Setting Up For Squat Under Bar, Lower Back Position

[browncp88]

I am getting ready (to squat) under the bar. Is now the time to put my lower back in position (butt out, back tight) as described in your video below? Or should I stand up with the weight on my shoulders, and wait until I initiate my descent before assuming putting my butt out?

Lower Back Position Control with Mark Rippetoe - YouTube

I ask because a trainer previously instructed me to squeeze my glutes right in preparation for squatting, and this has the opposite effect (butt/hips shift forward). This put my butt more in line with the rest of my torso under the bar, which was maybe preferable for a vertical back squat (rather than horizontal as you advocate in Starting Strength)?

[Ryan Arnold]

All the steps for unracking the bar on day 1 are listed in Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training 3. Have you read it? Its quite helpful. The main thing is getting a nice tight rack position with the bar in the right place on the back. Don't worry about your low back until you start squatting. And don't worry about your glutes either

[browncp88]

Thanks for the response Ryan. I have read it, and re-visited the "Learning to Squat - Adding the Bar" section after watching that video and before posting. I saw the advice you summarized about how "it is obviously much more effective to tighten the muscles and then take the weight onto tight muscles than it is to take the weight, let it mash down onto your back through loose muscles until it stops on some crucial skeletal component, and then try to tighten everything up underneath it."

Makes sense, and I agree with you that section of Starting Strength 3 is quite helpful. But I spent some more time reading the "Common Problems - Back" section this evening, and still don't really see any mention about lower back / butt position while setting up in the rack, or standing straight up with the weight on my back before my descent, or between reps at the top of the movement. I guess that's because, like you said, I shouldn't worry about my lower back / glutes until I start squatting.

But I can be tight in lumbar extension with an arched back, or I can be tight with my butt in under the bar and my back straight, and both starting positions imply a different movement from standing up into "sitting back and leaning forward" as I begin to squat. They also feel different. My abs are tighter when my butt is directly under the bar and over the middle of my feet so everything is in line (and I'm less in danger of "lumbar over-extension" when my abs are tight). But the video got me thinking movement into the squat is more efficient if I'm already rigid in lumbar extension with my butt out before my descent.

In either case, I should probably stop agonizing over this question, but I am still curious. Thanks again for your time.

[Ryan Patton]

I am also curious about this question. For many months I've been starting my squats with tight glutes because some random guy on the internet said it was a good idea. Recently I've been struggling to keep the bar over the middle of the foot for my last 1-2 reps on my work sets; I feel myself shift slightly forward. In an effort to correct this I tried a variety of cues such as stay on your heels, stay in your hips, etc. Rather accidentally, on one rep I started with relaxed glutes but contracted my low back hard. During the rep the balance felt perfect, and I felt really strong coming out of the bottom. The downside is that without my glutes contracted I feel more unstable at the top before I start the decent.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.