Critique my lifts

Yeah I think I'm gonna go out and buy a pair of shoes for lifting as soon as summer starts (for me that's may 8th).

I'll try to think of this "back and forth" motion your talking about. It always seems though that whenever I try to visualize the right way of doing it once it comes to actually lifting the weight it doesn't play out that way. I'll keep trying though. Eventually it has to click.

Thanks,
Michael
 
I have some new pushup videos from last night. As you can see below I think my form has dramatically increased. I still do think that my back could perhaps be a tad straighter. I'll work on this by continually focusing to keep my abs tight and up against the abdominal wall. I also still do think that I could go a little lower on some of the reps and I will also continue to work on this. Overall though I believe my focus on form has paid off. I did have to decrease the reps down to 20 instead of 30, but it was well worth it. Now I can truly say I am doing proper pushups and if I progress I know it is with honesty.










But hey, maybe I am being too positive. Tell me what YOU think.

-Michael
 
Definately better. It's a matter of preference, really, but here's what I think you should try. Bring your hands down lower on the floor (towards your feet), so that your elbows tuck in more. It's harder, but just try it, video it, and post it here.

Also, why are you not going as low as you can?
 
I'll try out that suggestion tomorrow night (today was my lifting day so I don't do the nightly pushups) and post it on here the following day.

I'm not going as low as possible because the whole reason I am doing these pushups is to get good at doing as many as possible in a given minute or two. I'm not planning to join the military or anything, but I just wanted to get good at basic fitness exercises such as that. So as long as my form is under that standard then I don't see the reason to go above and beyond what is required to count as a pushup. Hope that makes sense.

-Michael
 
well, I don't know of any standard that says what counts as a pushup.. but for most hardcore people I'd say it's not a pushup until your chest or nose actually touch the floor. If you were in a push up contest and I was the judge, I would tell you to go lower.. but that's just me.
 
Here are the pushups last night. I tried to take some advice from someone who offered it and put my hands a little further back. I think this ended up causing me to dip and slouch my back again. I'm not sure if that was the culprit, but it definitely is noticeable. The workout itself was still good though. I think I am going to go back to my previous hand placement anyway; it just feels more natural.

Tell me what you think.







Thanks,
Michael
 
So for my first two sets of pushups I felt like my lower back was still sagging. But I couldn't figure out why. I tried sucking in my abs, lifting my hips, keeping my core tight. None of that seemed to work. Finally, as you can observe on my last set I believe I determined the issue. I was simply putting my feet too far back. Once I brought them forward a little bit my entire body created a nice straight line and it lead to an awesome third set. Agreed? Tell me what you think.
 
Here are some recent push-up sets. The first one I went to my failure while the other 3 are doing sets of 20. I still think my form does not need some fine tuning. I seem to be able to get it perfect sometimes, but not keep it that way. I'll keep working at it. Also I took the advice of someone on the boards and started out in the down position so that I could correctly position my hands. This actually made the lift harder since I think I had my arms too forward before. But hey, the harder the better!

Let me know if you see anything.
 
I was finally able to take some time today and record all my lifts. I think every single movement shows tremendous progress. Tell me what you think.

SQUATS:







DEADLIFTS:







BENCH PRESS:







DB SHOULDER PRESS:



DB ROWS:



KNUCKLE PUSH-UPS:
 
the deads are looking better, but you're still locking out your knees very eary. Also, as the bar goes past your knees, it hangs out in front of your body, it should be in contact with your body at all times.

Was it your gym that didn't allow you to use no shoes? because you really shouldn't deadlift in those shoes :p better to go in socks or barefoot.
 
I see what you mean on both points and I'll work on it.

Yeah you have to wear shoes in the gym. Summer is less than two weeks away though and once I go home for break I will probably buy a cheap pair of flat soled shoes for lifting.
 
Here are my most recent pushup videos. On the first set I started to slouch again, but I quickly fixed that on the second two. I still notice myself sometimes not quite breaking parallel but just nudging it. I also noticed my neck craning forward on the last set. I think if I look ahead instead of down it will help that. Tell me what you think.
 
Here are my latest pushups. It's an obvious pattern now that my first set always seems to be the one lagging behind in terms of form. Once I get in the groove of how to properly execute the movement though I see dramatic improvements. I look forward to the day when every set is perfect without me even worrying about it. Meanwhile I tried to go deeper and look ahead instead of craning my neck down. I think I did make some progress in both of these areas, especially on the last set. Tell me what you think.
 
Here's my latest video of me attemping my new maximum for pushups. I did break it by the way. My only real complaint I noticed of my self is that I seem to just hit shy of parallel on a good deal of reps. I'm going to really have to try and focus on making sure that I am lowering my self all the way. I have to admit it is tough to do this while also testing my maximum since I feel so driven to get in as many reps as possible. Hopefully if I keep trying it going parallel will become like a habit in that it will feel completely wrong and akward not to. Anyway, I've said enough. I'm much more interested in what you have to say. Tell me what you think.
 
I'm no lifting expert, but here are my observations/thoughts:

On the deadlift, as Karky mentioned, keep the bar in contact with your body at all times.

On the benchpress, it looks like the weights are not going straight up, but angling backward toward your head.

On the pushups, different people have different interpretations as to what constitutes a legitimate pushup, but going down to parallel is the least you must go imo.
 
Hey there,

Thanks for the advice and I'll continue to work on the mentioned problems. I've gotten a similar response lately on the bench press and am not sure if this is a problem. I've heard that having a "J" motion in the bench press is quite natural, and for me once I started to tuck in my elbows it just started naturally. Is this something I should try to change?
 
I'm way behind on these pushup videos. Here is what you missed. From looking at these videos on a progressive scale I am proud to see improvements. I think that the last 3 videos which displayed my Thursday night pushups are truly the emblem to what I have been striving for. I am finally reaching the point where I can start to become confident without a camera. Do you see the same thing? Or maybe you don’t! Tell me what you think.
 
Here is me testing my new record for decent pushups. Again I struggle with breaking parallel. I'm really annoyed at myself for not achieving what would seem to be such a simple concept. Oh well, I'll keep cracking at it.
 
What's up with the girls in your clips? They're bouncing around and playing with fitness balls like a bunch of monkeys.
 
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