Hi there, I’m new to the site an I need some help.
I’ve only been lifting for about 4 months, 2 of which I actually followed a program. and am now doing starting strength. I’ve set consistent PR’s for my squat every workout but they are far from pretty. I think my lower back cant keep up and I drop my chest. but you can see for yourself.
So a couple of questions.
Should i be doing something to correct this imbalance or will it fix itself?
I’m also not very flexible and have to hold the bar right out near the plates. Is this normal?
Is it too heavy for me? (I’m at 107.5kg)
my hips lock at almost exactly 90 degrees. I cant go deeper. Is this a flexibility issue or is it just the way i am? An experienced answer would really be appreciated!
It looks like when you’re sitting back you really have no idea where you’re trying to go and end up limp noodling the movement up, a box would be a good thing to help you have a target when you’re sitting back. It looks like you’re coming up onto your toes as well and your chest is caving forward. So keep the weight on your heels, push your knees out, and puff your chest out pulling your shoulders back.
Since you’re so early in the training game i highly recommend you take the weight down and work on making your squats picture perfect, don’t worry so much about increasing the weight right now but more on fixing your form.
If you can’t do an ass to grass body weight squat and hold it comfortably start there, not saying that you need to squat with the bar that low but it will give your hips more room to move when you get back to lifting heavy.
Do yourself a favour and watch the “So You Think You Can Squat” videos by elitefts.
You can go deeper. You can check for yourself. Stand outside the rack. Hold on to the upright pole while standing in your squat stance. Now squat all the way down until you are sitting on your calves. Holding onto the pole will stop you falling backwards. Just sit there for a bit. I bet you are way past parallel, right? So you can squat deeper.
Your hip joint should be lower than your knee joint when squatting to “correct” depth. From your squat test you will see that you can go way past that. In your warm ups you should include some prayer stretches (squat down to full depth, sit there, put your elbows inside your knees then push out so that the palms of your hands are pressed together in a “prayer” posture. Hold it there for a 30 count if you can.) You might take a few weeks to get this done right but work at it and your body will loosen up.
Do hypers to strengthen your lower back. Squeeze and hold at the top. Don’t make it a swinging motion. Pause top and bottom. 30 second rests will give you a wicked pump. Hold a weight to your upper chest if you can comfortably do 5 sets of 10.
Do yourself a favour and watch the “So You Think You Can Squat” videos by elitefts.
You don’t need to do box squats, though you can just for the fun of it. You just need to practice your form with a lighter weight. Forget about how many reps you can do. Get in the rack, get real tight, do one perfect rep. Then do another perfect rep. Then another, etc. Stop when you begin to lose form.
Stretch your hamstrings. Getting to depth issues are mostly hamstring tightness. Lower back rounding is usually related to the same.
A squat is a very technical lift. Heaps of stuff going on because you are using every muscle in your body. Practice perfect form. Add weight only when you can handle it perfectly. Leave your ego at the door.
You should be able to get under the bar and grip it just outside shoulder width. If you can’t then you need to get whatever is causing that issue to be fixed. It might take ART massage. It might take flexibility drills. It won’t happen overnight. If you are having issues with this then you will be having issues with any upper body work, just that this is showing the issue more obviously. Get it fixed.
Wow, that’s alot of advice thanks. I’ve booked myself into a physio therapist so hopefully he can show me what I need to work on for flexibility. Ill check out those videos. thanks mate.
For me, “spread the floor” never made any sense whatsoever.
Pushing down and laterally with my feet feels retarded. I dont squat wide.
For me “open your legs/ show your crotch” clicks a hell of alot better. You feel those adductors doing some good work that way.
Thought to myself: ahhh, thats what they meant.
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I agree here. ‘spreadig the floor’ always seemed to make my knees want to cave inward. OP, I’ve a similar issue with leaving my chest behind as I come out of the hole. What was mentioned earlier about keeping your chest big, being mindful of leading with your chest, will help, and you will probably ‘feel it’ a lot more in your legs as well. Good stuff though, man.