything that needs stretching on the way (keeping our squatting end goal in mind).

That K-Star stretch you posted might be useful overall (and I'd certainly recommend you try it), but it won't directly help what I'm talking about.

The basic mechanical problem that you're teaching your body to overcome is how to maintain spinal stability when pushing into hamstring end range. There is a huge mental component to this, and yet it isn't as simple as "just sort it out".
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, i'll work on it all :) I just want to sort my back out, or whatever it knackered, sitting here I can feel it niggling away :o

I'll be honest, I'd quite happily make the trip one weekend / evening or something. I'll email you in a sec, thank you.
 
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