Alright, I have a meet in five weeks and I have two form issues that I need to iron out before competing.
2)I’m falling forward on squats coming out of the hole.
Any advice/help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Squat: you may be dipping with your knees forward, instead of dipping with your hips and pushing the knees out. Also, you may be loosening your back up abit in the hole. The shift in momentum can be rough for most people.
Bench: The shoulder issue may be that you are able to tighten one side of your back more than the other. I have had traiing partners with this same problem. One way you can see is when you bench, have your spotter pay attention to how you are laying. Often times you will see a twist in the body, because one side is tighter than the other. Scapular retractions could help alot. Along with some rehab type shoulder work, incase theres just a drastic imbalance. I would recommend more but five weeks out is not the time to change too much up
I got the shoulder problem and, as unscientific as this is regarding to balancing them out, I just retract my side that pops out and slide it over to the correct position on the bench and then tighten my other side up doing the same thing for both sides if I have to until I feel stable.
I have a theory on falling forward, but it’s hard for me to explain on a keyboard. It’s possible that you are driving out of the hole more with legs, than hips. In other words, your butt comes up much faster than your torso. Hypothetically, your hips and knees should lock out at about the same time. Some drive out of the hole incorrectly, straightening the knees way before the torso. The result is a bent over posture, almost like doing a goodmorning. If your lockout looks like a goodmorning, try to drive out of the hole more with the hips, staying more upright. May be difficult to iron out without some good coaching, and in five weeks no less.
Look up when driving out of the hole
Similar advice here as you got from everyone else. Tighten the back, make sure your shoulders are externally rotated, squeeze the bar to increase tension.
On the squat, look up, sit back, and make sure to drive the movement with hip extension instead of knee extension. Also, push your midsection out against your belt and brace your abs hard if your not already doing it.