Förstemann Squats

My friend, who is a qualified personal trainer has kindly offered to show me the correct technique for doing squats and dead lifts. What else should I ask him to show me?

There is not much else you need to know, or at least not much else you should be trying to learn in a single day.

Just try and make sure he knows his stuff, personal training qualifications are literally meaningless. He might turn out to be a numpty, injure you and then blame you and then not be your friend anymore.

I would recommend that you do not try and learn Romanian deadlifts while you are still getting comfortable with regular deads. Because they have conflicting technique, the RDL's are likely to cause errors in your deadlift such as straightening legs first/hips rising early which most beginners on the deadlift struggle with anyway.

A little test for you. If while teaching you to deadlift for the first time he tells you to use a mixed grip, he is a bit of a numpty.

If he tells you that your shins must be vertical and you thighs parallel to the ground, he is a complete fucktard.

If he tells you to look at the ceiling during any of your lifts, he needs to be beaten to death with a bosu ball.

In terms of squatting, if any positive words are spoken about a smith machine or about staying above parallel, similar action should be taken.