[Form Check] 57lb Squat, 62lb Floor Press, 67lb Row

yosef87

New member
I've been trying to fix the problems you wonderful women have noticed. Please take a look at today's videos and post any feedback! Thank you!

Previous posts:
April 13: April 15:
Squat:
  • Set 1 (side)
  • Set 2 (front)
  • Set 3 (back)
Floor Press:
Row (all side view):
 
@yosef87 Hi! Looks like others have made a lot of the comments I was going to, so I'll try to be brief. For your squats, I'd stick with high bar. I don't know how you'd safely do low bar without a rack (I personally have a hard time placing the bar without a rack). Squatting without a rack is definitely challenging! It looks like you're struggling a bit to get the bar into place, and that's to be expected. First, I'd recommend using a push press to get the bar overhead (before lowering it onto your back). Basically, just bend your legs and use them to help you push the bar overhead. You'll also need to clean (as in power clean) the bar up to your shoulders at some point, when you can no longer do what you're doing now. So, keep that in mind I guess. Don't know where I was going with that!

I don't know much about floor press, but one thing that jumps out at me is your head position. Move your hair bun up higher, or otherwise get it out of the way somehow. You want your head to be firmly on the ground. You're straining your neck so much and it's worrying me!

I think your rows look fantastic. I would keep the 90 degree angle, since that's usually considered the ideal angle. You can safely perform the row at 90 degrees (back not rounding), so continue to do so!

OK that was not brief, sorry.
 
@jimmyd Watching the squat set up made me cringe. You should either get a rack or practice cleans. Your back is so rounded when you pick the bar off the ground.
 
@yosef87 You are starting and ending your squat in a quarter squat position. You need to stand TALL at both the top and bottom of the squat position, extending your hips fully so that they are under your shoulders. I think that you are hinging at the hips because you're afraid that the bar will slide down your back if you stand up straight. To counter this, you need to squeeze the upper back muscles tight where the bar sets and drive your elbows forward.

You will also need to learn how to extend your hips in order to clean the bar up from the floor once the weight starts to get heavier (at least until you can get a squat rack). Right now the weight is light enough for you to use your arms to lift it into position, but you're going to start struggling to press it overhead to put it on your back pretty soon. I just googled a video and didn't listen to the audio at all, but eventually this is what it will need to look like:
You can also see here how she is standing all the way up at the top of every rep.

For the row, I would recommend a slightly more vertical position--right now your torso is almost at a 90 degree angle to the floor; try to be a little more upright and focus on keeping that back flat and your head staying over your shoulders the whole time. You might need to reduce the weight a little bit on that one.

For the floor press, your wrists are bending especially towards the end of the set. Squeeze the bar, row the bar down to the floor by engaging your back, then press up. Right now it looks like you're kind of just letting gravity pull the bar down and letting your upper arms rest on the floor at the bottom--maintain tension through the entire range of motion.
 
@yosef87 It's great that you are actively seeking feedback on how to improve your form. I'm not a professional, but I've been through a lot with my squats, and I've learned a lot. Here's what I see, take it or leave it. I'm only going to focus on a couple of things, because I think you might be suffering from information overload.

A. Decide whether you want to do high bar or low bar. Right now, you are choosing high bar position with low bar squat mechanics. Based on your current style, I reccomend low bar squats, especially since it looks like you might have ankle mobility issues (which you should work on if you want a good squat anyways).
  • Bar position: This is a decent illustration of what you should be doing with the bar depending on the squat style you choose.
B. Initiating the movement. I'm going to stick with explaining low bar squats, since that's what I recommend, but if you would rather do high bar squats I can do my best to explain that, too.
  • Low bar squats are initiated by sitting back. What you have to be careful of here is not hyperextending your lumbar spine, and it looks like you're paying attention to that already. Your entire back--from your shoulders to your hips--should move as a single plane in order to sit back. It's more that you're breaking at the hips than it is pushing your butt back. Once you sit back, your spine should stay in roughly the same angle (in relation to the floor) until you're near the top of the lift.
C. Feet/knees. It looks like you've taken the advice of another redditor and turned your feet out, and that's good. I just want to reiterate that you should make sure you knees track in line with your toes.

D. Take a BIG BELLY BREATH before you drop into the squat. This will help you brace your core and keep your back from hyperextending. Make sure your upper back stays rigid and neutral as well.

I also recommend spending some time sitting down into the low squat position without weight and focusing on achieving a neutral spine. Push your knees out with your elbows to help open your hips, and once you're sure you have a neutral spine, stretch your arms overhead and stand up. This should help you train your body into understanding how to squat correctly.

This has already gotten longer than I meant it to! Hopefully it has been helpful.

*Edit: formatting.
 
Also, the sets with the bullet points above are from a previous day. I was just trying to copy the formatting.
 
This post is a mess of formatting and it won't let me edit it. Here is what it is supposed to be:

I've been trying to fix the problems you wonderful women have noticed. Please take a look at today's videos and post any feedback! Thank you!

Squat:
  • Set 1 (side)
  • Set 2 (front)
  • Set 3 (back)
Floor Press:
Row (all side view):
Previous posts:

April 13: http://www.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/comments/32hfdh/form_check_57lb_squat_67lb_row/
April 15: http://www.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/comments/32pcz2/form_check_57lb_squat_52lb_ohp_167lb_straight_leg/
 
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