Squatting - Form and Flexibility

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

First post, but I’ll cut to the chase:

I have always found squatting with a bar extremely awkward. The problem is, as I descend to parallel, I feel ‘tension’ across my lower back. Not pain, it just feels like it is under a lot of stress.

I recorded myself doing the movement, and what I see is that during the descent, I reach a certain point at which my lower back flexes as the hips continue down. This point is around parallel. My upper body doesn’t lean forward, but instead the hips are pushed down as the back flexes.

Now, I theorise that the feeling of ‘tension’ is caused by the lower back flexing, while at the same time I am keeping my chest up and holding the curve in my back. IE, I am trying to keep the natural curve in my lower back, while at the same time it wants to flex.

This definitely isn’t normal, and I think it is a flexibility problem on my part, as I am not very flexible - I started lifting 1 year ago having never done any sports before, and I have neglected stretching up to now.

I am quite sure that it is not a strength issue, as this occurs even during bodyweight squats, and while I am very weak by T-Nation standards, I can rep 100kg deadlifting, so I am not completely crippled.

From what another site says, I think the lower back flexion is caused by inflexibility in my hamstrings and glutes. I’ve read the Hardcore Stretching article and I am following the program outlined in part II:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640906

Anyway, I have a few things to ask:

  • Has anyone experienced a problem similar to mine?

  • Do you think that inflexibility in glutes/hams is the problem? Or is it something else?

  • If I am right, what is the best way to solve this? Just by following the stretching article, or are there more specific stretching routines for the ‘posterior chain’ ?

  • When I do the glute stretch in that article, I get a slightly painful stretch on the side of my hip, a little towards the rear. Shouldn’t I be feeling it in the ‘meat’ (gluteus maximus) of my ass instead?

I will try to upload a video if it would help, but I’d rather not unless it’s essential.

The lower back doesn’t hurt when squatting other than the feeling of ‘tension’, but if I do a load of full squats it is very pumped afterwards so obviously something is wrong. I can JUST get to parallel before it flexes, but sometimes it will flex before then depending on stance etc. I don’t know if I’m cut out for full squats, but I really do want to at least be able to do them to parallel safely…

2

Continue the ham and glute stretches, but how are your calves and hip flexors/quads? Tightness in any of those can cause the butt tuck as well.

-Dan

3

[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
Continue the ham and glute stretches, but how are your calves and hip flexors/quads? Tightness in any of those can cause the butt tuck as well.

-Dan[/quote]

My calves seem OK, my knees can go a few inches in front of my toes when I squat and it feels natural.

My quads are quite flexible because I used to kneel all the time when I was younger… I can barely feel a stretch in them even if I push my heel right into my butt.

As for hip flexors, I don’t know, I’ve tried stretching them and I don’t feel much, so either they are flexible like my quads or I’m doing it wrong (which is quite likely, I will try to get a stretch for them).

What about glute stretches? Is it OK to feel them at the side of the hip… I think it might be that it’s stretching the smaller glutes as opposed to the gluteus maximus bit, but it’s hard to tell really.

Thanks for the help so far

4

[quote]gauss wrote:
Anyway, I have a few things to ask:

  • Has anyone experienced a problem similar to mine?
    [/quote]
    Yes, I have.

I convinced myself it wasn’t, but it was. It makes a huge difference when you get it right, and I’m still working on it.

Check out “Get Your Butt In Gear” I & II:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=495189
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=497495

In particular, do the hip mobility exercises for a while. I felt like a tool doing them in the gym while everyone else was lifting weights but I felt like a stud squatting one month later. They work. Also, that squat-to-stand exercise listed in the first article is bloody awkward to start with but really really improves your lift.

Yes you should. Experiment with moving it around until you feel it in the right place. I have one side like that but it’s slowly improving.

Other Stuff
Besides all of the above - I bit the bullet and stretched aggressively for about a month. When I say aggressively, I don’t mean I ripped muscles apart or killed myself. But my gym workout consisted of warmup, 30 mins of stretching and then the workout. I considered this overkill but I wanted to see what happened. It was completely worth it. You won’t always have to do this, but it’s worth putting a little time in to see the difference that normal range makes.

Second, top priority for me during that time was hip flexors. I couldn’t figure out how it would help (since it ain’t hamstrings or glutes) and I had great motion flexing my hips. But I kept reading that it was important, one site stating that inflexible hip flexors was like “working out with the parking brake on”. So I stretched them. I still don’t understand the details as to why it worked but stretched hip flexors = flexible hamstrings and glutes. I still stretch hip flexors to keep that ROM.

Third, ensure that you’re stretching your hamstrings and not your lower back when you do stretch. You should feel it at the back of your thighs and nowhere else. If it’s at the back of your knees, bend them a little until the stretch moves up. If it’s your lower back, arch it and raise your chest until you feel it in the hamstrings. Check out the exercises here to get a feel for it, and do them regularly - they increase ROM as well as strength:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459875

Finally (whew!) Danny John recommends overhead squatting for flexibility. I can’t do them properly yet but I add them every workout as a warmpup with an empty bar. Once I’m ass-to-grass with a decent weight, I won’t need all the other stretching as much. Look into them.

Hope this all helps!

5

[quote]gauss wrote:
I have always found squatting with a bar extremely awkward. The problem is, as I descend to parallel, I feel ‘tension’ across my lower back. Not pain, it just feels like it is under a lot of stress…[/quote]

Check yourself, or have yourself checked, for kyposis. If you need help, ask at your gym if someone is an expert in “Postural Analysis.”

If some type of postural problem is present, correction could help your squat, and a lot of other things, as well. Look on this site for the “Neanderthal” series (Cressey and Robertson), I through V, or the earlier but less detailed “Heal that Hunchback” by Robertson.

This will get you started on the reference:
http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2004/314nean2.html
and if you think it applies in your case, the T-Nation search function will bring up the remainder.