Try as I might, I can’t seem to go below parallel without my tailbone curling underneath pretty dramatically and losing the arch in my lower back.
I’d like to get a lot closer to being able to doing ATG squats with my spine in a good structural position but I am nowhere near that and making little progress in that regard. side form goal of being able to do ATG squats, I also am not comfortable increasing weight even with parallel squats knowing my back has little structural integrity at bottom of squat.
I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to stretch hip flexors but it hasn’t helped much.
Anyone have similar problems? Any ideas on how to improve this situation?
My ankle flexibilty has limited me squatting to parallel. I’ve replaced regular sqauts with plies (I think sumos are the same things) and Bulgarian split squats. Both of them I can perform to parallel and the plies have the added benefit of working your inner thigh and really blasting your ass.
I use a super wide stance for most squatting so my hammies are tight as a snare drum unless I stretch the bejeezus out of them. If I forget to stretch and try to do anything ATG I get it.
I’d say offhand this sounds more like a glute/hamstring flexibility issue than a hip flexor one.
Try dynamic/active stretches for the glutes and hammies before your squat workouts. Mike Boyle has a ton of them in “Functional Training For Sports.” After your workout, do regular static stretches for the same body parts.
You could probably afford to do this type of w/u and c/d on non-leg days too for faster progress.
I couldn’t squat worth diddly before I developed some decent low-body mobility. Good flexibility has all kinds of side benefits as well.
The squat is complex, and I have struggled with the same problem you have. I’m still not squatting ATG, but squat below parallell, compared to 3 inches above about a year ago. My secret, there’s no one answer I guess, I tried it all, here’'s what helped me though:
-squatting a lot, at home, in the gym, each time looking to increase my range of motion
-this one is big: Squat to where you feel you can hold an arched back, do this with low weight (60-80 kg’s or so), and let the added weight drop you deeper. Try to relax, do this for 15-60 secs
-hip flexor stretches, there are different stretches, stretch the psoas and rectus femoris!! (lunge with rear straight leg and rear bent leg)
Most important, keep trying! I was obsessed with squatting, so I kept trying, and eventually succeeded (though I’d love to squat ATG one day).
I think the tailbone tuck damaged my lower back after squatting in this manner for 3 years, I know that some say it is okay but as far as I’m concerned the bottom of the squat does not afford enough benefit to offset the problems of lumbar rounding. Get flexible in the hips and in the meantime, however long it takes, go only as low as you can without the tailbone tucking.
Those people are stupid. It’s not okay. Don’t ever listen to the advice those people give if they say that, they don’t understand what they’re talking about.
Tightness in any of the muscles that oppose dorsiflexion, knee flexion, and hip flexion could be the culprits. Try to find someone experienced to give you a hand in finding out where the problem is, it’s pretty tough to self diagnose.
I have the exact same problem. The thing is that I know it’s possible, anatomically, for me to go ATG because I used to squat like that all the time. It’s been in the last year or so that I’ve lost the ability to go below parallel without that damn ‘tuck’. My physiotherapist says, “don’t squat”, but I’d rather deal with the problem than avoid it. I’ve been told it’s lack of flexibility and then told it’s hypermobility. ?? I’ve tried ART, dynamic stretching, flexibility training, but I can’t seem to isolate the problem. If you are able to make some progress, please PM me and let me know what you find out.
Tara
being 6 foot 7 inches tall, i thought i’d never go atg. But constant dynamic stretching before and static stretching the hip flexors helped tons. Not to mention the static stretching afterwards. Just keep working on ya mobility. Its not gonna all come in one session. I know that for a fact.
I understand why you are concerned, however bear in mind that you will never be able to maintain a neutral lumbar spine while squatting ATG. IF you look at pictures of world class Olympic lifters squatting you will notice that most of them have some lumbar flexion, and the ones that appear to not still do. This is do to the fact that you may not be able to tell the sacrum is tucking under.
Your goal should be to minimize your lumbar flexion not get rid of it all together.
Also, there are some very smart people who have stated that if you forced yourself to maintain some flexion you would seriously injure your lower back.
I used to have a heel raising problem on ATG squats ,but smith machine squats and box squats to parallel or a little higher helped me. Try that and see if it can help your problem. BTW im not talking about weight smith squats just the bar to work on flexibility.
[quote]bamit wrote:
… IF you look at pictures of world class Olympic lifters squatting you will notice that most of them have some lumbar flexion, and the ones that appear to not still do. This is do to the fact that you may not be able to tell the sacrum is tucking under.
Your goal should be to minimize your lumbar flexion not get rid of it all together. …
[/quote]
I agree completely and have noticed the same small amount of flexion in olympic weightlifters at the very bottom of really deep squats especially under a snatch.
And definitely, I was only looking to minimize it. Its pretty dramatic, if I take a peek at a mirror to the side when descending with a light weight. It is striking how the arch stays fixed and then once I get to around parallel, boom, in the next inch of descent the concavity of the spine completely flips and goes wel into flexion… the side view is almost disturbing to look at as i go up and down thru this zone. It also occurs during front squats and overhead squats.
Anyway, I have worked on improving hip flexor flexibility but I have definitely ignored hamstring and they are really tight… it does make sense to me that if too tight they would pull the bottom of the pelvis too far forward when descending below parallel so I am going to try some static/dynamic flexibility type stuff on them… to see if I can improve some.
Speaking of olympic weightlifting… thats why i wanted to be able to do ATG’s in the first place. My goal is to be able to do a a reasonable snatch instead of the completely half-assed things that I do now.
Starting to wonder if at 46, i’m too old to acquire the required flexibility and athleticism to pull off these olympic lifts in decent form. Man, they are tough! I wish I had been exposed to the olympic lifts 25-30 yrs ago… back when regrettably my goal was focused on looking like Arnold. “Ya know… I coulda been a contender!”
CT had a couple good tips to increase flexibility at the bottom ROM of squats, it is intended to help prepare someone for Olympic lifts but it will work just as well for this purpose.
You don’t need to ATG squat. Few - if anyone - on this forum does them. What people call ATG are really just barely parallel squats. (Just like all of the 400 lb. deadlifts by guys who weigh 160 are really 225 lb. lifts.)
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
You don’t need to ATG squat. Few - if anyone - on this forum does them. What people call ATG are really just barely parallel squats. (Just like all of the 400 lb. deadlifts by guys who weigh 160 are really 225 lb. lifts.)[/quote]
wow, a lot of info in there… can you tell me what part of it helped you the most?
[/quote]
thanks, HOV… this video does seem like really good stuff… focusing on making sure i drop hips “between my knees” instead of somewhat over my knees along with the goblet and potato sack positions/squats does really get you down into that hole… it’ll be interesting to see how much of this i can apply when having a bar on my back
