Help me find my deadlift/ squat weaknesses!

[DBCooper]

What do you ever mean Liftbig? lol I thought everyone squated wide there??? Here is a perfect way to squat better=zercher's, and to pull better=drag a sled, then add stomach work and hypers of some sort, but Liftbig was right conventional=pull the bar into you, and Spatts is right find the best squat form for you, and then work the weaker stance to bring up your stronger stance. Peace out, time to go eat :havoc: and get ready for the push pull next week lol. You doing it Liftbig??

 

[spatts]

What the hell did you just say? lol

Were you suggesting zerchers and sled dragging, or making fun of people that believe everything they read about how you guys train?

 

[DBCooper]

Damn that was fast Spatts, I was in a hurry to eat, a little dizy from waiting to feast, no I do believe zerchers and and dragging will nearly improve any lift, and I wasn't making fun, but sometimes people do read one article and think that is all we do, WS is about finding new ways and improving what your weakest at to help your strong points. Sorry for the jumbled responses lol, at least it;s not innuendo's in everyother forum lol j/k.

 

[spatts]

Agreed.

So you feel like dragging and zerchers give you more carry over than other moves, or were you just picking two?

 

[DBCooper]

I think it's like a gpp thing, it will bring up your hips and lower back to a level that most lack- but you still need those max effort days to add absolute strength.

 

[Liftbig]

spatts i think your on to something. there is more than one way to skin a cat. i was thinking that his glutes would be the major weak point. maybe his hamstrings are stronger in relation that i think. i just know from my lifting that stiff legs hit my back pretty hard.

DB as far as the push/pull meet i may bench but i will most defianatly not deadlift. i want to bench becuase i am capable of more than a 510 bench and want to have more under my belt before aug. this will put my on track to where i want to be in nov. i will put my shirt on again sunday and work up to 515 and maybe 530 and if it feels good then i will bench, if not ill bench at the iron house push/pull meet in july 2 weeks before world cup.

 

[spatts]

liftbig...I think the hips are the deal. I mean if he's overcompensating with his hams or lower back, it's because there's a missing link in the middle. Whether that's weakness, inflexibility, or both...I don't know.

AM, do you do Dimmels? Kneeling squats? Dip Squats? ATF hip thrusts? Anything like that?

"When I try to sit back with the weight my groin and hips feel like they are going to tear as I get 2-3" from the box."

"...then finally my hips thrust as the lift is 95% finshed"

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

In the first post you said your hips shoot up 6" before the bar moves, but then you said that they are definitely not too low??? I'd say they are too low if they are moving that much before the bar moves. Like you said, everything should be firing at once so it is one smooth motion to lockout. If you start to pull and the hips rise, then you start to pull the bar you just wasted a bunch of energy on nothing but putting you in a worse position.

I have recently worked on my sumo form a ton and I am now up to a 485 pull@ ~150 lbs. I plan on hitting 500+ in the 148's in one of my next 2 meets.


PS- the thing that is my biggest pet peave with deadlift form is staying down at the bar too long. I make that clear to all my lifters that you only get down there to get the bar and then drive like a mofo. And make sure your hips are only as low as they need to be to start the lift!!

 

[AnimalMass1]

Ok - here's what I've come with...

I strongly believe that my hips are my weakness. The more I think about it, it makes sense that it is what is holding me back, both because of a strength weakness there and no flexibility.

When I thought about it, I rarely work my hips at all, with the exception of squatting wide or wide goodmornings (and we know I can't even get very wide). Also, I just began pulling sumo, up until then, I pulled conventional, which doesn't really hit the hips at all.

My flexors really hold me back - I can't even do a spread eagle situp, it just hurts the flexors too bad. So I def have a weakness there.

So here is my plan of attack.

For squats, I will begin working on flexibility, by squatting on a 17" box ultra-wide for awhile, and slowly work my way back down to parallel. It may take 6 or 8 weeks, but I'm going to learn how to do it right - especially since I want to get into canvas - and I need to squat wide if I get one.

For deadlifts (sumo), and other hips work...

As far as form is concerned, I am going to try to get the bar closer to me. I need to spread my knees more and get the bar up on my shins so that the distance between my hips and the bar is closed some.

For the wekaness, I will do:

Spread Eagle Situps, Lots of ankle sled dragging, wide goodmornings, arched back pullthroughs, with the movement in the hips, wide stance zerchers with teh movement in the hips moreso than the back, bands around knees hip abductions, and weighted leg raises.

This should really push my hips to catch up with the rest of my strengths. I don't feel like my hamstings or lower back is what was holding me back, but when I thought about the hips, it all made sense.

AnimalMass

 

[spatts]

Keep us posted.