Hi guys I realised that I have a hip shift in my squat and it’s also affecting my bench positioning. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Video of squat :
I’m not seeing any noticeable hip shift.
I do see poor bracing. Watch the Kabuki strength videos on breathing and bracing. If you can improve that you’ll likely notice your squat go up and hip issues tend to get somewhat better.
Unless you’ve got more videos where it’s noticeable I’m not seeing anything here specific to hips I’d be concerned with.
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Yeah, not really. It might be the camera angle since it’s not straight but it looks like you (OP) are a little bit off center to the left, but barely at all and if you hadn’t mentioned it I wouldn’t have noticed.
Try to stop doing it first of all. Then stretching and/or myofascial release on whatever muscles are tight and involved in this issue, such as adductors and glutes. But there’s barely anything going on there anyway.
How so? Is your squat affecting your bench positioning or is it a lack of mobility in certain muscles? And to be honest, I don’t see how that’s possible unless your mobility is absolutely terrible (which it isn’t) or there is something wrong with how you are trying to bench.
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Above is my comfortable bench position and it’s very off centre. I tried to shift my right leg backwards and my body to the left but it feels extremely awkward and tight.
Also for my squat I realise that my right knee is pushing out way more than it should as shown in the video. Its been like this for at least a year and a half.
Who says it’s opening up more than it should? Looks like your right hip just opens up further, that’s not bad nor is it good, it’s just bio-mechanics.
Then shift your left leg forward. If you are setting up properly for the bench it shouldn’t feel comfortable. You should be tight and uncomfortable.
More than likely you just have a side that’s tighter than the other and you’re over thinking it. Stretch, do some mobility work, tweak your positioning.
You need to learn to “suck in” and control your right leg, how to use your glutes and adductor on the right side to keep your right leg from rolling out to your right side. Once that’s more stable you’ll be able to brace better, use more abs and obliques to support yourself, instead of all lower back.
Here’s a video, but it’s backwards. This guy is laying on his right side, and pulling back with his left leg. You’ll reverse that, laying on your left side, and squeezing with your right leg. Pay attention to the breathing. In order to improve your bracing in the squat you’ll need to learn to breath into your belly and control your obliques. It sounds silly, but imagine breathing in, and expanding your right lung so much that it pushes down into your hip and leg.
Here’s another one, showing how to do this without a buddy. It’s also reversed (guy laying on right side, working left leg) so you’ll need to do everything in reverse (lay on left side, work on right leg). They talk about the fetal position, or kinda tucking your butt under a little. This position let’s you get a neutral lower back and really breath into your belly and expand your abs and obliques. Instead of breathing into your chest and allowing your shoulders to rise and fall so much, like you do when you squat.
This nice lady is working on the same thing only seated. Again, she’s working on her left leg, so you will have to reverse the instructions.
This guy is going seated, against a band. His hand is on the area that he’s trying to expand or “breath into.”. Theoretically you could set this up then lay right down on the bench then square up. Like you tried, only with the band resistance to fight against. Deep breaths until it feels less akward.
I guess you could also roll the shit out of your calves and work on squeezing the floor with your toes and getting a good tripod foot if you needed more stuff to do. Maybe also pack your neck get your head up a little when you squat.
Alright thanks alot for the quick replies! I’ll get to work on these stretches and try again.
Also, do u recommend banded squats (bands around knees)?
Remember, none of those moves are stretches. You’re supposed to pull against the bands while they provide resistance so you can tighten your muscles to build stability.
Don’t let the bands stretch you out.
Band around the knees is OK, especially to get more glutes when you descend in the squat. You really gotta push/hold your knees out. The issue you have is that you’re already pushing your right knee “out” too far so it may not help you.
How do you know he’s pushing out too far? Maybe he’s just not opening up enough with his left side.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just curious how you are coming to this conclusion?
I literally came across this thought 5 mins ago before reading this lol. Was thinking of stretching my left abductors cuz they feel really tight as I tried squatting today and they couldn’t open out as much as right side.
He told me that’s what is happening, he would know better than me.
I’ve been dealing with the same shifting problem for a long time, I can see the way his foot pressure and ankle move in relation to his knee and hip and the way he shifts and relate to it.
I’ve done lots of stuff trying to fix it. Turning out and doing more external rotation on the right side didn’t help much, but pulling in and learning to fight the external rotation with some internal has helped.
I can see the same lack of internal rotation, or not “sucking in” the right leg on the bench press picture.
Really glad to have someone understand my struggles and am looking forward to some experienced help on this! Cheers!
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Again I’m not saying you’re wrong, I was just curious, I tend to go off of what we can actually see versus what they say 
For sure as powerlifters we tend to neglect to internal which leads to a lot of problems.
It’s easier to see it if it’s happened to you.
True but you also can’t trust what someone is saying when they are a beginner.
What most people think is happening isn’t what is happening. Does the OP have some hip imbalances? yes. Does he have hip shift? Not that you can really see.
Hopefully the provided material will help OP like it did you.
Ok thanks for all the replies. I’ll try hip adduction exercises and banded squats to fix the hip issue.