Video Challenge, and an observation

**Alan H** · 12th December 12, 12:53 PM

First, the observation... I bet that our Athletics subforum is one of the busier places in X Marks, not because there are mobs of people posting here, but that the 5-6 of us are all over the forum with workouts, comments on each others workout, etc. etc.

Next, the Video Challenge:

I challenge the "regulars" to post video of an upcoming workout before the end of the year. Be it throwing or lifting, "big" or "fast" show us a couple of minutes of what you've got going on, where you do your thing and so on. Upload to YouTube and let us see what's up. Comments welcome.

**Martin Roy** · 12th December 12, 01:48 PM

Hmmmm...I'm camera shy.
Plus, I don't really have a video set up, although I've asked Santa for one. If He delivers and I can figure out how to use it, then you'll have your video.
Assuming, of course, that I'm having a good hair day and the camera doesn't make me look fat.

**LitTrog** · 12th December 12, 02:02 PM

I'm a camera slut. I'm in. I don't believe anyone will learn much from my vid(s), but I'll soak up whatever pointers are offered.

I'm smelling a montage--a late-80's sports-training music montage!!

You have been warned.

**azwildcat96** · 12th December 12, 02:09 PM

Oh c'mon, it's taken me nearly 2 years on here to figure out posting pictures...now you want video.

**Alan H** · 12th December 12, 02:19 PM

Here's an example....the 245 flat bench PR that I set last January....and just broke on Monday. You can see that I made the 245, but had a little bit of "help" at 250 from my spotter.

I have some other boring YT vids of workouts from last year, but will spare you. Y'all can see the NEW one coming soon.

Here's a YouTube video URL, in fact the URL for the above video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60JHTojy3Vw

The way you post an included YouTube video here on X Marks is by using the {yt} ..... {/yt} tag except that you use square brackets "[" instead of curly brackets } .

See in the URL where the word "watch" appears? Just copy everything after that and put it in the brackets, like this.

{yt}?v=60JHTojy#Vw{/yt}

again, using square brackets instead of the squiggly brackets.

**Alan H** · 4th January 13, 07:54 PM

Progress towards my off-season goal of a deadlift PR at 405, which happens to be eight big plates.

Today I did a triple at 315, which surprised me, so I kept going...

355

365 pounds. My PR is 385. That pull was hard, but I bet I had 375 in me, today. However, there's no rush. I have until mid-February to make that goal.

**o1d_dude** · 4th January 13, 08:50 PM

OOooohhh!! A coaching opportunity!

In the first video at 0.11, you have dropped your hips and pushed them forward. Your shins and knees are well out in front of the barbell. From this position you quickly pop up and at 0.13 the barbell is about 6" off the floor and you have almost completely straightened your legs. In other words, your hips popped up well ahead of the pull. Your back is almost horizontal and the hip angle is now sharper than at the beginning of the lift. This causes rounding of your upper back. [Edit: Forget I said this:"Well, that and you didn't crush your scapulae together at the start of the lift."] Basically you've completely eliminated your legs from everything above 6" off the floor and and are pulling only with your back. This could lead to unhappy results.

I'm sure Roger could do a video frame by frame analysis of this but I don't have the software for it.

To correct this and pull REALLY big weights, work on starting the lift with your legs. Keep your shins vertical and right up against the barbell. Lift your chest [Edit: Forget I said this, too: "...and crush your scapulae together."] Now "feel" the weight in your hamstrings as you drag the barbell up your shins Be sure to lock in your hip angle and keep your torso at the same angle through the first half/two thirds of the pull. By the time your legs are completely straight your torso should be almost vertical. The hip extension is the very last thing you do to complete the lift.

Here's Rip talking about the deadlift:

Deadlifts are the king of lifts.

[Edit: The scapula thing is incorrect. It works in bent over rows but in the deadlift the scaps are too weak to really help much. Lifting the chest is important, though.]

**Alan H** · 4th January 13, 11:06 PM

Yeah, this is the first time I've seen myself deadlift. I've video'd lots of squats, but never DL's. Yuck. I was thinking, as I uploaded them to YT, whether I wanted the world to see me push my hips up and then do the Good Morning from Hell, and call it a deadlift, but figured....that's what I did, tain't no point in hiding it.

Next Friday I spend the entire time on lower weights, more reps and really working on doing it more right.

Thanks for the video links, too.

**o1d_dude** · 4th January 13, 11:17 PM

No worries, Alan. I've seen more than enough embarrassing videos of myself doing similar things when I thought I was doing them right.

In my workout video from 2010 on one of my deadlift reps, I did the exact same thing with 365 as you did.

The relevant cue in the deadlift is to grab the bar and slowly push the world away with your heels.

**Martin Roy** · 5th January 13, 02:09 PM

I appreciate both Alan's video and Kit's critique plus illustrative links. Because the forecast is rain tomorrow I expect to be pulling instead of throwing. Between now and then I'll be studying all this to give myself a good form check. No doubt there's room for improvement. Sincere thanks; it's a big help.