Squat Form: Leg Length Difference and Depth problems

[bjg08c]

I'm 6ft 4 @ 250 lbs and am having a terrible time with progress so I was hoping some of you board members might be able to give me a second set of eyes. I live on the east coast of Florida so the closest Starting Strength coach is a good 7 hrs away from me at the moment. Not opposed to eventually meeting up, but I'd like to save a big round trip like that until I really need it since I've already been to a SS seminar.

I've dealt with front right hip pain (think psoas region) for the better part of the past year and half when I really starting hitting squats frequently, consistently having issues with depth and staying healthy. I can't do any squats without developing problematic pain within 2 weeks of training them 2x-3x per week.

I started this process originally in the SS Coaching forums here:

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ghlight=bjg08c

The issue with the duplicate threads was cleared up with Tom via PM.

During my session today I decided to take a good look at whether I've got some sort of different leg length going on and it looks like I do, but I'm not particularly experienced at this. If you've got an opinion I'd love to hear it, open to any and all suggestions. Not exactly sure how to deal with it. I believe it's the femur segment, so even with the shim should my feet be staggered? Should one hip be more externally rotated than the other?

My next session is 10/15 so I'll be following up then to be sure.

I have 3 videos I took today:

Low Bar Squat without Shim: I notice a definite difference on the right side height, and a severe lack of depth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpQE...B42vwyUHIKIQXQ

Low Bar Squat with Shim: I notice a much improved pelvic level, still difficultly with depth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3gk...B42vwyUHIKIQXQ

High Bar with Shim: I notice a much improved pelvic level compared to no shim, and also better depth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2f1...B42vwyUHIKIQXQ

Y'all have other things going on I'm sure, just grateful for any opinion and suggestions you've got. Let me know if I can provide anything else to help, I'm happy to grab more videos from a front/side/diagonal angle or provide more information as needed. Thanks for your time guys/girls!

[Adam Skillin]

videos are private

[bjg08c]

Sorry about that Adam, I just got a new phone this week and it looks like it uploads videos to private by default. Thanks for the catch, it should be fixed now.

[Adam Skillin]

I think the shimmed low-bar half squats look a little better than the unshimmed. I won't watch the high bar ones because screw high bar. Get a board or cut a piece of rubber horse stall mat though, don't stand on a plate. But I'm not sure anyone can tell about your leg length discrepancy without examining you in person. Access to an SSC?

[bjg08c]

The closest coach will be Michael Park up in Pensacola. I won't be in his area anytime soon so I'm trying to deal as best I can until I'm up in Tallahassee and can justify the distance a bit better.

Right now I'm in the Fire Academy and have my classes on nights and weekends so my schedule just doesn't have the room for a 14 hr round trip until early spring.

I'm getting it checked out by a good chiropractor here to see if I can get a bit closer to a definitive assessment.

[Adam Skillin]

The closest coach will be Michael Park up in Pensacola. I won't be in his area anytime soon so I'm trying to deal as best I can until I'm up in Tallahassee and can justify the distance a bit better.

Right now I'm in the Fire Academy and have my classes on nights and weekends so my schedule just doesn't have the room for a 14 hr round trip until early spring.

I'm getting it checked out by a good chiropractor here to see if I can get a bit closer to a definitive assessment.

Good idea. Just get something flat and probably less thick than the plate, and go several inches lower. Not sure why you're cutting these off half a foot above parallel.

[bjg08c]

Will do, I'm sure wood will work well.

I think I've had so much trouble with depth due to the hip pain, it feels like my hips get jammed up before I reach proper depth so I'm hoping fixing this will help with my depth issues.

Thanks for your feedback Adam.

[Adam Skillin]

Will do, I'm sure wood will work well.

I think I've had so much trouble with depth due to the hip pain, it feels like my hips get jammed up before I reach proper depth so I'm hoping fixing this will help with my depth issues.

Were your knees staying out throughout the entire rep? All the way to the bottom? Be honest. Were they?

[bjg08c]

Looking at my Shimmed Low Bar I don't think so. I notice on the right side, either my foot is angled too far out or my knee isn't reaching the angle my foot is making. And I'm not convinced that angle is that extreme of a "toes out" position.

I'm mostly legs, I have longer legs and a shorter torso so I'd expect my squat should look fairly "leggy," with a wide spread at the hips.

[Adam Skillin]

Looking at my Shimmed Low Bar I don't think so. I notice on the right side, either my foot is angled too far out or my knee isn't reaching the angle my foot is making. And I'm not convinced that angle is that extreme of a "toes out" position.

I'm mostly legs, I have longer legs and a shorter torso so I'd expect my squat should look fairly "leggy," with a wide spread at the hips.

I don't care if your legs are long or short, your damn knees need to go out or you will probably impinge some soft tissue in between the head of the femur and the ilium. You need to work back up from a huge reset to get these to depth with or without a shim, with your knees out farther than you want them to be. I know that's not your question, but you need to hear it.