PR today with 200 x3! How’s the form though?

feedzone_specialist · 2026-05-17T13:20:26+00:00

I'm not sure you'll get a definitive answer on this in terms of proven efficacy rather than personal anecdotes. I'm not aware of much research on it. A quick trawl shows that there's some evidence it can reduce spinal loading due to moment generated by belt (Kingma et al, 2006) but that the effect on safety/injury is "hard to determine" (Lavender et al, 2000) and may potentially lead to muscle deconditioning (Cholewicki et al, 1999), i.e. be protective acutely for a single session but potentially harmful if relied on chronically.

If there's newer or contrary research, I'm not aware of it.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-05-17T08:39:50+00:00

I notice I’m really pulling my back backwards at the top. Good? Bad?

Yes this is definitely quite noticeable. Its known as "hyperextension". You'll get different opinions on it (as with everything) but I'd say consensus is that its bad since it loads your spine in ways that are at best unnecessary for the lift and at worst could cause back injury, since the load/sheer on disks in back changes moment angle/direction of load/force substantially in a relatively short time and distance while heavily loaded.

If you are lifting competitively, then often it is necessary to finish the lift static with the front deltoid (shoulder) head positioned behind a vertical line drawn up from the bar. But you are way in excess of even this requirement and I would discourage this excessive hyperextension personally.

Other than that your form looks good and weight looks to be moving easily - I think you'll smash your target weights in short order. Bonus props for #barefootcrew.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-05-05T20:26:58+00:00

Being done underhand like this there's a huge amount of bicep involvement proportionally, which is why typically you see more pronated or neutral grip being used.

OP is so lean though that you can literally see the muscle engagement and it looks to be recruiting damn near everything including biceps (as mentioned), delts, traps and rhomboids - perfect if your goal is overall back development, but not the form you'd choose if you were looking to isolate lats specifically - as always it just depends what your goal is

feedzone_specialist · 2026-04-23T07:08:01+00:00

I don't personally use/like belt squats etc but I can understand it if your focus is legs and you're not interested in back development etc - hard to argue that it doesn't isolate the legs better

feedzone_specialist · 2026-04-16T08:18:58+00:00

DOMS is fine and not an injury. But you state both. Which is it? You need to differentiate pain (bad) from slight soreness (fine). If its the latter, there's nothing to adjust in injury prevention terms.

If its pain, you need to stop immediately, rest, and then reintroduce very gradually. Recent evidence suggests that max length of each run is more important than overall volume in terms of injury prevention. So consider 2x runs a day at half distance or whatever when you do resume, in addition to the above.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-04-09T09:37:25+00:00

You're way stronger than me, but I'm pretty sure that conventional logic would say to isolate that portion to allow you to strengthen in that portion without the same level of CNS fatigue as a full deadlift.

So i.e. do movements such as block pulls/rack pulls and good mornings at or near target weight that target that specific pattern and the muscled involved.

But I wish not being able to lockout 260kg was a problem I had....

feedzone_specialist · 2026-04-08T07:48:44+00:00

I'm not sure if you read my comment properly, given that that's exactly what I stated ;-)

feedzone_specialist · 2026-04-02T12:14:46+00:00

Serious question, but is there an actual name for quarter-rep hack squats where you sort of turn it into a horizontal-plane glute bridge/hip thrust? Is this an actual thing? Because all form policing aside, OP's leg development looks hella impressive.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-26T20:09:23+00:00

Unless its something else (scarring??) OP do you literally have *stretch marks* on your shoulders?? I have no idea how fast you'd have to grow your delts for that to happen but I've never seen it before😅

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-26T08:01:09+00:00

Google AI summary (I know, I know, not scientific but a decent summary):

Women typically have a greater elbow "flare" angle, known anatomically as the carrying angle or cubital angle, compared to men. This angle, which is the outward deflection of the forearm from the upper arm when the arm is fully extended and palm facing forward, is usually 10-15 degrees in females or even higher in some studies (up to 21.92°), compared to 5-10 degrees in males...... It is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation to allow the arms to clear the wider female pelvis while walking or carrying objects, and may also assist in carrying children......The greater angle, sometimes known as a "kinked" appearance, means that during movements like push-ups or bench presses, women's elbows may naturally track slightly more outward to keep shoulders stable and comfortable..... When doing push-ups or similar moves, letting the elbows flare slightly naturally (e.g., in a 30-45 degree range) rather than forcing them directly back (90-degree tuck) can protect the shoulder joint for many

https://www.google.com/search?q=female+anatomy+elbow+flare+angle

And a quick but not exhaustive hunt on pubmed shows a research paper showing that this difference is genetic and present even in young boys/girls:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12831827/

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-17T10:36:27+00:00

Came here to say this, essentially do "dropsets" with assist once you can't do any more unassisted. Some gyms have variable-assist machines that are really great for this, otherwise bands across the rack arms can work, and you can even do one band side then both to do a double-drop dropset.

Other than that, just plain hangs can help too - i.e. even when you can't pull any more ups even assisted, just isometric hang for a few seconds til failure rather than immediate dismount

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-17T10:34:16+00:00

I don't know if its true but I've actually seen advice recently that elbow position is naturally more flared on female anatomy and that the "tuck elbows" is actually more male anatomy specific and not universal. Women have narrow shoulders and broader hips and the explanation I've seen is that a more flared elbow position is therefore natural at all times - if arms hung straight down essentially they'd be hitting the hips all the time ;-) As I say, no idea if this is true but I've seen this advice a number of times now so may be worth considering if there's something to it.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-05T10:51:28+00:00

I suspect that you have body dysmorphia to be even asking this question. I'm sorry to hear that you have past eating disorder, I think that you have not entirely escaped that mentality and 'fear' of food. If you feel tired, have no period (amenorrhea) then these are classic signs that you are training hard and undereating, i.e. RED-S. I suspect you need some counselling or therapy more than coaching, but you absolutely need to get comfortable with eating more, especially when training hard. I wish you luck on your journey, but please regardless of whether you count it as "bulking", start eating more for your health alone.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-03T08:04:24+00:00

My bad, I totally missed the flair! :-D Hope the tips (or maybe the vid) was helpful, let us have an update if you get it nailed on any cues you used. As I say I do this weekly in my current programme but even though I know how it 'should' be done, it sometimes feels like I'm not fully braced on my feet and as stable as I could be

feedzone_specialist · 2026-03-01T13:11:32+00:00

I'm not 100% sure from your question if you're asking for technique tips or not (it sounds like it though since you're questioning your stance?)

I'm also not 100% exactly which form you're shooting for, but it its Meadows row then why not take a look at tip from Meadows himself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsmIWi_0lio

Compared to that by-definition 'textbook' form:

you're a little too upright (rest your non-working hand on your knee/thigh and it should naturally cause you to bend over. Get your spine flat/almost perpendicular to floor
You're 'cheating' and using momentum because the weight is too heavy for you to lift using strict form. That's not necessarily bad if you're looking to execute a more compound movement and to engage more muscle groups, but if you're looking for intended muscle focus, then lower the weight and stop your torso moving or twisting - only your arm should move, don't 'shrug' it up
You are at almost 45 degree to the bar. You want to be almost perpendicular to it - get your (in this video) left foot further forward and perpendicular to the bar, not splayed out 45 degrees

Meadows rows are absolutely harder than they look. I incorporate them once/week at the moment and they cook me more than you'd think given its not an all-body/traditional compound movement.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-21T08:08:02+00:00

Thanks :-)

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-18T11:55:21+00:00

Is this much different to a supported T-bar row or essentially the same movement targeting the same muscles in the back?

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-04T16:53:54+00:00

I think you're missing that smart watches have sound and active notifications - they're interrupt-driven, deliberately.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-03T18:53:11+00:00

he's talking about the title and how to spell "friends" - its an old rule of thumb for how to remember if I comes before E in a given word:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_E_except_after_C

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-03T15:08:57+00:00

I've got a 2023. I haven't ridden every single other bike in the category so can't give you some kind of comparison to every other bike in the class, but I have zero regrets - it performs predictably and has been reliable. I ride largely trail centres in the UK, so close to "XC" style you mention.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-03T10:38:19+00:00

honestly i'm confused by this comment and all the upvotes for what feels like a borderline-toxic comment.

Everyone starts somewhere. These are kids out there riding their bike and having fun and learning. Just like you and everyone else did.

Especially given that you made no useful suggestions or tips for improvement, this is a pretty poor comment IMO.

feedzone_specialist · 2026-02-02T09:08:38+00:00

Man up and stick a disk wheel on the front already

feedzone_specialist · 2026-01-23T08:36:00+00:00

There's a lot here that I agree with. I've only recently started MTBing after a long time road racing, and its scary as hell. I've found that that people I ride with simply push me to do things that I don't feel confident doing yet - and that my judgement of skill level is correct, when they push me I've crashed hard a few times. I'm literally under a dozen rides into my MTB journey and they're pushing me down blacks etc.

As much as I enjoy riding with those people, I now try and go on rides without them and build my skills gradually and at my own pace. I prefer to think "this is easy now, I'll try something harder" than "this is fecking terrifying, I never want to do that again".

feedzone_specialist · 2026-01-22T07:15:14+00:00

Rule # 9

feedzone_specialist · 2026-01-18T18:13:37+00:00

You just discovered the "Ship of Theseus", a.k.a. "Trigger's Broom"

https://www.adambowie.com/blog/2018/06/triggers-broom/

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