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

[icecold]

Form check guys?

I don't reckon depth is quite there yet, no reason why not these felt pretty easy.

Also ignore the gay wee dance and the odd socks

Really pretty good.

I don't like your core control at all though. Big lumbar extension on set up, which suggests that you won't be bracing effectively during the set. Unsurprisingly, because your squat style is quite folded over (which I'd look to correct tbh, more knees forward and more uprightness without over extending your lumbar), when you approach depth your posterior chain tugs on your slack core.

Learn to hip hinge and brace properly (vids under deadlifting in OP), and try to stay more upright in your torso.

 

[icecold]

DL form work from today.

DL form (170,190,210)

The 220 wouldn't open in movie maker so separate video.

Better, looks to be settling in.

Looks like the weak link is going to end up being your anterior core, funnily enough.

 

[icecold]

Deep breath......

Hey guys. Going to the gym should be fun, but at the moment it's just really depressing because I feel like I'm doing it wrong and my lifts have plateaued at less than half my bodyweight No gainz

Here's my bench press:

• You absolutely must develop some tension in your upper back. Your scaps shoulder be pinched throughout and your lats engaged
• Reps need to be completed properly. None of this soft lock out business, lock out firmly with your elbows while making sure you don't lose back tension. There should be a slight pause between reps, and before you rack the back.
• More intensity. You should look slightly more aggressive than when you're taking your rabbit for a walk
• Watch the videos in the OP

Overhead Press:

• Elbows under the bar
• Slight scapula pinch needed
• Active glutes and abs

Deadlift:

D:

• WATCH THE VIDEOS IN THE OP!
• Each rep needs a definite set up, which will result in you having a nice flat back, straight arms (!!!!!!!), and a fully braced core (lats, abs, glutes)

And finally my squat. As some of you may know, I destroyed my left hip flexor squatting 20kg, so something must be wrong. I noticed today that when I try to squat, my left foot seems to lift up off the ground and wants to rotate further outward. The only way to stop this from happening is to adopt a really wide stance and point my left foot towards 10 o'clock. Does this indicate poor hip mobility? Also looking at my squat video, it looks like I have some anterior pelvic tilt?

So, can anyone help if they see I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks very much gents

• Your stance seems to be narrow, possible too narrow
• Your ankle flexibility is very poor, you should be getting your knees further forward without collapsing your ankles
• Nothing going on in your core
• Can't tell you much else because of the angle and the fact that it's unloaded
• Watch/read the relevant OP stuff

Honestly, I'm not convinced you've watched any of the videos in the OP. I told you to do this bloody ages ago! You have to actually want to learn enough to put the effort in bud, otherwise you're wasting your time.

 

[icecold]

posting the 160 set of deadlifts if anyone looking wants to comment on form etc. This actually felt bad, but doesnt look to bad to my eyes. The next set felt a lot more stable after taking trainers off, didnt vid that though.

You have strong "I don't know what my lower back is doing, so I'll just use my quads" syndrome. I may need to think of a better name.

Notice how your lumbar isn't nice and flat, and how you kind of do a double knee bend/shift your weight shifts forwards slightly. Learn how to hip hinge and brace properly (videos in OP), and keep the weight on your heels. You could try some light sets (barefoot! Trainers are making this a lot worse) with your toes lifted.

Also do glute and hamstring activation work.

 

[icecold]

What exactly is he wrong on? I've never seen anything bad about his from videos.

That's because most people on the internet are idiots.

It isn't worth my time to break it down (I think I've posted about it before), but he is hilariously wrong on many things.

He does coach some things well, but people shouldn't have to filter out the **** to get to the good stuff.

 

[icecold]

I've done my lumber in with rushed deads (I've learned the hard way), and now I have to sit out of squats, deads and BOR whilst doing SL5x5.

Anything I can do to replace these for a while until my back has had decent time to heal?

I thought it was better, until I bailed at the bottom of a squat when I felt a twinge - too late, I was in agony for another two days

Going to give it at least a week, and I'm currently thinking goblet squats or BSS so I can do squats without back movement. Single dumbell rows over a bench to replace BOR?

BSS and DB work is the way forward here. But work on your core control/hip hinge too.

Plank form. Topless to help see what's going on.

Spoiler

So first thing I noticed is my head position and upper back. A few seconds in I remember to active the scaps so that's why I drop a little lower. A little movement as I try to control breathing with full core pressure.

Rollout form.

Spoiler

Was tricky on carpet, took a little effort to get it moving. LOL @ the upper back position, all dat bench tightness.

Plank good.

Roll outs fine, but make sure you start and finish with your hips further back, and initiate the movement from your hips with more PPT.

 

[icecold]

Great exercise

 

[icecold]

Is your PT suggesting that you don't actually make contact with your chest?

Although you definitely.shouldn't bounce it, the bar should touch your chest. Try doing a powerlifting style pause and tell me it takes the tension off your pecs


Edit: lol

 

[icecold]

Good video of YTW?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPPx0-_shFA

Yeah pretty good.

I like these:

Y - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owOtS66Omxw
T - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssYqvTaKQZM
W - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ8X5dMzHq4
L - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNG7TxXnO0k

 

[icecold]

I still like it more. Much, much, smoother force curve.

I recently looked back over some of my pre snap deadlift videos, and it turns out that my hips are now noticeably lower. Kind of makes sense as a compensation, but it's time to play around with loading my hammies harder now that it SHOULD be fully healed (can be 6 months though ).

 

[icecold]

I found this vid made a huge difference to my squat after a single session. <3 Cali Strength.

Very cool!

There is another really good bracing video somewhere...

 

[icecold]

Weakness is anterior core + not spent much time lifting this way?

Yeah pretty much.

You would have hit the same weakness/limitation eventually with your previous style, but attacking it with more balance is just more... betterer I have a feeling you would have added 5-10kg more fairly quickly and then hit a wall, and this would have been exactly where your speed dropped. Your force curve was so wobbly (technical term ) that it relied on speed from certain portions to get you through others. This is much better, in that regular deadlift training hits your weakness more directly.

 

[icecold]

LiE, I'm not sure what I'd recommend. 5x5 might well rape you if you're using a decent weight, and there is no reason for you not to. Whatever you do, keep it simple initially so you can monitor what's working.


Maxeh, nice! If you can get 3-4" more depth and keep it looking like that then you'll be golden. I can't see what your knees are doing from that angle though. Delvis is kind of right in that you need to finish the rep with a strong lock out (train fast be fast), but your movement does use your glutes reasonably well.

 

[icecold]

^
(This is why we want to see what happens at depth Some loss of upper back tightness, but it might not be important.)

 

[icecold]

Yep, valid question.

It's pretty much as simple as the fact that he has a reasonably good hip hinge, and sits into posterior chain tension effectively. To know 100% I'd need to see a video from the back, as that would show his knee/glute med. control.

A strong lockout isn't just about glutes, and sometimes over doing the qlute squeeze can send things squiffy (another technical term). I've had guys in my gym fall foul of this, and it's something that I've seen Syla5 do on occasion (although his is also a very handsome man).

 

[icecold]

dodgy lockouts my Saturday night is now incomplete.

But you're also a handsome man!

It isn't all the time, but I think I mentioned when I saw it on a video in the last few weeks. You did seem to mostly correct it too, but it seems to be a thing that if you're prone to it you have to focus hard on not doing it when going for speed.

I'm feeling an interesting thing right now. Two fold, both related to knees and dead lift:
When I set up with the mob wod guide, I find that as I hinge my hips back I think I'm getting some hyper extension in my knees.
Then, I have the same issue when tensing my glutes during the lift. It feels like my end position locked out I may be hyper extending.
Any advice?

kd

Is that knees in both cases?

If it is, remember to keep your quads active. Also, a hip hinge should have some external rotation in the femurs and at least a slight bend in the knee.

Loaded hyperextension of the knee will not be good, so be careful bro!

 

[icecold]

RE the squat:

Do it slower.

Get your knees out more.

Sit between your ankles.

 

[icecold]

Yeah, you basically need to do this every day. I have a lot of respect for the fact that you're trying, so well done for that

There are small signs of improvement in your squat, but it obviously isn't ideal yet. Stretch your adductors, glutes and hamstrings as well your ankles. Look into the mwod squat warm up too, it's a nice way of opening your hips.

Get a video from behind too, I can't see if your knees are wide enough.

Trim your videos too

 

[icecold]

Adductor stretches are listed here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=21560529&postcount=248

...but doing some quick lateral lunges (keep your feet parallel and stationary in a wide stance and squat down over either foot) is good too.

Yeah, that's the warm up video I'd recommend.

 

[icecold]

That is quite wide, but I'm not sure if narrower would help or not. Try it, but you're torso:leg length ratio is going to need either a slightly wider than normal stance or lots of ankle flexion.

Keep practising, and keep trying to make it smooth.

Are you doing any adductor stretches yet? They are more important to you than t-spine mobilisation.