On the Utility of Form Check Videos

It has been ungodly hot here in the city for the past week, and our gym has no air conditioning! We've been 2 or 3 times since last posting (a busy week kept the Marmot and I from moving much at all) and each time we go, I am convinced that I have never been as sweaty before in my life. Yesterday the heat index was around 112, and I would reckon the gym was in the (relatively cool) high-90s.

We brought our little digital video recorder to check form; I've finally been able to consistently get the bar up to rack position and full lock-out for my clean & jerk form, but I know I'm far from "good form" (even if "not failing every other time" feels like a huge improvement). Videos below the jump:



Pancho:
Warm ups: 20 spiderman lunge; 20 toe-touch squat
3 sets of 5 reps clean & jerk (with OH squat on the first rep of each set), 55lbs
3 sets of 3-5 (as many as I can), 45lbs
3 sets of: 15 box jumps, 40 sec plank

Clean & jerk
(This was my third set of 5 reps; that's why I look particularly exhausted at the end.)



Things I've learned watching this video:

• I look kind of terrified when I go down for overhead squat (which is not part of clean & jerk, just an extra push for myself). I look kind of terrified because I am kind of terrified. It's intimidating to have even just 55lbs over your head!
• My jumps aren't explosive. They're just jumps. I need to learn to move a LOT faster.
• This is especially true for the jerk portion of the move (from shoulders to above the head). I end up jumping it to about halfway up, then I use my arms to push it the rest of the way. As I understand it, arms shouldn't be used at all: it's a hip/leg-power move.

Here's a competitive lift from Amanda Hubbard. Watch how quickly she jumps, how quickly she gets under the bar at the top:



Lots to learn.


Overhead Squat



(Apologies for the video rotation. All other videos Marmot took are rotated normally, landscape, but they only get my knees and hips. Seeing the whole movement is more instructive.)

My strategy in the gym right now is to get extremely comfortable with weights over my head. I want to eventually up my clean & jerk, but when I even add 2.5lb plates the weight is too much to jerk. I want to eventually learn how to snatch (here's a video w instructive progression w full snatch at the end), and a big part of that is learning explosive movement and building the muscles in the shoulders and back to hold the weight up like that. Until I can comfortably do 3 sets of 5 reps of clean & jerk w/ OH squat (like the first lift in the clean & jerk video), I will stay with the bar or the bar + 5lb bumper plates. As you can see from how much I quiver and move in the OH squat video, it's all about balance: in theory, the bar should move along a vertical path. Eventually I will be strong enough to keep it moving smoothly.

* * * * * *

Marmot:
Warm ups: 20 spiderman lunge; 20 toe-touch squat
Dead lift: 135lbs x 5; 225lbs x 1; 315lbs x 1; 325lbs x [grip fail: very hot + no chalk]
Squat: 135lbs x 5; 185lbs x 5; 205lbs x 5; 215lbs x 4
3 sets of: 15 box jumps, 60 sec plank

Dead Lift:



Squat:



Not a lot to learn from either of these; he was struggling with grip in the dead lift, which is why the lock out at the top was so brief. That is unusual, just a consequence of the extreme heat, sweaty hands and no chalk to dry them out. Same with the squat; the extreme heat cut the reps on this last set down to 4 instead of 5, but he kept a good depth the whole time.