What’s a little trick that made a huge difference in your form?

@bkrolex Taking a bit of time and just lifting lighter with an extreme focus on my form.

You can up the number of reps, if you feel you need it for your work out.

Worked like that for a couple weeks and then worked my way back up.
 
@bkrolex Squat: repeating something from an athleanx video ‘hips and torso move as one’ like a mantra in my head helps me focus on form and my reps don’t seem to feel like a grind now - it’s like I’m trusting the words idk

Deadlift: someone has mentioned it already here but imagining oranges under armpits and you’re squeezing them. Helps me feel like I’m safe in proper form and I can just do the rep and not worry about hurting myself accidently
 
@bkrolex Here's one I saw in a Dave Tate video, for deadlifts. Can't find the video, so I'll describe it. He had the guy stand there, and marked chalk on his shorts where his fingertips hit.

Then he told him (still just standing there) to move his fingers lower. No, lower. Lower than that. Without bending hips or anything, just doing the opposite of a shrug.

Then he had the guy deadlift. When your shoulders are as low as possible, your lats are engaged and you're not wasting energy moving the bar any higher than it needs to go.

I tried it myself and it made a huge difference. As a trainer I've often noticed that people want to bring their shoulders down and back when they deadlift, but pulling your shoulder blades back isn't doing you any favors at all. Bring your shoulder blades down.
 
@bkrolex In squats, pushing knees out during the descent and letting them do whatever they want on the way up. This was a cue I got from a powerlifting coach right before my first meet, and instantly I could squat 10 pounds more.

(This assumes that you are strong enough your knees aren't caving due to weakness. By allowing your knees to pull in briefly you're allowing your adductors to help extend your hips. So this is a caveat that this is an intermediate cue, not a beginner one.)
 
@thebadcatholic I can brace my core for a squat and it’s solid af. I try bracing for a deadlift and I just can’t? I have zero clue why. Just expanding your trunk seems like an odd thing to do in a deadlift position. Any advice?
 
@latterdaysaint I brace and then set up rather than bracing in position and that’s helped me a ton. I’ll set my feet, reach down and grab the bar, then raise my hips way up, brace, then lower my hips and wedge into the bar and lift. Brittany here sets up super similarly:

My trunk feels like it has way more room to expand when my hips are raised up than if I were to brace with my hips down. I couldn’t brace to save my life before I started doing this
 
@bkrolex Not sure if this was meant to be specifically a lifting form thread, but I rock climb and have been working on my body position and dynamic movements recently.

One thing my coach told me was “overshoot the hold” which makes me get my hips and chest closer to the wall mid-movement. Keeping the majority of the mass in your body (being your abdomen) as the focus on your trajectory does wonders for dynamic movement.

Edit: Oops I see that this is a lifting discussion. Imma just leave this up anyway unless it gets downvoted to hell
 
@bkrolex Oh wow, are you me? Same stats and same issues lol. I will absolutely try that tip.

This may seem obvious, but an engaged core and good posture are the biggest game changers I've noticed. It's crazy how much work the muscles of your torso get even if your workout is entirely lower or upper body focused.
 
@aviari Okay, so that's like... good? I have been trying to engage my core when doing dumbbell squats & dumbbell deadlifts and I'm like, is this supposed to feel like an ab exercise, or am I doing something wrong?
 
@bkrolex Lifters or small plates under feet.

Also bracing my back and core. First thing I do is really tighten back together.

But also I suck at squats. I think because long femurs.

Will try toe curling. Haven’t heard that one.
 
@fillipos Squat shoes changed my life, honestly the heel lift is such a game changer!

Fwiw, I have stupid long femurs and one thing that helped me a lot with my squats was shifting to low bar instead of high bar. Low bar squats lets me lean forward more without breaking form so I can get better depth
 
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