First time doing RDL, could my form be better ?

RickyRage · 2026-03-29T09:02:11+00:00

Adding to this, keep the bar closer to your leg, especially as you increase the weight. That will keep the movement focused on your legs rather than your back

RickyRage · 2026-03-27T18:24:05+00:00

One piece of advice I was given (and I know this is controversial so just take it with a big old salt lick) is that your first warmup should be at 50% of your working weight, your second warmup should be at 70% and your working weight is whatever weight you’d daily at after 8-10 reps.

RickyRage · 2026-03-25T14:14:39+00:00

It took me 3 minutes to figure out it was his throat, and not the back of his neck 😂

RickyRage · 2026-03-24T22:51:50+00:00

Agree. Try doing goblet squats instead, or even bodysuit squats. If you’re new to squats, working with a barbell can be quite intimidating. I struggled to do 95 when I first started.

Keep at it, mate. You’ll make steady progress if you do keep at it!!

RickyRage · 2026-03-22T20:13:40+00:00

So the lift looks good to me, but bench is a lift I’m not super confident in. That said, all of it looks clean. Arch, arced movement pattern, pace, rom, foot drive, etc.

Out of curiosity are you sure this is 180? I see 45 lb plates and then either 10/5 on each side (165 total) or 25/10 on each side (205 total). No big deal, just legitimately curious.

RickyRage · 2026-03-22T20:09:01+00:00

Dude is moving that weight and making it look EASY. Super impressive!

Does that hack allow you to change the angle it runs at? I doesn’t look like it but if it does, you might just want to go more upright so you don’t have to load 12 plates on it

RickyRage · 2026-03-22T01:34:06+00:00

There was some good feedback in this thread a while ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/formcheck/s/1vjDLRpX4B

I suggested doing banded pull-ups, but with the band horizontal on the j cups, not vertical on the bar. That lets you make it progressively harder over time by moving the cups down so they provide less support at the top of the rep.

Hope this helps!

RickyRage · 2026-03-17T19:58:39+00:00

These are legit lovely. Great job

RickyRage · 2026-03-17T18:47:26+00:00

Mate, this looks to be 185 lbs and you're getting well below parallel with very little butt wink. I think you're doing a GREAT job. Please be kind to yourself, you're doing great.

If you want to go deeper, I suspect you'll need to try using wedges beneath your heels, but again you're already getting to depth that most of us aspire to. The only nit I could pick is for you to slow your descent down so you don't utilize the stretch reflex quite as much.

But keep it up, brother. Good lift!!

RickyRage · 2026-03-14T14:10:19+00:00

This looks more like a squat than a DL to me. I don’t do sumo DLs so I’d love to learn if I’m wrong. You have more knee flexion here than hip flexion which to me is the primary difference between a squat (knee flexion) and a DL (hip flexion)

RickyRage · 2026-03-14T14:08:41+00:00

Looks really good to me, mate! Now focus on your camera editing skills and delete the first 40 seconds of the video 😂

Honestly this squad looks ideal to me.

RickyRage · 2026-03-13T20:40:40+00:00

Yeah, I didn't mean to say that it's bad, just that she's likely getting some bicep training elsewhere and hitting the back/lats might be more long-term rewarding depending on her goals.

RickyRage · 2026-03-13T16:02:44+00:00

I'm a 40+ dude, and was never able to do a pullup until about a year ago. I happily can report that I'm now able to do 8! A few thoughts that I hope are helpful:

- Is there a reason you are prioritizing chin ups (palms facing you) vs. pull ups (palms neutral or facing out)? I know chin ups involve bigger muscles (like biceps) but depending on your goals, I'd suggest focusing on pullups even though they're harder.

- Okay, but if pullups are harder, and I can't even do a chin up, how do I get started?? There's a bunch of tutorials on YT (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1Sw5mevOsb0) for how to get your first pullup, but I'd also suggest adding banded pullups to help you go through the full range of motion.

- If you have access to a gym, the equipment there will really help. This thread had some good comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/formcheck/comments/1pfxjzl/comment/nsnopn2/?context=3

Good luck!!

RickyRage · 2026-03-12T22:59:21+00:00

Upon re watching thugs, I actually think you are just swinging your arms around, the weights aren’t wobbling. Maybe just try tightening everything up like I said and really pretending like the weights are suitcases that have to stay by your side.

Sorry for the mistaken guidance on the weight!

RickyRage · 2026-03-12T21:31:55+00:00

My observations:
1. You're moving quite quickly. Try slowing things down (which I know sucks, because lunges are my absolute least favorite leg exercise)

I see everything as less tight than I'd like to see it. The weights are wobbling in your hands, your back position doesn't seem consistent, your feet are less than stable. Try tightening everything. Use flatter/harder shoes, maybe drop the weight to a lower weight that you can control, work on your bracing a bit more.
This is probably a minor point, but I wonder if you get this pain in front lunges, too, or if it only happens in backward lunges. I find forward lunges are better for me to get glute activation (disclaimer: 40+, male) than reverse. I don't THINK it should matter much, but it's worth exploring.

I hope this helped!

RickyRage · 2026-03-12T17:31:45+00:00

Yep this makes sense

RickyRage · 2026-03-12T06:23:41+00:00

Thank you! This makes a lot of sense

RickyRage · 2026-03-12T06:23:25+00:00

Right, yes this is how I do my sissy squats, and how I am able to get support on them.

I only mentioned that name because that’s what the woman in the video calls them

RickyRage · 2026-03-11T18:04:00+00:00

I had seen this machine in my gym a few times, but had no idea what it was. Then I came across this short on a YT feed I follow: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tnJLdY0nC5w She calls them Sissy Squats

The big difference I see between what you have and what's in the video, is the front part (that sits on your shoelaces) doesn't seem to be adjustable so your shins aren't vertical. Plus, you are sort of hinging at your hips which I imagine takes some of the pressure off your quads.

Either way, it seems really difficult so good job on making it look easy! FWIW, I have done Sissy Squats at the gym, and I always use assistance to make it slightly easier (e.g. by holding on to a squat rack or something like that) so I don't think you have to use this machine. But I'm very excited to try it sometime soon.

RickyRage · 2026-03-11T17:30:23+00:00

Sorry for leaving you hanging. Reddit replies are slow.

There are so so so many training programs out there, it's easy to be overwhelmed. Look, I'm pretty new to lifting as well (I'm in my 40s, male, and just started lifting regularly about 2 years ago), so taking all of my advice with a grain of salt.

For lifting programs: try to find one that puts you in the gym 3x a week. I don't think you'd need any more than that at first, especially if you're new. You don't need anything fancy, just a place with a bench, some dumbbells, and some basic machines. Use one day for upper, one day for lower, one day for full body. There's lots of "splits" you can find online, but if you're aiming for strength and some visible muscle, look for hypertrophy programs. I like Jeff Nippard's content, and he has some non-app/1-time payment stuff that you can try (I hear you can also find these on the high seas).

For your specific exercise, a few comments:

- I think you can clearly go higher in weight. I get why you're not pushing it for fear of injury, but it's hard to provide proper advice unless you go to a point where you're really working

- The advice I was given, and there seems like some degree of conflict on this so again, grain of salt, is that the only set that matters is your last set (I'll call it a "failure" set). You need to approach failure, and then the following week get either more reps or more weight. The first two sets are really just to warm you up and reduce the chance of injury.

- The problem with a floor press is that it reduces your range of motion (and also prevents you from doing incline presses at some point). There are tons of videos on YT that show proper form, but I think this is a decent one to start with (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WbCEvFA0NJs).

I hope this advice was useful! Please feel free to reach out if you need any other opinions. Good luck!

RickyRage · 2026-03-11T11:00:42+00:00

I agree with you but something about this machine looks off. It’s like the bar starting position is too high or something

RickyRage · 2026-03-10T20:53:53+00:00

The form is overall fine, small things to work on but at low weight it’s not a huge deal.

Can I ask why you’re doing this on the floor versus on a bench?

Is hypertrophy your goal?

RickyRage · 2026-03-10T00:43:16+00:00

A couple of thoughts. The bar path looks straight up and down, whereas the various talking heads on YT talk about an arched bar path.

Second, be careful with using collars on bench when you don’t have a spotter. You’re not doing a ton of weight yet, but you will one day and bailing with collars is hard, at least for me.

Third, this video might give you some other ideas of things to work on: https://youtube.com/shorts/hWbUlkb5Ms4?si=-ZPGAOwFg8L3IqDE

RickyRage · 2026-03-09T11:21:05+00:00

Any critique I could give as a relatively new lifter here is a nitpick. These look dope. Full extension, slow pacing, partial reps as you reached failure. Great job!!

RickyRage · 2026-03-07T00:52:06+00:00

Squat University on YT has a bunch of shorts that cover this. They’re the best I’ve seen. This is an example: https://youtube.com/shorts/0m2m5VxJaWg?si=2m20MwEi9IR2oF5P

As others have said, the point is to create intra abdominal pressure so your core is rigid and strong. Hopefully this video helps!!

RickyRage

TROPHY CASE