Looking to get more flexible hips. My squats and deadlifts I feel could be better if I’m able to be more flexible. Tight hips make it a little harder to hit depth on squats and getting set for a pull I’m a little tight. Thanks people!
For specific mobility drills just confirming u are after a deeper more comfy bottom position. for deads are u pulling conventional and finding it uncomfy in the start positIon and where’s the restriction e.g. hamstrings or sumo and ur ability to open your hips is what you’d like to improve?
In general
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Mobility drill like Agile 8 preworkout/part of warmup and stretch hips and hamstrings etc hard immediately post workout
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Yeah I pull conventional and when I sit back to pull I can feel the tightness. Tried sumo but I few like I’m barely moving.
My issues are right in my hip flexor I believe is the name. I’ve used a band to stretch before a lift and it did the job but I don’t do it often enough.
But yes a more comfortable spot. When I get down in squats I gotta force myself to break parallel bc I feel the tightness and think I’m there then I’m actually 1 inch high.
I’m dead’s when I get ready to pull I can feel the hips not flexible enough and I use more back. Form is good just need the mobility.
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Some vids would be helpful too.
To squat and deadlift you’ll need some degree of hip flexion and internal rotation of the hip to get into the bottom positions. These two restrictions kinda feel similar and in the same spot so test for them both. Do vids could be useful if we can spot something right away.
I’d start with specific movement based approaches and see if that helps. There’s a lot of ways to do it depending on what u have going on so I’d look into testing yourself. There’s plenty of resources on YouTube to guide you. So some examples but far from exhaustive:
Some guys find that warming up by doing bodyweight squats and pausing a while in the bottom and bouncing around a bit to be sufficient. In that case the exact cause of the issue is irrelevant just warm up well and perhaps incorporate heavy pause squats to both get strong and improve positioning
Could be worth trying to change your squat/deadlift stance also because u may be lifting in a way that doesn’t work with your unique hip structure or mobility. Like some guys can’t squat toes/knees forward because their bones and tissues run into each other pretty quick at the front of the hip and no amount of mobility work will change that. Experiment long with your stance is the solution here.
For some guys it may be postural control issue around there pelvis and lumbar. If the pelvis is biased towards anterior pelvic tilt or the lower back is overly arched (like concave) it reduces the space at the front of the hip so range of motion is restricted. Learning neutral pelvis position is the solution here.
There’s many more issues are accompanying solutions but I’d start with broad movement based interventions and see if they work because that’d be most time efficient.
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I’ll look into that I appreciate the help majorly. It won’t let me attach videos so I’m Just going to look into what advice you gave and shown.
Thank you very much!
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Link a YouTube vid and it’ll show up.
I don’t have any vids on YouTube, but just watched the squat video and definitely loved the knowledge from it.
It’s only one approach for a some individual’s issues. Just gotta zero in on what’s going on for you
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I started using this and I like it:
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Squat U is awesome no? There’s like a handful of therapist who cater to lifters who put out content but they churn out so much it covers almost everything
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I saw that the other day and was planning on doing that myself.
The main thing I do for lower body mobility is goblet squat stretches (also thanks to SquatU), followed by 8-10 reps of goblet squats. I do this every day that I don’t squat or deadlift, otherwise I get too stiff and tight. Just hold something slightly heavy (I use a 25lb plate) and sit in a full squat, try to go as deep as possible without rounding your back. What the SquatU guy recommended is 10sec stretch, then come up around parallel and push your knees out for 5-10sec. then back down again, helps you go deeper.
You should feel tightness in your hamstrings when you set up to pull, otherwise your hamstrings aren’t going to be able to generate much force. Post a video of your deadlift from the side.
As long as you can get into the required positions (deadlift setup, squat below parallel) then improving flexibility beyond that is not actually useful for powerlifting. The passive stiffness in your muscles and connective tissue will give you more of a stretch reflex which will allow you to lift more.
This might be part of it, but probably not the only thing. Do half-kneeling hip flexor stretches, and rather than pulling you leg way back try squeezing your glute on the side being stretched and use it to extend your hip. Overactive hip flexors usually means inhibited glutes.
Awesome thanks everyone. I’ll try to upload to YouTube so I can post here for more feedback. I really appreciate it very much.
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i feel like im getting low enough but clearly you can see im not. so im gonna look at this stuff from you guys and work on it… much appreciation.
I’ve got virtually no experience with sumo, so I don’t have any advice for that, but improving your hip internal rotation should really help you on squats
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Ur strong as dude. So important question is can u sink it without losing tightness at lighter weight like with like 2/3 plates?
Wider stances restrict depth in general. Earlier in the descent there’s stretch felt and structures run into each other. Good for powerlifting if you can set it up at to hit sufficient depth. Dunno whether it’s on purpose or not but restricting forward knee travel will be compensated (or at least your body will do it best to compensate) at the the hip to get to depth. Hip only moves so much and when it’s restricted by a wide stance also is overall harder to hit depth.
You could work on overall hip mobility to be more comfy in your positions but a tweak in stance would do it too depending on your goals.
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Thank you. I’ve got 625 squat, 405 bench and 570 deadlift. Overall goals it to reach 1805 in the next 4/5 years. But I really think working on my hips as you guys have said will help.
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