squat form check

[nisora33]

Coach,

Thank you in advance for your time and attention.

A little background on me: I quit practicing martial arts about six months ago after six years of overzealous training. I suffered a number of overuse and sparring-related injuries, including facet syndrome (right side L5 S1), medial meniscus tear of the right knee (unscoped but symptom free), and chronic shoulder, hip and inner thigh tendinitis (maybe?). I have always found squatting difficult and painful, so when I discovered Starting Strength, I found new hope that I could eventually squat and perform strength exercises pain free.

Now months later, I have ceased martial arts and any form of activity except strength training, put on 20 (mostly) lean lbs., and resolved most of the muscle and joint problems that have plagued me for years. However, squatting still causes me pain. The following are links showing two views of me squatting (both aren't very heavy by anyone's standard--a mere 120 lbs.)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YskMGTOmI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flQ8q_EMWzo

...I am also including links to hand-drawn pictures with highlights to illustrate where my pain is occurring. The pain occurs just before, inside and right out of the hole. I am a 29 year-old male, 5' 9 1/4" and 185 lbs.

Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8362698...41023/sizes/o/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8362698...40947/sizes/o/


Sincerely,
Stacey Greenway

[Mark Rippetoe]

You are doing an admirable job of not letting your knees travel forward at all. In fact, I'd say that most of your problems are the result of this form you are using. Take a slightly narrower stance and let your knees travel forward to a point just in front of your toes by the first 1/3 of your descent so that your quads can take some of the load. You're not really using them much now, and when you start it will take some of the stress off of your adductors and some of the stretch off of your IT bands.

[nisora33]

Thanks again, coach. I'll make the modifications and report back in a few weeks. And thanks for the books as well.

[nisora33]

Coach,

A little update on my progress since my last posts:

I made the modifications to my squat form that you suggested, but in the days that followed, the pain in my adductors and it-bands continued to worsen. So I've been following the Starr rehab sticky, and I'd appreciate any feedback that you might give me on my form. Included are videos showing front and side views. These are low weight, high rep sets at 70lbs, so the videos run a bit long (didn't know how to edit the videos down to just the first 10 or so reps).

Side: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANfaORyGbyY

Front: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRfRrNjVbIE

The good news is that the adductors and it-bands are beginning to feel better; however, I'm starting to feel an ache in my low back that wasn't there during my sets of five--don't know what to make of this yet.

Thanks again for your time. Looks like I'll be making it to one of your barbell certifications later this year.

--Stacey

P.S. Notice the guy in the background of my videos and his laughable wrist straps.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The low back pain is either high-rep fatigue or boredom from the high reps, dunno which. You're a little high, and you still need a little more forward knee. But again, the rehab method is not for IT band shit or any other connective tissue issues, most especially things that are probably of an overuse nature. You'll need an IT-band release done by a therapist that knows how and doesn't mind hurting people.

[Robert Callahan]

Get a foam roller, that is probably the best thing you can do for tight IT bands

[nisora33]

Yeah, made it all the way to...drum roll, please...day seven of Starr's rehab, and the same old shit began flaring up again, and in a bad way. The tissues around the ASIS on both sides hurt like a BITCH, as do my adductors. I'm guessing there's no point doing any sort of heavy squatting, at least until I can get all of these overuse problems ironed out by a therapist. Otherwise, I'm just laying down scar tissue on top of scar tissue, right? I would suspect that's why I'm not able, though I'm trying, to get my knees more forward or keep my back tight, as well.

Any tips on finding someone skilled and knowledgable enough? The last time I went in for therapy (it was for Active Isolated Stretching, the "Mattes" method), the lady I found seemed okay until she started telling me how she could get my chi flowing properly and then how Aaron Mattes was, like, next to a messiah in terms of his abilities. I don't really trust physical therapists, and I've been to several.

[banderbe]

I'm sure you are already doing it but a big deep breath before each rep protects my lower back. I had the same problem and I wasn't really using my "Buddha belly" as Dan John calls it, to protect my back. Also when I switched shoes from one with a heel to basically barefoot, I found suddenly I had low back pain. It went away but I had to reset the weight down a lot and work back up.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Where do you live? Maybe someone in your neighborhood will suggest somebody.

[nisora33]

Okay, if I trained in your gym, you'd probably yell at me after I told you what I did to ease my problems. I thought long and hard about what you've been telling me, and with a little ingenuity, I came up with some modifications for the shoes that I've been wearing. They're indoor soccer shoes with hard flat soles but no substantial lift in the heels, so I went to the bathroom closet and grabbed the first thing that might improve them: my wife's maxi pads. Yes, I stuffed the inside of my shoes with maxi pads at the heel ends, and voila, instant relief from the pain in my thighs (for the most part). I think the following set of squats at 140 lbs. speaks volumes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dujnPDY3YpY

Knees traveling more forward, lumbar spine staying more rigid, and bottom position staying tighter for the rebound. Magic.

Thanks again,
Stacey