Should be good now!@Shawn Crespi, the video you posted can't be seen. It's flagged on YouTube as private. Please make it public so that we can see it. Thank you.
-S-
To get my guipa lower, I will need to squat more with more flexion at the knee joint, correct? I have a hard time keeping my shins (near) vertical when I squat more. My knees tend to pop forward, perhaps due to hip/hamstring flexibility issues, and then pop back again on the upswing. I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for this.
Even with the textbooks, my knees come forward a lot. Is my form ok here?Yes, more knee bend. It's OK if the shins aren't vertical or near, just make sure you're loading the glutes and hamstrings (sitting back) in the backswing.
The best way to pattern a smooth movement (i.e. get rid of knees scooping forward on the upswing and such) is with a kettlebell deadlift. Then try to bring that same pattern to the swing.
Even with the textbooks, my knees come forward a lot. Is my form ok here?
Thank you!Knees: Yes, I think the knees are fine there.
Low back: You have some flexion in your low back -- you might be able to correct it by cuing yourself to arch your back (you don't literally want to arch it, but use the cue to move it towards neutral), or point your butt at the wall behind you in the hinge position. If you can't do this then you can elevate the kettlebell to a height that you can get down to without rounding the lower back. It may improve with practice and you can reduce the elevation as it does.
Shoulders: You start to pack your shoulders on reps 4 and 8, but you don't really hold it on those reps and on the rest of the reps I don't see it at all. To pack the shoulders, pull them down away from your ears and towards your hips. The lats tighten up. Think of putting your shoulder blades in the opposite back pockets. Tight, hard contraction. This connects your arms and the load of the kettlebell firmly to your torso to move the weight, and will become more important in a swing (and even more important in a heavy swing).
Your standing plank position looks good.
I have been doing this exercise. I realize my lower back is rounded here, but otherwise, is this what i want the bottom of the swing to look like?
Here is my deadlift. I worked on packing the shoulders and preventing the lower back from rounding.
When I swim the kettlebell back with my lats, am I simply contracting my lats? That’s confusing because I am already contracting my lats to pack my shoulders.
So are the abs contracted and the shoulders packed for the entire duration of the swing and the deadlift?
When I swim the kettlebell back with my lats, am I simply contracting my lats? That’s confusing because I am already contracting my lats to pack my shoulders.
Thanks for the words of encouragement!Just enjoying seeing how you keep improving each vid you upload.. Well done.
It seems like there is a Goldilocks zone of just the right amount of squat and hip-hinge that seems to be elusive for me. Do I have about the right amounts of each in the swing exercise? Is my bottom position where I want it to be?Deadlift looks good! Can you get your hips just a little bit higher in the bottom position? It may feel tight and uncomfortable, but that's OK... "more hinge, less squat" if you can. Your back looks great. Setup and stance is good. Your neck is hyperextended in the bottom position which can be problematic for the swing, so practice looking up through your eyebrows at the horizon to keep it more neutral.
In the swing practice (yes I think it's useful!) you actually do reset the neck position, and everything looks good... you reset the shoulder packing at the bottom, too... see if you can arrive at the bottom position with your shoulders packed and neck neutral.
Good work, keep it up!