I figured I’d spend a few hours scouring the web for some videos that demonstrate good form for three critical weigh training exercises: deadlifts (regular and Romanian), squats, and standing military press. I wanted to brush up on my own form and thought you’d be interested too. I found some great ones. The first two usually involve huge weight, and people often get all three forms wrong. And that can lead to injury. Not good.
After watching over 100 videos, it’s amazing how many people out there are showing the WRONG form. To save you time, and reduce the likelihood of learning bad habits, here are the best I could find. I’m giving you 2 or 3 per exercise because one is usually slower, with verbal audio which might be more helpful for beginners. But even you old-timers could use a brush up on form!
Tell me what you think!
Deadlifts (see also our deadlift exercise page)
For beginners – standard deadlift:
Another one for beginners – Romanian Deadlift:
Here’s a pro bad example – he hyper-extends his back at the end:
Do not be intimidated by the high weight some of these guys are lifting. I’m using these guys because they have to have great form. (If you think about it, to lift this much weight, you have to have good form or else you are going to seriously injure yourself.)
Practice all of these with really light weights at first – even just using the empty bar. Remember, there’s no reason to be embarrassed if you are learning proper form. It’s the people who just try to lift huge weight with crappy form that should be embarrassed.
Ok – so keep watching, we’ve got squats and military press coming up, plus Yates Rows!
Squats (see also our squat exercise page)
For beginners:
Here’s a pro:
Standing Military
Best form (in front, full extension):
Alternate form not shown (front and back, often lacks full extension, only for seasoned pros so best to avoid because of chance of injury)
Bonus! The Yates Row
I love this exercise:
Share your comments!
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February 9th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I’m sorry but some of these have terrible form. The “pro” doing deadlifts hyper-extends his back at the top of the lift. The “pro” doing squats has his feet too close together, which causes his knees to move forward far far far too much. And the “alternate form” overhead press is terrible. If I saw someone doing that in the gym, I would see if I could help them do a proper overhead press before they hurt themselves and someone else.
Please please please… if you’re going to make a post with “proper” forms of these important exercises, great! But MAKE SURE that the form for the exercises is as least close to proper. These aren’t :(
February 9th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Stephen – excellent catch on the hyper-extension the guy does on the deadlifts. I’m not sure how I missed that, but I’ve edited the post to make it clear that’s not good. Thanks for the correction.
And as I tend to agree with you on that front/back military option, I’ve just removed it altogether. As I said in the original post, it’s got high potential for injury.
As for the squat exercise you mention, his knees do go forward a bit more than what I do, but I would argue that this is an acceptable form. To help foster the discussion, perhaps you could point out some dangers or downsides to the narrow stance approach.
p.s. If you know of some great videos that show good form, please share them. The vast majority out there are so bad that I couldn’t even watch them because the form was terrible. It would great to hear of a good resource for everyone.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Darrin!
Great post man.
Glad you got me on there doing overhead presses :)
As for the guy above… on the internet everyone is an expert… there’s only a few things that need to be “physiologically” correct to have “proper form”… and a lot of people’s form will look different because of the way their body is built.
Unfortunately, on Youtube everyone seems to be an expert and (no offense to the guy above cause he actually seems knowledgeable and helpful) — most of the guys leaving “bad form” comments on youtube are the same guys who can’t lift their bodyweight in ANY lift.
Later,
Caleb
P.s. Oh yeah — if anyone does 20 rep squats — their form is NOT going to be good after 10-12 (when you already are shaking from the stress, breathing hard and want to quit) — the point of that is to grit it out. I’ve done 225 x 20 and my usual good form was pathetic by the last couple reps.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
No way Caleb – I didn’t even know it was you! It’s amazing how few people seem to do military right (like you do, which is exactly how I do them).
By the way, anyone reading would do well to check out Caleb’s Muscle Building Mastermind. He’s culled together lots of advice from various experts. Check it out.
February 12th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Darrin — thanks for the update to the post. I was a little hasty in my reply and it could have come across as rude. I apologize! I would just hate to see someone emulate some major issues on important lifts like deadlift, squat, overhead press etc.
I’m pressed for time right now but will do some research and try to post some links to videos where the form looks solid.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Stephen, your assessments are ridiculous.
I see nothing but full hip extension and an upright posture with the chest lifted at the end of the deadlifting video. Are you even aware of what hyperextension is? To hyperextend in that position, the spine must literally bend backwards. It’s quite obviously that this is not happening.
In the squat video, the lifter’s feet are a perfectly fine distance apart. Knees going over toes or being too far forward is only an issue when the rest of the body is out of position. It’s not an issue here.
It sounds like your trying to fit your personal idea of how you perform the squat or deadlift (or a single picture in a textbook) to the variety of lifter’s body. I’m sorry, but you’re fundamentally misunderstanding differences between good and poor form and making issues where there simply are none.
For whatever it’s worth (being virtually anonymous on the internet), I approve of all the videos you’ve currently posted here, Darrin.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Hey everyone – it’s all good to have kind disagreements here, and I didn’t take anything Stephen said to be inflammatory or anything. “Proper form” itself is a bit of a moving target, because it depends on your body shape and your goals (for example, people with unusually long legs will have a different “proper form” than someone with really short legs). By all means, let’s keep debating, as long as we stay respectful of everyone involved. I applaud Stephen, Caleb, and Adam for speaking up – and encourage others to jump in too!
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I agree with somethings everyone has said on this post. yes that guy doing military press,aweful. And the other one who was hyper extending his back you saw? not really. Everyones body is different and if he can do weight like that and not get hurt he must have good form and you bad eyes.If he did have bad form he wouldve got hurt a long time ago.
So yes i do think people need to put good videos up and not just some home made movies.
(BOBBY)
March 27th, 2009 at 11:50 am
I think the videos are pretty good especialy the 1st one deadlift instruction which was outstanding.
The pressing one was pretty bad, he took the bar down to low, pushed and took it to far behind his head, which probably put a reverse curve in his back (really can’t tell without a side view).
Thebest videos I have ever found on-line are by Alex Poole.
It is a members site, but he does give free videos for the Squat, Seated Row, Deadlift, Bent Over Row. the link is:
http://weighttrainingtechnique.com/
January 11th, 2010 at 5:31 am
I hate to be the one to state the obvious, but maybe YOU could make some videos demonstrating the proper form for various exercises!
I downloaded your video on “power dumbbell rows” and it has been a big help to me. I don’t have a barbell, so most of my exercises are body weight or dumbbells – and “power dumbbell rows” are definitely one that I do.
The only downside was that my wife caught we watching it and said, “Wow, you wear the same kind of shorts as Darrin!” I tried to explain that that was beside the point, but she just laughed at me!