Intro and Request for Critique on Form

I have been hanging around the forums for awhile and reading topics. My experience in lifting goes back to high school, wrestling and football. Now I mostly lift for lifting sake. I’m not on any specific program but I’m starting to get the itch of a competitive environment. In my training i have always focus on the big three lifts. Never really been about aesthetics or anything like that. I’m standing 5’9" 185ish. Any advice on getting into a meet would be welcome.

So I have never posted any kind of videos for critique but here goes:

https://goo.gl/photos/GDYnYuawLouwAvJd8 Here is a 325 Squat for a triple

https://goo.gl/photos/zutUEAooXscNnef59 505 deadlift this is currently my 1rep max.

No bench videos.

Any advice or critiques would be appreciated.

Squat looks pretty decent. Nothing jumped out at me as a problem. I did notice that you brought your grip in just as you finished. If you can use a closer grip, that often makes it easier to stay tight - but it can also upset your elbows (I know this all too well). I would recommend playing around with maybe bringing your hands in a palm’s width or so and working from there to see how it feels.

Deadlift is hard to tell from that angle. It is a good effort, certainly. From what little I could see it did look like your hips shot up, but a 45 degree angle or profile view is much better for spotting any flaws. I would recommend bringing your stance in a bit. The two ways I’ve heard of finding your optimal conventional stance are:

  • hang from a bar and drop. Look at your feet. That’s your stance; or

  • set up for an explosive jump. Look at your feet. That’s your stance

In regards to getting into a meet, find a local meet; join the federation running it; pay your meet dues; get a soft suit and some long socks; and turn up on meet day. That’s all you need to do. Try to rest for the three or four days before it but other than that for a first meet you shouldn’t need to change your training at all.

Cool thanks for the advice. As far as the stance for deadlift. Is a closer stance something I will just get used to. I feel naturally more powerful with a bit wider stance.

Most probably, yes. IMO it’s natural to initially feel more powerful with a wider stance but once you get used to the narrower stance it becomes very comfortable.

Also, if you work on pulling the bar up your legs (it’ll take skin off, so wear long socks or knee sleeves on your shins) and keeping your shoulders behind the bar; and pushing your knees out as you come up that’ll make it much quicker to adjust.