Squat Form Check

[M_Gupta]

I'm a 19yo male, 5'8" @ 157lb, and have been doing Starting Strength for a couple weeks after reading the book. Here's a video from the beginning of last week with 135 x 5, with my last of a set of 3. (I have since progressed to 165 x 5 x 3, with approximately the same form.)



My primary concern is depth. I'm worried I haven't been hitting it, and my lumbar spine goes into flexion in an attempt to get closer.

A lot of background, for those who care: approximately 6 months ago I stopped training due to pain in lower back area, and the back of my hips on either side. The pain would really only occur immediately after racking the bar and standing around, stay with me for about 5-15 minutes and then subside. It began to worry me as an 18 year old when I had the same pain when bending down to work on my car or lift objects around the house, and would not subside until I took a break. At the time I was working with a trainer, but I was doing high bar back squats with poor depth and bodybuilding type rep scheme. I only ever progressed to a set of 245 x 5.

I went and saw physical therapists who scared me off of lifting in general, and suggested things like doing yoga and those stationary cycling machines instead to stay active. This was frustrating, but they made me seem stupid for trying to squat and one even told me my hip structure makes it impossible for me to hit depth on squats without pelvic tilt/lower back flexion, so I gave up for a while losing motivation. I had an mri with a "very slight" bulging disk L4-L5.

After returning I am experiencing the same pain, usually not as intense, after a random set of squats or deadlifts. Some days I do not have the pain at all, but usually I think it's because I'm not hitting depth. Yesterday I experienced pretty bad pain after struggling to get weights that were stuck on a bar off the bar during my deadlift warm up sets, the prolonged bending down and lifting inhibited me from finishing the workout. Again, sitting down for 5 to 10 minutes usually calms it down enough for me to continue.

I'm hoping by improving my form I can make sure to not injure my lower back/hips permanently. I'm seeing a starting strength coach at the end of the month to assist with learning form, but thought in the meantime I'd try this.

Thanks

[David Geiger]

I am not a doctor, and even if I was you haven't provided sufficient information about your hip structure for a doctor to make an informed analysis. The video is at a bad angle (shot from too high). All that being said:

You do have significant lumbar flexion. I'd try pointing your toes out a little bit more (make sure they are out about 30 degrees), and make sure your knees are then tracking over your toes. Consciously contract your your muscles in the lumber region before you begin your descent, and throughout each rep. Really shove your hips back as you approach the bottom. Strongly consider some sort of deload until you fix your technique. Deload, point the toes out to 30 degrees, shove the knees out, contract the lower back muscles, and reach back with the hips at the bottom.

I've had lower back issues for years (though the more I can deadlift the less my back hurts). When you are loading/unloading the bar on deadlifts, use good form there too (not just on the performance of the lift), and on lifting things in general everyday.

Lastly, the SS Coaches have a technique forum higher up on teh main forum page; they have more experience with people with your "symptoms".

[M_Gupta]

Tomorrow I will take some sort of a deload and another video from a lower angle. Maybe then I will try posting in the coaches q&a, thought I'd try here first with what I had.

In terms of knees, they are out 30 degrees and the weight feels light enough such that I don't have a problem with knees tracking over my toes. I will experiment with putting them out wider and forcing my knees out more.

I have trouble with shoving my hips back more. Having this cue in my head just tends to make me overextend my back as I descend for some reason and doing this in the past has made the flexion more noticeable to an observer and caused more pain.

How much lower is parallel from the depth I reach in the video?

[David Geiger]

Your toes dont look like they are out 30 degrees, but it is hard to tell from that angle. If you do not respond well to the hips back cue, try thinking instead of leaning over ( nipples to the floor), but keep your back tight while doing so. Do you know how to voluntarily contract your lower back muscles? Search for how to do the superman on this site and read this article: Active Hip 2.0: The Directors? Cut | Mark Rippetoe and stef bradford