Form checks

[Scrofula]

I finally found a way to record my workouts, and found to my horror that I'm deadlifting like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-yy-Vuhyd8
It's not a particularly heavy weight; I've comfortably lifted a bit more in the past. I've gotten to around this point several times, before deciding that I needed to deload and fix the back rounding. Turns out it's worse than I thought. I'm not sure whether it's a strength issue or a flexibility issue. Or maybe it's just a bad starting position. Any suggestions for how best to proceed?

Here are some squats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYuQowxjTnM
I think I know what's wrong with these, but perhaps some more experienced eyes can tell me if I'm worrying about the right things. It looks like my center of gravity is drifting forward at the bottom, even though it doesn't feel like the weight is on the ball of the foot. Could this be because I'm too bent over?

And presses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4InkKCUhJVY
Some grip issues here because of a minor wrist injury, and they look a bit wobbly. Anything else I need to fix?

Thanks!

[Mr.City]

Deadlifts: You need to raise your chest up. Your back isn't set at all. Also, try pointing your toes out a little

Squat: Looks good, but is the weight shifting to your toes on the way up. Also, it may be my decision but you may not be raising your chest up enough on the way so that you're performing a good morning.

Presses:
Looks good from I can see, however the bar path seems a little vertical, like you're hooking it back to your chest when the way down.

[Scrofula]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think the weight is going all the way onto my toes when I squat, but it's quite possibly going past mid foot. I'll work on back extension and hip angle to fix this.

[stronger]

you have some pretty substantial lower back rounding. Have you tried the method described in SS:BBT to learn the feel for a properly-extended back?

Lay on the floor, face down, clasp your hands behind your head, raise head and legs off the the ground.

:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u899wRnwqs

post vid after you do this

[pbjorge12]

Hey Scrofula - I sent you a PM.

[Scrofula]

Thanks folks. pbjorge12 gave me several useful suggestions, and the back extension methods suggested by stronger helped too. I'll record my deadlifts this weekend.

In the mean time, here are some power cleans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1YmJZjuYuE

[nisora33]

You're jumping forward to catch it in the rack. Why do you think this might be? I'll give you a clue: look at how horizontal your back is right before your hips start opening, then think about where this puts the bar relative to your scapula.

-Stacey

[Mr.City]

Cleans looks good, but the angle makes it tricky to see the whole thing.

[Scrofula]

You're jumping forward to catch it in the rack. Why do you think this might be? I'll give you a clue: look at how horizontal your back is right before your hips start opening, then think about where this puts the bar relative to your scapula.
It looks like my hips might be starting too low. I'm pushing the bar several inches forward as I get into position, and then having to pull it back before I jump. I just found this problem described in BBT.

And yeah, I'll try to record it from a couple of angles next time. I have a sneaking suspicion my arms might be bending early to compensate for the back angle, because that's the only way I can think of to get the bar to the jumping position while I'm bent over like that.

[nisora33]

It looks like my hips might be starting too low. I'm pushing the bar several inches forward as I get into position, and then having to pull it back before I jump. I just found this problem described in BBT.


Your hip position at set-up wasn't what I was referring to. The key to understanding what's the matter is what I said originally about the scapula-bar relationship at the moment when your hips start to open. Freeze-frame the video if you have to, young padawan.

-S.

[Scrofula]

Your hip position at set-up wasn't what I was referring to. The key to understanding what's the matter is what I said originally about the scapula-bar relationship at the moment when your hips start to open. Freeze-frame the video if you have to, young padawan.
It looks to me like the scapula is ahead of the bar, which in turn is ahead of mid foot:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/826/94484874.jpg

Is this what you were referring to? The low hips thing was my guess as to why this is happening.

[nisora33]

It looks to me like the scapula is ahead of the bar, which in turn is ahead of mid foot:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/826/94484874.jpg

Is this what you were referring to? The low hips thing was my guess as to why this is happening.

You're jumping forward to catch the bar each time you clean it. This indicates a problem with bar path. The problem is that you're "shooting" your hips--i.e. completely unlocking the knees before the hips have started to open--so that no contribution is being made by the quads to get the bar moving up. This means that the poor hamstrings, glutes and low back are left to do the work all by themselves.

This also means that your scapula have moved to a position too far forward of the bar. As you'll know from reading SS, the bar likes to be under the scapula, yes? So the bar is swinging forward to get underneath the scapula, where the bar likes to be.

Yes, your start position has your hips set too low. But it won't matter that you have your hips set at the right height or not if you continue to "shoot" them (completely extending the knees before the hips have even started to open). The scapula will still end up too far forward relative to the bar, and the bar will still swing forward to get underneath the scapula where it should have stayed to begin with.

-S.

[Scrofula]

Thanks; I'll work on that.