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Barbell Form check - deadlift and back squat

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adam.stozek

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Hey guys,

I would like to ask you to check my form on deadlift and back squat.
J just moved to low-bar squat. It's much more comfortable then high-bar in terms on hips movement and body position. As you see I struggle to get into position at both exercises. While getting everything prepered feel good when squatting, it's little frustrating that deadlifting feel heavier than if I just grab the bar and lift it. But then it's common that my deadlift becomes squatting, not pulling.

I also asked coaches at my gym about my form, but it appears that everything I do is okay with them, even if I start hittig my head with barbell they would just tell me to more isolate my biceps.



 
I think I see too much back extension on some of those lifts. But maybe it's the way you're built. On the other hand, in the deadlift I think you extend your neck too much as well. In general, I think looking up higher than at the floor is better, but there's a limit to it.

You could try to bring your elbows closer to the front and the body in the squat, see if it helps.

Next time a camera angle a bit more to the front, not just straight from the side, could be more helpful. Also, using a heavier weight brings the weaknesses out more. The squats looked way too easy.
 
Deadlift isn't bad. However, on the descent, try to not let you knees come forward until after the bar has passed below your kneecaps. The way you're doing them, the bar is not traveling straight down, it's traveling around your knees.

And your squat: you have good mobility/range of motion. Your back is starting too extended at the top, and then goes into lumbar flexion ("butt wink") at the bottom. If you start with a neutral spine, it's easier to stay aligned throughout the squat. It looks like you have the mobility for a neutral-spine squat that's to full depth (below parallel), but you need to focus on your abdominal bracing and stability.
 
I agree with @Antti on the neck extension on the DLs. Also, raise your hips ever so slightly before you start the pull. Or, if it helps to think about it this way, push your knees back (which will raise your hips). You should expect/aim for a more tension in your hamstrings and vertical-ish shins.

Definitely agree with @Arryn Grogan on the DL descent. You're actually starting the movement by bending your knees. If you focus on starting the movement by pushing your hips back, that should do the trick.

On the squat, brace your abs (as if someone were going to punch you) at the start of the lift and keep them braced throughout. That will help prevent both the lumber hyper-extension at the top of the lift and much of the "butt wink" at the bottom.
 
@adam.stozek, I enjoyed watching your deadlift video. You do some interesting things, and I'm not sure I'd change much about your pull, but I want to point out a few things for you to consider.

1. As you lower yourself to the bar, you start with your lumbar extended, not flat. You then push your hips back and down and then, since your hands haven't reached the bar yet, you straighten out your lumbar. You end up with your lumbar in a good starting posture, IMO, but it would be interesting for you to experiment with locking in your lumbar at the top then trying to keep that as you lower and push back your hips.

All that said, we also need to observe that you, like many others (including me), grab the bar then move around a bit before you start your actual pull, so I'm not sure how much of what I said in the previous paragraph is actually relevant, but I do think it's worth playing around with, if only to become more aware of what you're doing and not doing in your deadlift setup.

2. Have you tried sumo? Your build suggests to my eye that you might do well with it.

3. A lot of conventional pullers start with more push than pull - that looks like you. I wouldn't teach it that way to a novice deadlifter, but it's also what I do and focusing on that initial push is what I credit for a lifetime PR in the deadlift last June. (In this, I am disagreeing with what my colleague, @Ryan Toshner is saying, if I understand him correctly.)
raise your hips ever so slightly before you start the pull. Or, if it helps to think about it this way, push your knees back (which will raise your hips). You should expect/aim for a more tension in your hamstrings and vertical-ish shins.

Based on what I see in your video, I wouldn't change a thing right now, although it would be interesting to see both your sumo pull and also your conventional pull with more weight on the bar.

-S-
 
Good call on the sumo, @Steve Freides .

And I'm sort of the opposite of you... My DL used to sort of look like @adam.stozek 's. I regressed a little at first when I made the change to more-vertical-ish shins but ultimately blew past my previous PR. To me, it simply looked like he could use a little more tension in the hamstrings.

Having said that, whatever allows each of us to lift the most while staying injury-free is good. So I'm sure we can agree to be different. :)
 
As for back extension, I thought it was necessary when deadlifting to avoid risk of rounding back. And it’s somehow easier to me to tighten my muscles in extension then with flat back. On last training I tried doing it with more flat back and definitely felt some discomfort after.

As for the neck I can try with doing DL with head in more neutral position. It’s just that I read in PTTP in exercise description that I should be looking at ceiling during deadlift, because body follows direction set by head.

Right now I can’t keep elbows closer during the squat because of the pain in this position. However, I will keep it in mind until I get rid of pain :)

I will work on squat to keep my back flat and avoid back flexion. I think I lost some of my abs tension when I am getting under the bar and entering position to take off barbell. I’ll definitely work on deadlift descent. As @Ryan Toshner said, I will focus on starting with my hips, it seems I keep forgetting about it.

I have never tried sumo, but I guess I will give it a try and post vid for comparison.
@Steve Freides , one thing I would definetly change is miserable amount of weight I can lift. I am relatively short so I should have advantage over high guys in terms of deadlift. Somehow all my friends who are higher then me seems to not know this.

As for weights, at the end of next week they will be noticeably more challenging, so I will shot something then.

Thank you very much for your feedback :)
 
@Ryan Toshner , at the end of the day, whatever lets you pick up the most weight, safely, is what's right for you, of course!

@adam.stozek, if you keep a high intra-abdominal pressure, your back may flatten out a little, and it's the pressure that keeps your back safe, not it being in extension. We aim for a "neutral" lumbar, and that naturally will vary a little from person to person - the position of yours looks just fine to me, but my concern would be what happens when the weight gets heavier. The most important thing is not to move your lumbar under a heavy load but to brace your entire midsection to keep your lumbar stable. Personally, I could not keep my lumbar the way you have yours and pick up anything at all heavy, but we're each different. Keep experimenting with form, do stay away from anything that bothers your lower back, and keep us posted.

-S-
 
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