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

The gym was empty so i thought i would record some of my form for you. I need your help bros.

Squats:


RDLs


I think the ROM is killing me here, slowly getting further down on the last set. Think i need to work on stretching and buy some of the muscle rollie thingies?

BB Rows


Trying to get my back as straight as possible. Im resting on weights here as there abit narrower in diameter, being longs a curse im finding. Trying my best for them not to roll about :D
 
The two stand out problems I can see are spine position related.

You're not doing a great job of keeping your back straight or generally avoiding spinal movement. When you squat you shunt your hips back by going into lumbar extension rather than a lovely hip hinge, and then your tight hips yank your spine into flexion. Having one of these issues is bad, having both is worse. Imagine all of the front to back and back to front squashing that you're putting your disks through, and smashing into extension like that means you're probably going bone on bone (huehuehue).

Solution: Think about spreading the floor with your feet and getting more external rotation in your legs while keeping your back straight at all times. This will give you more glute activation which will actually help unload your lumbar.

Your RDLs are kind of just poor partial deadlifts. You aren't keeping your knees back and your back isn't flat, which is causing you to over extend at lockout because otherwise you don't think the bar is in front of your shoulders. In reality, your hips and knees aren't fully locked out still. You also seem to be aiming for that glorious hip pop at the top. I keep trying to hammer this point home, but I totally understand people's misconception here...:

DO NOT AIM FOR A BIG HIGH SPEED LOCKOUT AT THE TOP OF A DEADLIFT OR SIMILAR EXERCISE.

Wtf, right? The problem is that the vast majority of people do not perform these movements with a flat back. Aiming to clatter the bar with your hip thrust with a bent back can seriously mess up the whole movement pattern and end up being a huge stumbling block to getting a fluid and strong movement.

What you should be aiming for, in order of priority:

1) A flat back

2) A braced core

3) Hip extension using the hamstrings and glutes

4) Keep your weight slightly to the rear of your mid foot (lifting the toes can be a useful learning cue, but a poor way to lift in general)

Those the important things for getting the right training effect (posterior chain activation and spine neutrality prioritisation). Smashing the bar with your hips is a product of getting that stuff right, and you can't get that stuff right by aiming for hip pop first. Make sense?

Your pendlay rows would also benefit from a better spinal position, but you need to think about your shoulders too. You are actually internally rotating and dumping your shoulders forward and up (towards your head) at the top. You want slight thoracic (upper back) extension, while keeping your head and lumbar neutral, and you need to keep your shoulders neutral (not quite pinned back) and squeezed down towards your back pockets.


Well that was a long post. Enough for now. You're welcome.
 
Dude, this is an awesome post. Thanks a lot. I think im going to cut the weight and start again. Better to reteach myself at a lesser weight than carry on and checking into twang town.

Spreading the floor with my feet, so you mean widen my stance abit?

The RDL's just didnt feel right anyway - I was watching some vids that said bend the knees as you drop the ass. Will upload some more videos tomorrow with the tips dude.

Much love. Will send some angoous to be tenderized and pepp'd
 
Imagine you're standing on a piece of paper and you're trying to tear it in half with your feet, or something like that. With RDLs you have a slight bend at the knee and the only thing that really moves is your hips. I think BennyC posted a vid of him doing RDLs the other day and they looked derricious.
 
Somnambulist said:
Imagine you're standing on a piece of paper and you're trying to tear it in half with your feet, or something like that. With RDLs you have a slight bend at the knee and the only thing that really moves is your hips. I think BennyC posted a vid of him doing RDLs the other day and they looked derricious.
Click to expand...

You make me blush:


Ignore the speed of my lockout as Ice says. I need to keep my shoulders back a little more and also push my knees slightly further back.

Finding and maintaining neutral spine should be the priority as should screwing in. Then learn the lift from the top down gradually increasing your ROM as you become more comfortable and confident in what is/should be happening.

Hyperextending at the top should never happen. ever.
 
Thanks Som / Benny <3

For the life of me i cannot get the plates that close to the ground when doing RDL's and i refuse to complain its my height and the smaller discs. Going to start from a lower weight and keep uploading vids to nip this in the bud. I look absolutely terrible compared to yours. Would flexability work help too so i can get the weights that much lower?
 
Flexibility will always help in this sort of situation, sure, and the fu thing with RDLs is that you can use them to stretch your hamstrings once you have worked out how to stabilise your core and hinge from your hip (apologies if that's heresey, but slow RDL negatives make me hot)...
 
As MrThingy says. Once you become one with the hinge and can maintain a tight upper back and neutral spine you can literally just let the weight pull you down.

I would focus on working towards your end ROM first maintaining correct posture & positioning and mastering the hinge. Once you've got this gradually adding weight will improve your flexibility when coupled with some static/PNF stretching.
 
Yes, just go as deep as your hamstring flexibility allows. You should be feeling for that hammy stretch as you descend.

For reference, I think LiE has a video of his ROM before he did some serious work in loosening his hips.
 
These last few posts have been great - OpethLoveretcetcetc's request for help and the advice has been really useful and a great guide for me.

Next time though, please don't slap your ass at the end of your first set of barbell rows. It made me think of Orgazmo/Choder Boy :p
 
icecold said:
Yes, just go as deep as your hamstring flexibility allows. You should be feeling for that hammy stretch as you descend.

For reference, I think LiE has a video of his ROM before he did some serious work in loosening his hips.
Click to expand...


hhhhnnnngggg

Before (admittedly much heavier but you can see the difference)

After some mobility
lol@music those teenage emo feels
 
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