Will I injure my lower back? Low bar squat form review

[SSDino]

Hello,

New user to the forum but I've been reading for a while.. I have been following the starting strength program and worked up to a 100 kg squat two weeks ago, which honestly felt quite easy. But, I guess I did something wrong because I got lower back pain the day after. It wasn't paralyzing, but it constantly felt like my lower back was stiff and it was constantly uncomfortable. Not extremely painful, but definitely felt like something was wrong.

Either case, I lowered the weights to about 40kg (squat) and started added weights again. I havn't injured myself again, but today (the video is from today this exact workout) something felt uncomfortable in my lower back again. I am obviously doing something wrong, show me what and how I can fix it so I can continue my journey becoming a strong badass like you guys. Please!

Video:

[Polishdude20]

You're not committing to the "nipples at the ground" cue. Focus on setting your back to a more horizontal angle right from the beginning. Literally, point your nipples at the floor in front of you DOWN.
You're letting the weight move forward of your midfoot. You probably feel the weight at your toes. Focus on keeping the weight going in a straight vertical line over your mid foot.
Also, you're not hitting depth at all. You're still at least a good 3 inches too high. Get your stance at shoulder width, angle your feet out about 30 degrees and shove your knees out actively at all times.
After the first 2/3 of the movement, stop bending at the ankles (to keep your knees from moving forward) and sit back with your hips.

The best I can do is recommend reading the squat section in the book again because there are a few things wrong that you're doing that can be easily fixed by reading the book.

As for your back pain, have you read the article about back pain? Check it out.

[Jeremy Tully]

You are loose throughout your mid section. You are not going into any horrible flexion in these squats, but I can see that it would happen with heavier weights. Before you descend, take a big breath and hold it, and squeeze your abs and everything near them as hard as you can. Keep them tight throughout the rep.

There are other issues with this squat too. As you go down you let your balance shift forward, and you often end up above parallel as a result. Stick your butt out further, lean over more, keep the weight over your mid-foot, and get deeper.

[SSDino]

Jeremy perhaps I've confused the two words, but I believe with higher weights I have a tendency to get hyperextended in my lower back due to my abs not being tight? Perhaps I havn't been hitting depth so that flexion would be a problem.

I think it will be difficult to take all in, intellectually I understand your points, and it will take some time to train everything to be correct. So cues I should practice:
1. Squeeze Abs + Holding Breath
2. Being at the middle of my foot rather than the toes
3. Nipples to the ground and hitting depth

[Mia Inman]

As you rise out of the bottom, you're lifting your chest just a bit as you drive your hips up. As a result, you've got a little overextension just as you come out of the bottom of the squat. Going from flexion (Jeremy's comment) to overextension will not be great for your lower back health. As noted in the comments above, get tighter and point your chest towards the floor.

[SSDino]

I will try these cues and post a new video tomorrow and hopefully it will be better. I think I understand what you mean too PolishDude that I'm not comitting to the nipples to the ground cue.

Thanks for the feedback so far=)

[SSDino]

I figured it might be better to train on the cues without a barbell right away, as when I add the bar it's gonna be about the same. I tried to keep the cues in mind, here's what it looks like now. I tried to go as deep as I could, squeeze abs + hold breath, and be on the middle of my foot.

Better? Worse?

Video:

[Peter Dempster]

Private video - need to change your settings.

[SSDino]

Oh, didn't see that, sorry. It's changed now I think

[Mia Inman]

You're still lifting your chest. Drive your hips all the way to the top.

Also, set your back angle by shoving your hips back (and knees forward), not bending over.

Having said that, you really need some weight to figure out form. Try it with some load on the bar.