Looking for critque on my lifts... VIDS...

[DZLS]

here's the squat...

I felt i was coming forward a bit, meaning my abs were not holding the weight in position correctly... no big deal on this, as i can correct it next workout...

270x3

SQUAT

the chick is just some random whore... her ass is a little dumpy...

here's the bench press...

perfect form IMO... letting my arms come into my body on the decent, with a slight pause then power it up... no arching of the back, no bounce at the bottom...

230x3

BENCH

and the bent over row...

many different varaiation of this exercise, but this is the one i have chosen for my 5x5...

185x3

ROWS

 

[bignate73]

squat is too bouncy and loose IMO. back drifts forward quite a bit.(as you mentioned you can correct it)

bench: you can let it travel a bit lower on your torso, otherwise your forearms don't sit under the bar. take a close look and you'll see that they are behind your elbows instead of perpendicular. this can cause you to shoot the bar towards your head and lose control. also learn to pad the bar and not palm it. that contributes to the bar being over your bicep and not your forearms. just little points to make it more efficient.

 

[DZLS]

lower on the torso...? it's already below my nipples... if i go down any farther isn't that going to push my hands in a less efficent angle to push...?

what do you mean by pad the bar...?

 

[bignate73]

put the bar in the pad of your hand. across the heel of it, it looks like its dead in your palm. your hand wont be cocked back as much when you pad it. i think if you just adjust your hand, then you won't have to move the bar. basically from that angle your forearms look like they are angled up towards your head (slightly). the most efficient way to press is to keep your elbows and forearms under the bar, perpendicular. thats why I suggested lower on the torso, but it could be grip also.

 

[justinjones1963]

IMO I thought your bench looked good.

Squat: I agree with the statement above - too much bounce at the top and your form overall didn't seem tight. On a positive note you are going down far enough (which is the biggest problem I see at the gym) and you are pushing up on your heels (I see many push off on the balls of the feet). When you bounce though I can see your toes come off the ground just a bit - keep it all tight and your feet firmly planted on the ground.

Rows looks good..

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

I didn't like the squat, the bench looked solid, and the rows looked decent.

 

[DZLS]

IMO I thought your bench looked good.

Squat: I agree with the statement above - too much bounce at the top and your form overall didn't seem tight. On a positive note you are going down far enough (which is the biggest problem I see at the gym) and you are pushing up on your heels (I see many push off on the balls of the feet). When you bounce though I can see your toes come off the ground just a bit - keep it all tight and your feet firmly planted on the ground.

Rows looks good..

i do push through my heels...

what do you mean by bounce at the top...? if i'm trying to explode all the way through how can you stop that little "bounce" after you complete the rep...?

 

[DZLS]

put the bar in the pad of your hand. across the heel of it, it looks like its dead in your palm. your hand wont be cocked back as much when you pad it. i think if you just adjust your hand, then you won't have to move the bar. basically from that angle your forearms look like they are angled up towards your head (slightly). the most efficient way to press is to keep your elbows and forearms under the bar, perpendicular. thats why I suggested lower on the torso, but it could be grip also.

i was under the understanding that you should keep a nuetral wrist on the lift, to keep that pressure off of it...

if you pad the bar, you tend to really cock your wrists in a negative angle...

thanks for the input so far...

 

[bignate73]

i was under the understanding that you should keep a nuetral wrist on the lift, to keep that pressure off of it...

if you pad the bar, you tend to really cock your wrists in a negative angle...

thanks for the input so far...

.

the wrist should be neutral yes, you rest the bar on the heel of your hand.

 

[DZLS]

i'll give it a try next week, and see how it goes...

thanks for the input again...

 

[justinjones1963]

i do push through my heels...

what do you mean by bounce at the top...? if i'm trying to explode all the way through how can you stop that little "bounce" after you complete the rep...?

I can see what you are saying but it looks like you had a little bounce at the end of pushing up -like your body is moving up to far. I may be a bit too picky.

 

[Protobuilder]

I don't feel I have room to offer critique, but I will say that overall, I've been impressed by what I've seen from you so far. Your lifts look very solid, you look awesome in your pics (no i'm not gay, LoL), and you seem to have a good attitude.

Actually I do have a comment. How the hell can you squat in those shoes? LoL I was surprised how easier it was for me to squat once I dropped the shoes.

 

[DZLS]

i've been trying different shoes all the time...

these so far have offered pretty good balance, and hardness...

i may look into a pair of Oly shoes if i can find a place local that deals with them... i can't buy shoes over the net...

 

[bignate73]

no on the chuck taylors?

 

[DZLS]

tried a pair on at Kohls the other week, and they were about as comfortable as underwear that are 3 sizes too small...

 

[bignate73]

tried a pair on at Kohls the other week, and they were about as comfortable as underwear that are 3 sizes too small...

PERFECT!!!

I would have bought them!!!

 

[Guinness5.0]

My CHuck's are a size too small and I think they're just right for lifting (deads/PL squats that is - I still suggest the Oly shoes as the best thing EVER for lifting).

 

[Introspective]

First thing i noticed on your squat vid is that your looking up pretty much at the roof and thats not good, you should be looking a bit lower than straight ahead, down at the floor a bit. Also trying to move your hands closer in toward you will help tighten up your back. Squating in front of a mirror is also not a good thing.

You don't look tight on bench, you should have a little, pretty much natural arch in your lower back whilst keeping your hips on the bench. And remember keep your shoulders on the bench.

I don't know much about rows but they looked ok, i read an article posted by john smith about his js rows and he says to do them properly you have to have good muscle control, the guy he used in some pics to demonstrate how to do his rows properly had the exact same arch in his back through the whole range of motion. Might be worth while looking into it.

 

[DZLS]

i'll try not to look up so high from now on, during squats... but looking at the floor...? nah, i don't think so... that's only going to bring you forward on your accent...

i don't agree with your assessment of my bench form at all though... there is a natrual arch on my lower back, you just can't see it, cause of what i am wearing...

 

[Guinness5.0]

... that's only going to bring you forward on your accent...
...

Try using a Russian accent - when the weights hear it, they get scared and jump up on their own

For the most part I think your form is quite good - there's nothing there to say "you need to start all over" by any stretch of the imagination. But looking forward would probably be good. And just watch the foot thing. But keep it up because you've got the big stuff right.

As far as bench goes, I think you may benefit from a little extra arching. Nothing wild, just pull your hips toward your shoulders a bit. THe reason you'd do this INHO is to give yourself the most solid foundation possible, not necessarily to decrease ROM (though it may decrease it a little). Think about it like this: it's like flexing your abs/glutes on OHP - it makes the supporting area more stable. I think it'd be worth a few pounds to arch a little harder.

The rows look pretty good. Maybe hold your arch tighter, but it's hard to tell and IMO it's probably fine as is.

 

[duke of angels]

You're bench looks good... next time you should get a shot directly from the side and direct from the front to make sure your forearms are are strait up on down perpendicular to the bar at all times. The grip does look weird... but all I've read is not to use an open grip. As long as you feel the bar is traveling slightly foward and is comfortable in the decent it should be right. The bar should definetly be below the nipples as you stated... what I've read is to start at the pectoral line and adjust until comfortable from there. Too high poses serious risks... and with the back arch... unless you're preparing for competition minimal back arch is what you want. I've even read suggestions to put stable platforms under your feet to raise them to reduce the back arch even further.

Squat... the suggestion to lower your gaze is right. Chin parrelel to the floor or slightly up but NEVER down throughout the entire lift. Too me it doesn't look like a big issue. I couldn't tell for sure but at the very bottom of your lift it looked like you may have been developing a slight round in the lower back which is potentially disasterous and may be what is causing your slight foward travel and the sloppy look. That is a flexibility or warm-up issue most likely, just check in the mirror without weights and see if you can do the movement with perfect arch (definetly no rounding). If there is just don't go as low until your flexibility improves... legs parallel to the ground is the correct goal for knee safety but only if your back does not round. To me it looks like the round developes and your lift is really slow at the bottom and as soon as it's gone you explode to the top. Also someone said not to bounce at the top... definetly makes sense. Explode but not with follow through... Other then that the descent looks good (I do 20 rep squats and definetly go a little slower in the descent) and it looks like your are pushing through your heals evenly on the ascent and shoulder and hips are moving together which is good. (If hips go faster you get a ton of foward travel...)

And the rows... personally I'd never do that exercise because just too much can go wrong and there are tons of alternatives. But as far as your technique maybe some minimal rounding (very hard to tell) and your back was bobbing slightly (maybe it was just your legs.. again hard to tell). I'm pretty sure you want to minimize both of those so it is only your arms and black that flex. Perhaps a platform to raise the bar or using the rack to raise the bar slightly would help. The only comparison videos I could find were using no weight or pathetic weight...so IMO pretty damn good. I do DB rows right now and plan on doing bent-legged dead lift because it's one of the safest and most effective exercises... but I needed to get back in shape and improve my flexibily before attempting it seriously again. My 2-cents on back exercises, but to each his own.