Hey Dr.GainZzz, hope all is well,
Just wanted to start this forum by saying that I understand what BBM’s view is on “Perfect Form” and how Perfect Form doesn’t always protect from injury and how imperfect form wont necessarily lead to “blowing your SI joint”. With that being said…
I am 6’4 and my legs are extremely long proportionally, so my back is almost horizontal when getting ready to pull.
I recently incorporated a new cue to my Pulling setup. While lifting the chest, also lift the hips up like described in Mr.Thrall’s video.
This works wonderful, so much so during lockout (at the top) I can actually feel my lats engaging. Felt like a Bro for a moment. In my recordings, my back no longer rounds beltless. Even at 6@8 x2 (Beltless)
The problem is when I put the belt on and use the same steps for the Pull. During the 5 step process, when I am trying to pull the slack out the bar by lifting my chest and hips, I have a lot of difficulty setting my lower back to maintain a flat back. I’m very bent over to begin with and having the tight belt on makes it feel like I have no room to set my lower back into extension. In my recordings, you can see my lower back losing tension and rounds before the bar leaves the floor.
I have a wide double prong belt and tried making the belt a little loose by putting it 1 minus the hole number I put it on, and it’s also as high I can put it on my torso. Any higher and it’s on the bottom of my rib cage and doesn’t sit properly.
You might say “A little back rounding is okay don’t stress about Perfect Form” and to that I have to say, when I see my back rounding, deep down I feel like I am cheating myself by having my low back round. I don’t want to sweep this under the rug and later on my back looks like a negative parabola.
You might also ask If I am overshooting my RPE and to that I have to say that I’m 90% confident on my ability to rate a set.
What are your thoughts and opinion Doc? How can I maintain a flat back with the belt on for my working sets?
Thank you,
Paul
