Squat Check 105x5—Lower Right Back Pain

[Dearayne]

Pain down by the top of the hip bone on the right side (my right side). Could feel it in set 2 and more on set 3. It wasn't intense, but I didn't deadlift. Didn't want to risk it after the tricky warm-up sets.

Tripod is being shipped. I wouldn't post these low shots, but I'm worried about the pain.

Sorry for the odd focusing problems. I'll look into how to prevent that.

Thank you, guys.

1st:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz18NfSJOsM

2nd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wZ2ZKVGaTY

3rd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5LV356FTRk

[Joe Jaloszynski]

Feet are too narrow and toes are too flared.

[Dearayne]

Thank you. Is that what caused the pain?

[Dearayne]

I had a suspicion of this. How may I remedy this? I've tried for the past three workouts to get my knees out. Should I try harder?

As for the hips, they move back at the bottom at the same time as the knees. How may I keep the knees (and thus hips) in place at the bottom?

[Joe Jaloszynski]

Thank you. Is that what caused the pain?

I think the quoted post below is what is causing the pain. I think a better stance will lock those joints in place better and stop the extra motion.

I don't think stance is the reason for the pain. Watch your knee closely in the video as you get near the bottom of the squat. It does some odd elliptical motion. Your hips are moving horizontally at that time. That would be my suspicion as to the form flaw that is causing inflammation of pain.

[Dearayne]

Thank you, guys.

[DannyP]

Is it possible that too much depth is part of the issue? I used to get low back pain localized to one side all the time and I think part of the issue was tweaking something in my hip flexors which, in turn, pulled at my low back (due to poor form). Aside from the other astute observations made, perhaps try taking the squats a little less deep and see if that remedies the situation any. If too much strain is placed on the hip flexors (due to not being warmed up, improper form, or anything else) my experience says that it will feel just as you're describing.

[Dearayne]

I'll try that, Danny. As I rewatched my videos I saw the knee movement took place right when I went below parallel. You think fixing my stance will in turn improve the depth?

[Chris Lane]

You need to lean over more. Your torso is too vertical. You have femurs a mile long and a relatively short torso. In order to accommodate a vertical bar path over the midfoot, your torso needs to be more horizontal than someone with a longer torso. Think about pointing your nipples at the floor.

You also appear to be loosing tightness in the bottom of your squat. You are tight everywhere else but at the very bottom of your squat. Stay tight during the rebound and this should alleviate some of the low back pain. Think about keeping your abs braced hard throughout the entire squat.

Widen your stance no more than 1 inch, lean over more, and stay tight. Report back after you use the corrections.

[DannyP]

Chris makes an excellent point about tightness and the lower back. Getting tighter will also dramatically help keep you from bottoming out (what I used to refer to as my "kamikaze squat"). If you lock your lower lumbar properly then your depth will naturally be reduced a bit and you'll engage the stretch reflex to come out of the hole. Have you seen a coach in person?