Do you find this to be common?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Have you tried not stretching at all? I'd be interested in knowing if there was actually a difference. Are you still doing situps/back extensions?

[PackMule]

After sitting at a desk all day, the anterior muscles of my hip can get pretty uncomfortable. Stretching helps this, and feels really damn good. In the past I've been prone to get tendonitis in that area and I think stretching helped that, or at least made it feel better in the short term.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Have you tried not stretching at all? I'd be interested in knowing if there was actually a difference. Are you still doing situps/back extensions?

Not sure if you mean me or not, but I find that I don't seem to "need" it as much. I would would stretch post lifting and post cardio (GXP) 4-5 times a week. I find now that I do it maybe 2-3 times a week and I'm not sure that I really do need to keep doing it. I also don't do situps or back extensions these days either. Funny you should ask if I had tried not stretching, because I've been considering just that. So tell you what. I'll stop for a few weeks or a month and see how it goes.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Learning as I go here already and it's early on. My biggest source of low back problems stem from my geezerish stubbornness in continuing to do jujitsu. Wednesday night last week left me with some moderate grade miseries that seduced me into bagging on my light lifting day on Friday because I was worried about it's recovery in time for heavy day on Sunday (today).

But I stayed the course and didn't stretch anyway. I was still feeling a little under recovered in the low back but soldiered on and belted up for a top set of 295 for 3 in the squat. Still rebuilding after last months revelations. I left Gold's feeling better than when I walked in and while my back still feels a little fatigued, it feels OK. No stretching post lifting again either.

So the lessons learned so far? Maybe a lot of stretching is not as essential as I thought once good form is employed. Sucking it up and going in to do something can result in feeling better anyway. And so it goes.

[buffalob]

This is absolutely the key. As long as your body moves as much as it needs to, stretching is of little use, and perhaps, slightly detrimental. If, however, you have a range of motion restriction that keeps you from whatever activity you do, stretching properly can restore the range of motion.

I think Rip may agree with me that a lot of times, people who think they don't have flexibility are actually observing a lack of strength through a particular segment of a range of motion. Most people can do a full squat, but people who "can't go down low enough" are typically really weak at the bottom and as such, they restrict their own movement to keep them from getting into a position they subconsciously know they are too weak to get out of.

This is a really interesting concept. I am currently struggling with "getting low enough" without lumbar flexion. I wonder if it's all mental and whether I'm trying to compensate for weakness in the bottom. I wonder what Rip thinks about this concept.

[Mark Rippetoe]

How much do you squat?

[buffalob]

How much do you squat?

I was squatting 315*5*3 but it was 3 inches high - I am now trying to fix this problem. Allowing for 'unhealthy' lumbar flexion, I can probably squat parallel at ~ 275, but I'm not interested in verifying.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Then strength is not your problem. For elderly people who cannot get low, it usually is.

[buffalob]

Then strength is not your problem. For elderly people who cannot get low, it usually is.

Coach - could you provide a form check on the link below? Action starts at 1:25. I normally don't squat in front of a mirror, but I had to this time so I could record the set from the right angle. Do I manage to hit parallel in the 4th and 5th rep? I have been trying to drive my knees out to sink deeper without a ton of success. I'll understand if you don't want to post this as part of this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4qB9...ature=youtu.be

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you allow you knees to continue forward all the way down, you'll never get below parallel. See pages 51-59.