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

[duvet77]

It's fairly subtle and this would be where the keen eye of Icecold and the like comes into it. I don't know an awful lot about squat mechanics myself.

I think its obscurred by his belt and it doesnt help the the video isnt totally side on, but look at the angle of his tshirt that is poking out under the belt to see if you can see a difference.

 

[duvet77]

or in photoshop trace a line down the profile of his back to see if you can spot the difference between each.

 

[Barks]

Now you mention it you can see the difference.

Guys I'd be hugely grateful if you could advise on my form here:

I'm just using an old BB I found in the garage, I'm trying to just practice and practice my form until it's correct. No doubt someone's going to tell me my back is rounding
I've taken my top off just so I can see what's going on with my back. It honestly looks good to me, perhaps I'm leaning forward too much, I'm not sure.

 

[Delvis]

I can see why everyone says you should push your chest out and keep a tight upper back now, it definitely would help in theory.

The left pic shows the butt more winked, look at the skin showing (ooh er)

Some videos show it more, you can see it here in one of my videos prior to my snappage: apparently that video doesn't work anymore....

 

[duvet77]

Now you mention it you can see the difference.

Guys I'd be hugely grateful if you could advise on my form here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZgereJ1nzM

Might be worth embedding the vid so it doesn't get missed.

 

[Barks]

Good point, any thoughts yourself mate?

If my lower back looks good there to others then I'll be happy. Preventing lower back injury is my primary concern at the minute.

 

[duvet77]

Good point, any thoughts yourself mate?
.

You don't want advice from me, I'm further up the page getting advice myself!

 

[mrthingyx]

Now you mention it you can see the difference.

Guys I'd be hugely grateful if you could advise on my form here:

I'm just using an old BB I found in the garage, I'm trying to just practice and practice my form until it's correct. No doubt someone's going to tell me my back is rounding
I've taken my top off just so I can see what's going on with my back. It honestly looks good to me, perhaps I'm leaning forward too much, I'm not sure.

Quick and dirty reply...

Your lumbar rounds as you go down and then extends as you come up = more ab bracing, better hip external rotation, more knees out.

 

[Barks]

Cheers pal.

Is the technique really poor and going to cause me injuries - or just a case of tweaking/improving a few things?

No matter what I do I just cannot stop the lumbar rounding. When you say 'more knees out' do you mean they should be further forward over the bar?

 

[Delvis]

No, he means push your knees out, doing so will open up your hips more and allow you to drop in between your feet more hopefully giving you less rounding.

What are you doing to help battle the rounding? What stretches?

 

[mrthingyx]

As Delvis hints, it is very difficult to know what you're doing to prevent lumbar rounding, because we can see it is not quite there.

I am guessing you are lacking something (hip rotation, hamstring stretchiness, ab tightness) because the problem is occurring: I can also see your back is tight because of the extension that happens on the way up (this part is good, don't worry!). The question is making it work together.

One of Eric Cressey's disciples, Tony Gentilcore, came up with an interesting test for lumbar tightness, so google his name and 'squatting' or something and film the exercises...

 

[Delvis]

http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/q-a-fixing-the-tuck-under-when-squatting-part-ii/

 

[Barks]

No, he means push your knees out, doing so will open up your hips more and allow you to drop in between your feet more hopefully giving you less rounding.

What are you doing to help battle the rounding? What stretches?

Here's a full log from my phone. I don't type it out every time, it's just a template for the cut I'm on (hence decreased overall volume)

9:37am
BCAA + Fasted + Espresso

Deadlifts
{30x5, 50x5}
70x5
75x5
75x5
80x5
85x5

10:03 Fin DL

Chin Ups BW Only, reps
Slow, good form, full arm extension on descent
x8
x6
x5
(NEVER train these to failure and always have 1-2 reps left in the tank if I had to, same as deadlifts tbh)

Hip abductors

Stretches
Hams (rear thigh)
Buttocks
Groin and thigh adductors

Floor Back Extensions x2,12
Glute Bridges x2,12
Plank 90s, 60s

Fin: 10:35am

 

[Deception]

90s plank? Not doing it right!

 

[Delvis]

Hip abductors

Stretches
Hams (rear thigh)
Buttocks
Groin and thigh adductors

And have these stretches helped at all? Get a camera, film yourself doing a BW squat, then do some hamstring stretches and film yourself etc etc, see what makes a difference.

Also, read the entire article I posted: http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/q-a-fixing-the-tuck-under-when-squatting-part-ii/ (Thanks to Mrthingyx I believe actually?) Read all of it, it could also be a core issue for instance, ie the part where it starts the paragraph at "How can you tell if it’s an anterior core issue? " - However, read it all as it will help.

EDIT: it could be a number of things actually, just you have to start somewhere...Knees out could help straight away

 

[Barks]

I'll have a good read of that tonight mate. I think the stretches are helping, I'm definitely making improvement I just find it hard to consider my own technique. This video is from today, for example, and in my eyes that looks generally OK. I haven't hurt my lower back or anything else from doing them like that.

All I can tell is my hips are still rising faster than my shoulders.

I've only just started, unfortunately, taking stretching etc seriously but I'll do that set you quoted 3 times a week at the end of my workouts.

The crucial thing for me is whether or not I'm causing any serious damage right now. If that's the case I need to stop lifting heavy and just work on my flexibility.

 

[BennyC]

That looks tidy but not optimal.

Whilst you need to be conscious of damage incorrectly performed deadlifts can do to your back don't become paranoid. Provided you keep a neutral spine and don't round at any point in the lift you should stay injury free.

As you pointed out your hips rise before your shoulders. IMO you're sat too deep with no real tension through your hamstrings pushing your hips further back will load these up nicely and help with hip hinge. Make sure you take the flex out of the bar too before you lift.

Delvis has a good hip hinge take a look at his set up. Also not to blow my own trumpet but these might indicate hip hinge and also a decent staring position (from my log).

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=24793445&postcount=51

Edit: I meant to say learning to Hip Hinge by RDL'ing (Romanian Deadlift) is the easiest way to learn. if you focus on driving the hips forward you will move in an entirely different way and with enough force they will 'pop' through and hinge nicely.

 

[Barks]

EDIT: Please see my next post, I confused myself with whose videos I was watching!

Delvis' videos are really helpful, in fact the difference between the way our hips move is remarkable. My hips rise and then move forward in an inverted 'L' shape. Delvis' hips basically just thrust forward. This may sound odd but would imagining 'humping' the bar help? I'm assuming Delvis' starting position is spot on and not excessive forward lean?

Thanks for your feedback mate.

 

[Delvis]

Mine isn't perfect by any means, glad the videos help though

Yes, bar humping is actually touted quite a bit on here, it also helps bring the glutes in to play I find, not been able to do it as much recently due to the weight but I'll get there! Starting position wise, some say it's too high but it seems to be what works for me currently...If you look at my latest deadlift video and forward it to the last rep where I bail, you can see that my shoulders are far too forward over the bar which causes a pendulum effect, hence the bail

Regarding the hip movement, when you start the lift you want to imagine your hips and everything above it moves together, it's hard to explain...Mrthingyx described it best to me as a 'first pull' movement, hopefully he can chip in more. As soon as you start to move the bar by pushing down, you want to be moving your hips and chest (and all in between) at the same time, if you don't you get hip rise, which can lead to all kinds of messy

 

[Barks]

@Benny C I owe you an apology, for some reason I thought the videos in your link were Delvis'. The previous post refers to the videos in the link you posted.

Delvis I'll have a look through your stuff now. Sorry for the confusion chaps.

Edit: I echo my earlier comments. Whatever you two are both doing with your hips I am not. Looks like I'm going to have to do some work on cracking that hip hinge mechanism. I think I'm going to drop my squats for now, substitute them with the leg press and try and perfect my DL form. Do you think I'll be OK doing them every 4 days or is that going to be too much on a cut?

Many thanks to both of you though the videos are an excellent reference point