UK lifter with a query

[vjohn82]

Hi Mr Rippetoe,

Thanks for your site. It's been a great source of information for me over the past few weeks. I'm new to lifting (7months) and being 28 years old am sick of being fat. I have followed stronglifts 5x5 since February and have made some good gains (I think) and managed to get to a 308lb squat, 440lb deadlift, 165lb bench and 150lb press.

However, on Tuesday I hurt my back quite badly after incorporating the "hip drive" you speak of. I read an article of yours which said:

Most people who have trouble with the squat are having trouble getting good depth while keeping their low back from rounding. Pretty much anybody can get deep if they allow the lumbar spine to relax into flexion, a phenomenon known in some circles as the “butt wink.” Shoving the knees out of the way on descent and keeping them there so that the adductors can do their job is accomplished by an external rotation of the hip.

Is the likely source of my back injury due to his lumbar extension? I've had pretty good depth on my squats, probably going lower than required, and use a low bar position. I'm thinking it could be a combination of going too low even though I have tried to use hip drive to push out of the pocket?

I would ask people at my gym but they use the only squat rack for curling. Most unpleasant.

I'm annoyed at injuring myself but I think it's time to switch from stronglifts to SS to start learning the clean. But any advice on the above is gratefully received.

Thanks

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're asking me to tell you what you did wrong on one squat when I wasn't there to see it. Lumbar extension wasn't what hurt your back, unless you went into extension FROM a flexed position under the load.

[vjohn82]

Sorry, I appreciate the difficulties in asking you to comment on something you cannot see.

I got my friend to record some of my squats today. These are pretty much how I do them all of the time. Would you please be able to advise on them?

*** I was squatting 250lbs when I hurt myself. In these squats I deloaded to 180lbs and worked upto 200lbs before switching when my back started hurting under the higher load. ***

Videos subsequently removed by poster in violation of board policy.

If you have any thoughts on those I would really appreciate it. No-one at my gym does squats or deadlifts and the owner told me to concentrate on using the machines. One does not know whether to laugh or cry.

[Mark Rippetoe]

These squats are really goodmornings. You are coming up from the bottom, shoving your ass back instead of up, letting your back angle flop into a pretty horizontal position, letting the bar move forward, and changing the mechanics of the back angle pretty bad. You have to learn to squat with a vertical bar path/constant back angle.