Let's start with the GHR's. Remember they have a "glute" part in them. Hrdgain is right what you are dong isn't effective. But that is because you're doing them wrong. GHR's when done right are more effective than any ham isolation and the other beauty of them is they can be tacked on top of other posterior chain work without ramping up fatigue to a great degree. But exactly what I figrued would be happening is happening which is why I wanted to see the vid. I'll watch the vid again in a bit.
Your hips bent the entire time. That is because your glutes are too weak to support the hip extension throughout the movement. Remember I told you your glutes were/would be weak? The hips HAVE to remain locked. Squeeze the glutes and concentrate on that. It's more important than just turning it into a glorified leg curl. I'd rather you use more assistance and bring the glutes in than doing what you are doing just in the interest of knee flexion reps.
Technically the first part of the GHR is an actual extension. Most people take that out which is OK but to be truly as effective as possible the first portion should be a hip extension initiated by strong gluteal contraction and THEN knee flexion. You won't be able to do that for a while. For now concentrate on keeping the body straight.
I'm fine with RDL's. I've found out there is not much difference between RDL's and keystones for me because of my flexibilty. I have to do them from plates to make it really much of a stretch. Just do the RDL's. The grip thing is entirely normal. I get the same thing. It's good for your grip endurance. One thing you have to realize is that holding a very heavy weight for a few reps is very different than holding a lighter weight for a lot of reps. The last time I did them (ROMS) I barely got the bar back on the rack before dropping the bar on the last rep. Just hold on tighter and show your body whose boss.
Ok...the dumbell swings. It is good that you made a vid of them. No wonder you like them the way you're doing them. You shouldn't be using anywhere near that amount of weight. The rounding of the lumbar spine is attrocious. Not only are you incorrectly loading the lower back you're doing in a ballistic fashion. It's an injury waiting to happen. It is supposed to be forcefull and direct posterior chain strength that "swings" the weight up not just making your body a big stretchy pendulum. You have to use control and you HAVE to maintain your lower back. Don't go so low and so heavy that you can't do that. It is the hip muscles that bring the weight up. The lumbar erectors are NOT hip muscles. I'd rather you drop them altogether if you are not able to curb the ego and use an appropriate amount of weight under CONTROL. I didn't want them in the routine anyway but if your are going to do them please do them correctly. I don't want you ending up with a back like mine.
I think it is a good idea to think of them as
swingthroughs rather than swings to remind us of the similarity to a pullthrough. At least if you do the pullthroughs the way they are should be done and not "the one that's for the back" which is just silly shit. The swing is just a pullthrough with a free weight and so is done in a much more dynamic fashion. Of course there are all sorts of differences in terms of tension but let's not nitpick. The form pretty much the same.
Go to
http://www.crossfit.com and click on
exercises and demos and find the Kettleball Swings vid for a proper one. I don't think you necessarily need to take the dumbell as high as the guy in the vid but otherwise.....
Stretch your hams and lower body more often. Not just after a workout. I think you need it.
Box squats look good to me. Except for the first rep where you sat down on the box a little hard. But such things happen. What is it your concerned about? Except probably a bunch of people giving you generic "sit back" instuctions
And yes there is always a madness to my method
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