I’ve never been able to squat below parallel. I can get right at parallel but no further. This never seemed much of a problem to me as i thought it would just fix itself through more and more squats, but it hasnt.
Actually, I can get to about an inch below parallel but it hurts like a bitch. I dont think i’m flexable enough. The pain comes right on the inside of my legs… in the groin i guess you could say. I’m assuming this is a flexability issue, correct?
My next question is how can i fix it. I guess the obvious answer would be “stretch” but even though i’ve never been one to do much stretching (shit i cant even touch my toes), i’m pretty sure there is more to it than just sitting down and trying to reach your feet.
So how can i increase my squat depth? Anyone else have this problem?
Yeah- I had this problem. Two thoughts here. One, maybe bring your stance out a little wider. That may fix it immediately. The second thing is to just squat- squat as deep as you can until you work through this. That was what worked for me. Flexibility will come quick. Too bad stength doesnt’ come as quick as flexibility
I can touch my toes, and I can sit cross-legged with no problems. I can even deadlift with good form in conventional stance.
I can’t squat very low, though, just like you.
The steps I’m using to correct this are:
Find any excuse to squat down. I mean this in daily tasks. When you go get the newspaper from the driveway, squat down to it instead of bending over. Find any excuse to squat. It’ll get your body more used to the motion.
If you sit in a chair for long periods like me, set your chair to just below parallel and KEEP YOUR FEET FLAT on the floor. It’s like an all-day static hold.
Box squat! I box squat 2x per week. Not too heavy, but I make damn sure I set the box as low as I can go and sit my ass on it EVERY REP. I’m FORCING myself to squat lower.
Don’t neglect warmups. Us folks with limited flexibility who are dedicated enough to do the damn squats anyway are just begging for an injury if proper warmup is neglected. I sit in the dry sauna for about 5 minutes and do some step-ups and some body weight squats before my box squat workouts.
Be patient. I’ve been doing this for about 4 months. I’m improving, but I still have quite a way to go. Don’t get discouraged. It’ll take time, just keep at it.
Squat depth has more to do with hip flexibility than anything else. Groin flexibility affects knee allignment, especially if your knees squeeze in while squating. Your flexibility may or may not improve though…it all depends how old your are and how tightly wrapped your joints are. There’s also more to hip flexibility than just the Psoas…there also the internal and external hip rotators as well as the quad. All of these contribute to the flexibility of the hip.
Try box squating with mats. Start just above parallel to get the hang of it, then subtract a 1/2 inch matand work your way down. The other thing that has worked for me is doing light goodmornings and such Before I squat. Most of the time it takes 3-5 sets of gms and ghrs before I can get depth. Then I stay at 135 for as many sets as it takes to achieve depth.