Background
it’s been a little over 2 weeks since I started doing a novice LP (SSLP).
I’ve been to the gym before a few years back, but I wasn’t tracking my progress and predictably didn’t add much weight to the bar. I found I was getting stuck and ate a lot more to compensate, went through some personal issues as well and my weight ballooned.
It’s early days in this run of the LP - any comments on my form would be much appreciated.
For the squat, I’m wondering for the video if I was a few cm above parallel? I previously found I was slacking my lower back to reach depth, and I’m concerned that I might not have proper depth now I’m compensating for that.
For the deadlift, any feedback would be appreicated. I know I shouldn’t pause between the 4th and 5th rep - was just feeling very lightheaded.
I have very large knees and I find that the bar isn’t returning to the same position - it’s like it’s rolling over my knees on the way down and not staying on my shins (I think I just have large kneecaps, but if this is a form error please let me know)
More experienced lifters can chime in, but I see a couple things.
The angle makes it kind of hard to see your squat depth, but it looks close. Also hard to tell because of the angle, but it looks like your knees are caving in on your squat. Maybe try slowing down your descent and cueing yourself to keep your knees out.
Try setting up your deadlift closer to the bar so that when you are standing up straight the bar is only an inch or two from your shins. That should help you keep the bar dragging up your shins.
Form doesn’t look too bad, just a couple of things to begin with:
I would narrow your stance on squat slightly - your knees seem to track inwards, so narrowing your stance will make it easier to track them over your feet. A slightly narrower stance will make it easier to hit depth too.
The first couple of reps on your deadlift didn’t look fully locked out - stand up fully straight and really squeeze your glutes when locking out.
The LP is a bit special for me - I tried to run it a few years ago and just got really fat. I finally finished losing 19 kg - part of the motivation for doing that was so that I could gain weight doing the linear progression
In a few months I’ll look to change. It could well be that BP is a better program - it’s just that I’ve waited years (no experience with losing weight) and finally met my goals - doing the SS LP seems to me like the reward for my efforts
Anyway - thanks for the tips. I have another video 2 videos of me squatting 82.5kg / 181lb
I’d love some feedback. Are my knees still caving? I’m pretty sure I’m high on a few of these reps.
Bar seemed to either role forward or I think I put it on incorrectly in the first set of 5 ( second looks better to me - would love to hear other opinions)
Congrats on the big weight loss. Far too many impressionable beginners buy into the rhetoric that eating like a pig while doing a simple 3x5 or 5x5 LP will get you jacked and strong. I’m glad you were able to shed that weight off and have a fresh start. If you insist on doing the SSNLP, please learn from your mistakes and change your programming when it begins to stop yielding results, rather than trying to eat through your plateaus.
As for these squats:
Your knees are definitely still caving and you’re definitely not hitting depth (consistently, at least). The good news is I think that simply adjusting your stance will likely solve both of these issues. You have your feet turned out quite a bit (looks to be nearly 45 deg) and your knees come nowhere close to tracking in line over them. Try rotating your feet inward to where your toes are pointing out about halfway between where they are in these videos and where they would be if they were pointing straight forward. It’s kind of difficult to tell, but you may also benefit from narrowing your stance a tad. To start, though, just try rotating your toes in medially like I described and see how that helps with your knee position and depth.
The bar feels like it is rolling around on your back because your back isn’t stable. This is causing your chest to cave in the bottom of the squat, which is causing the bar to shift forward. Take a big breath and get tight in general, but especially get that upper back nice and solid by establishing a “proud chest” and pinning your elbows down against your lats. Keep this position throughout the squat.
Thanks Nate! I appreciate the pointers. I’m thankful I can benefit from your experience.
I’ll incorperate your advice and I’ll upload another video when I can. It’ll be a week or so away though - usually I train alone and I like having someone to film.
And don’t worry, after losing all that weight, I’m fine with gaining some back but I have no intention of letting myself get obese again
Cheers
Rob
Edit
Wow, this made a big difference on today’s workout. You’re right, hitting depth was much easier. Thanks so much for the tip!
