question about the active hip..

[chasewho1]

so i have been dealing with some hip pain on one side after squatting and have been trying tirelessly to correct it. weightlifting shoes helped tremendously as did narrowing my stance quite a bit. i have just finished reading the active hip article and am left scratching my head, again. the article encourages a locked lordotic curve, and pelvis locked into your arched lumbar spine. my worry is and has always been lumbar over exstension, and along with the valsalva maneuver i also implore a technique called bracing. im under the impression bracing is the squeezing or flexing of the abs and butt(glutes). now when i squeeze my glutes (and this works for my OHP too) it automatically removes any pelvic tilt and what i interpret as lumbar curvature, and it feels how i would guess its supposed to feel. when i brace it removes my butt wink at the bottom and my squat all around looks and feels cleaner, when i try to arch my lumbar spine all while trying not to over arch, i get butt wink and my squat looks and feels horrible. so i guess my question is, to arch or to brace, or is there some cue or trick i dont know about to better perform both. here is my last squat session if that helps,thanks again for any input

http://youtu.be/yKpt0n6iYDk

[Michael Wolf]

Your squats don't look bad, but your narrow stance and excess depth are reducing the musculature involved in the movement, and this may be why you're not getting much of a bounce at the bottom. I've had to put people in narrower than usual stances sometimes, to solve other problems or because of anatomical issues, but it's not optimal if it can be avoided. Try a slightly wider stance and go to just below parallel, then drive hips up from there.

WRT your question: yes, you brace your abs (NOT flex) after you take your big breath in, but this isn't an either/or with regards to arching. When you're standing at the top of your squat, you should already be in an 'arched' / extended position in the low back. We do NOT want you to exaggerate this position into over-extension. We want you to MAINTAIN this position as you go down and come back up. The erectors must work hard to do so during the movement, because the weight held on your posterior deltoids is trying to make your back go into flexion, so your erectors must combat this. So during the movement, you'll be actively working to maintain your normal arch, but do not go into purposeful over-extension at the top before descending (nor at any other time during the squat).

[chasewho1]

i see,and thanks for the reply wolf. while in the top of the squat, is the "arched" low back just a result of chest up , elbows up? im starting to think, for my purposes, that the low back arch is more simply, just not low back rounding, that is , if you have good posture your low back will be "arched" normally, without any effort on your part, just while standing. am i kind of on the right path there?

[Michael Wolf]

...if you have good posture your low back will be "arched" normally, without any effort on your part, just while standing. am i kind of on the right path there?

Pretty much. But it does take effort to maintain this low back arch while squatting, since the weight will round your spine unless you actively fight against it. So the point is not to over-extend at any point. It's that it takes work to maintain this normal lordotic arch, and you need to be able to actively control your lumbar erectors in order to do so.

[chasewho1]

Ok, and thanks for the clarification, its much appreciated

[chasewho1]

today i went a bit wider in my stance and tried not to go so deep but im not sure if these are too shallow. i think my perception about depth is a little askew now because what i previously thought was right on turned out to be a little deep.could you have a look and tell me what you think? thanks again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErwN5K5sjqA

[Michael Wolf]

Hard to tell from this angle if your stance is indeed deeper, but depth is better now. You'll need to drive hips up harder more proactively to get more out of the bounce, but it looks like even this first attempt at it is giving you more bounce than you were getting previously.

Also, be sure to descend by flexing knees and hips at the same time. Looks like you, just barely, start at the hips first.

[chasewho1]

ok, I'll give a little more attention to the hip drive and flexing the knees and hips at the same time.thanks again wolf