*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

[DarkShadow]

Anyone more feedback on my squat form?

www.mattmccann.co.uk/squat_form.MOV

A couple of things:

1. Get rid of the sissy pad.
2. Arch your back in. This will force you to keep your chest up. As you get heavier this will cause problems.
3. Go for the thumbs over bar grip. You're putting unnecessary strain on your wrists. It will also help tighten your upper back because it will raise the rotation of your elbows.

Other than that, good form.

 

[Morba]

3. Go for the thumbs over bar grip. You're putting unnecessary strain on your wrists. It will also help tighten your upper back because it will raise the rotation of your elbows.

Interesting one, never heard anyone suggest that (that I can remember anyway). Will have to try it and see how it feels

 

[LiE]

Thanks.

I'll try to move away from using the pad, I just find because of my poor shoulder flexibility I can't hold the bar far enough back so it ends up sitting on my spine/upper neck.

Good pointer on the chest/back arch, will definitely focus on that.

Thumbs over bar I assume is a hook/suicide grip?

 

[DarkShadow]

Interesting one, never heard anyone suggest that (that I can remember anyway). Will have to try it and see how it feels

Try it now! Palms in a position as if you're holding the bar vs straight hooks.

Thanks.

I'll try to move away from using the pad, I just find because of my poor shoulder flexibility I can't hold the bar far enough back so it ends up sitting on my spine/upper neck.

Good pointer on the chest/back arch, will definitely focus on that.

Thumbs over bar I assume is a hook/suicide grip?

I remember when I first made the transition to the bar, I also found it very uncomfortable. It takes a while to adjust.

In addition to the chest posture, make sure you take in deep breathes, pushing out your abs.

Indeed

 

[Chris1712]

Interesting one, never heard anyone suggest that (that I can remember anyway). Will have to try it and see how it feels

I've always done this without thinking about it, im holding the bar steady on my back not holding the bar. I think it might have been in a Rippetoe video actually, lets you really get your elbows back and tightens everything up.

 

[Morba]

Tried it with a pool queue, doesn't seem to make too much difference, though its hard to tell. Will try it in front of a mirror and see the difference

 

[Delvis]

Yeah it's not too cheap, I think the plain flavoured stuff is a tad under 80p per 250g pot from Morrisons. I assume their light choices is the same as everyone else's low fat etc, got it's nutritional contents to hand? No reason why a 600g tub couldn't last you 3 servings!

No not really ...I'll have to get the tub out later

 

[Steedie]

Just had a bit of a fail moment, last set of incline barbell press. Heaviest set, last rep, put everything I had into getting it back up

Huge bellowing fart followed. Everyone turned and looked....

 

[J.T]

Always knew you were wind powered Steedie!

 

[roysters]

Just had a bit of a fail moment, last set of incline barbell press. Heaviest set, last rep, put everything I had into getting it back up

Huge bellowing fart followed. Everyone turned and looked....

LOl steedie, do you have a unless supply of funny gifs? they crack me up.

 

[Skillmister]

LOl steedie, do you have a unless supply of funny gifs? they crack me up.

never again will you be short of reaction gifs

In other news, packing for holiday Going to the gym tonight so will have some wonderful aches in the car tomorrow no doubt.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

Just had a bit of a fail moment, last set of incline barbell press. Heaviest set, last rep, put everything I had into getting it back up

Huge bellowing fart followed. Everyone turned and looked....

I did that on a deadlift once. I said to the nearest guy: "Well, at least you know I'm trying hard enough!"

 

[sigma]

Feeling in a lot less pain today....woo!

 

[roysters]

never again will you be short of reaction gifs.

haha, cheers.

 

[icecold]

Got a video of my squat form for people to critique my 2nd set of 120kg and I was feeling it since doing squats on Monday as well.

http://www.mattmccann.co.uk/squat_form.MOV

Great depth, but you may find you lose some of it after adjusting slightly.

1) This is the most important point; you are bending your lower back. In fact your back is never in a strong position, resulting in it collapsing fairly early on. The lower back rounding is probably also caused by tight hips/glutes/hams as well.

2) The pad is a real problem and will do you more harm than good. In your case it's exaggerating the problem you have with your back, by having the bar even higher up your spine you are increasing the forces on your back. This means that when your spine is out of position and becomes loaded your back muscles have to work very hard to stabilise. A partial fix here is to make sure you push your chest out throughout the lift.

Also, you mention shoulder flexibility restricting your bar position. Try this: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/04/episode-211365-the-simple-five-way-shoulder.html

Other than that, it's actually fine - although it is important that you correct your back.

The only other thing I'll mention is that you are basically doing a high bar squat. Your form isn't terrible for this, you stay relatively upright (apart from the back problems I mentioned) and your knees looks to be out. If anything you should aim to exaggerate this.

For a low bar squat, obviously the bar needs to be lower, but also you might need a wider stance and you'd have to be even more careful with your back.

 

[icecold]

A couple of things:

1. Get rid of the sissy pad.
2. Arch your back in. This will force you to keep your chest up. As you get heavier this will cause problems.
3. Go for the thumbs over bar grip. You're putting unnecessary strain on your wrists. It will also help tighten your upper back because it will raise the rotation of your elbows.

Other than that, good form.

Thumbs over really shouldn't be necessary. If your wrists are sore it's because you're limited either in your wrists or in your shoulders.

 

[sigma]

If your wrists are sore it's because you're limited either in your wrists or in your shoulders.

That'll be me then! My wrist is still hurting after Wednesday's squatting! Should be better by tomorrow though.

Think I may need to start training wrists to build strength.

 

[Freefaller]

Well spotted by icecold re: rounding of back. It's important for your lower back to be solid and not moving - especially accentuated when going as deep as you have been (which is good to see! ).




As for me today, great short sesh, powercleaned 130kg fairly comfortably, but 135kg I just couldn't get under the bar :/ Still, managed to HC2PP 110kg again for a couple. Followed by about 40 reps of deads, and then some shoulder work. Feeling good

 

[Skillmister]

Didn't get to the gym, sadface

 

[Buckster]

I was meant to have a day off gym today ...

I still went ...doh ! was too hard work though - should have had a day off thats for sure

my arm gave way on one of the 26kg dumbell flat bench thankfully my arm folded ina neat way rather than dropping it on my head !!! - its always that "one more rep"!!