Yeah, pop over to my training log to grab my IG handle.
Yes stretching can reduce force production but I believe that’s only for major stretching. Light stretching to allow you to hit depth pre lifting is much better than not hitting depth. IMO anyhow.
It’s a situation where it really depends on a lot of things. If you have mobility issues and have trouble hitting depth then it shouldn’t be a problem, if you stretch your pecs before benching it could be a problem. It’s common for Olympic lifters to stretch before training, because they need pretty extreme mobility, and Kevin Oak does a full stretching and mobility session before lifting and it seems to work for him.
Basically, you need tension in the muscles and a strong stretch reflex for maximum performance. So if without stretching you don’t have the necessary mobility to perform the lift properly then some stretching can be good, but if you have no issues hitting depth and you stretch to the point that your muscles aren’t providing much resistance when you are below parallel then you are sabotaging yourself. You need a balance of tightness and mobility, too much of either is no good.
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So fix your bracing. That solves those problems.
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Tried working on depth. This is as low as I could go with minimal butt wink. I really tried to focus on squeezing my upper back and shoulders and it helped a lot with the butt wink, too bad it was on my last set.
I did go lower but couldn’t keep my back as straight and it felt much worse, the bar was shifting all over my back. This was before engaging my upper back more. To me there is a visible difference.
You’re capable of depth, you just need to find what allows you to get there.
Also butt wink isn’t always bad. Excessive butt wink is bad. Work on bracing your abs by pulling the ribs down and tucking the pelvis ( to various degress ). It’ll fix a lot of Wink issues and can help get down to depth.
Hit up those stretches @chris_ottawa posted as well. You may also just want to do some goblet squats / front squats and spend some time sitting deep in the hole to get a feel for it.
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Step 1: You have tight hips, ankles, glutes, and thoracic spine. Hit that mobility daily (30 min a day) for 2 weeks and you’ll start to see you can start hitting depth easily.
Step 2: Get in a cycle of those pause squats. That will help with confidence with the new depth you have.
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Might be outta my lane here, but I think you look a little shrugged up/rounded over in your upperback. Could be from breathing high rather than in your belly, which could be the factor in bracing. And thus this thoracic rounding causing lumbar rounding.
But I could be overthinking it?
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What type of mobility work would you recommend other than what was already mentioned?
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That’s a possibility, I’ll see next time I squat.
Hips/Glutes:
That pigeon stretch works wonders.
Ankles:
Thoracic Spine:
Do those and prosper!
It could be minutia, but I noticed it in your video. Your shoulders shurg up as you set up and your breathing makes the bar rise on your shoulders. I’ve personally had good outcomes by keeping the bar level on my shoulder as I breathe and breahte horizontally through my belly, and this is how I’m coached. But to clarify, you def squat way more than I do.
Maybe the Thoracic Spine mobility could help here also?
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It easily could be that I inhale into my chest more than my stomach. I’ll focus on that next time. I always raise my shoulders when I inhale, I guess it has become a bad habit now. I never had a coach so I have to figure all this stuff out the hard way haha.
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Thanks for taking the time!
Yeah you can’t go wrong trying some of these small changes on your warmup sets
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I always breath in through my nose. Seems to not raise my chest and get more air into my stomach area to brace hard. Something you could try. I think I got it from an Ed Coan video few years ago.
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Yeah I heard this too. I was a Kabuki seminar and they said this works, but they breathe through their mouth because it’s easier. They comparied breathing through the nose as breathing through a straw
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You won’t fix this issue overnight, just keep working at it. And do pause squats if you aren’t already doing them, those alone can make a big difference.
About butt wink, it’s only really bad if you are actually going into flexion (rounding), if you are starting with your lower back extended and then shifting back to neutral it’s not the most efficient way to squat but it isn’t a risk for an injury. Based on the pictures you posted there is nothing I would be concerned about but if it doesn’t feel good on your back then it probably isn’t good.
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I know I won’t and that’s ok. I used to static stretch 3x a week before lifting because my mobility was horrible, but then started doing dynamic stretches from mark rippetoe’s book. I’ll start static stretching again tomorrow because it’s a little over 1 am here and I’m still finishing my last meal lol.
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I would advise stretching every day if you have mobility issues, that’s what I have been doing and it seems to work. But yeah, if it’s past 1am then you can sleep first.
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