Reply With QuoteWatch what happens to your back as you look up, and try to lift the bar with your chest instead of driving your hips up.
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My 5 reps of squats from different angles. What's causing my back to hurt?
22, male, squatting 175lb at 175lb body weight. Almost 3 months into the starting strength linear progress. I gained 40 lbs in the past 3 months and I had started squatting with an empty bar. I'm always worried about my form and back pain these days. What's wrong with my form and how canI fix it? I did read the book.
✓ Member
Watch what happens to your back as you look up, and try to lift the bar with your chest instead of driving your hips up.
Member
your back goes into flexion pretty bad
Member
Yea - this is too heavy for you, so your hips are shooting up first ( i know we want hip drive but this is too much,) and the hips are also shooting back, essentially to try to hide the quads since they feel they cannot lift the weight, and then after your hips shoot up and back, you are then trying to just "good morning" the bar up, but your back is folding under that pressure in the second part of the rep, and flexing really badly.Originally Posted by Fulcrum
This looks very bad for your back, i think you should do a hard reset, immediately, and work back up from a much lighter weight focusing very intensely on form.
Also- get a belt and learn how to brace properly with the belt, this will defintiely help the problem here.
You have made incredible progress for 3 months - starting from just the bar, gaining 40 pounds - it's amazing, but you've just come a bit too fast here, and even with a hard reset you will still have made such amazing progress, and with adding weight 3 times a week you'll be back up to this weight in no time. For now, you need to make sure you are squatting at a weight where you can keep your back rigidly straight though.
Member
I see what you mean, but on the other hand, isn't he already doing way too much hip drive to begin with? Like, he's essentially shooting his hips altheweay up and back, without ever even lifting his chest at ALL.. so is the solution really to do MORE hip drive and stay MORE horizontil? He shooting up so much with the hips first, that at one point halfway into the ascent, his back gets like 100% horizontile, that's when it rounds too. I feel like it's not that he's coming up with his chest out of the hole, it looks like th eopposite, the chest isn't raising at ALL out of the hole because it can't support the weight.
i am no expert, Im happy to be wrong, just curious to hear your opinion on what I'm thinking
✓ Member
I'm also no expert and prepared to be wrong, but I'm comparing it to his previous form check.
Constant low-back soreness. How can I improve my form? (50sec video)
Basically a high bar squat with no hip drive whatsoever. I'd rather see it overemphasized than completely absent given that this was basically his first crack at it. That being said, I'm not convinced he's overdoing it, and he's certainly still not staying with the hip drive long enough before trying to lift the chest. I completely agree with you about back tightness being a huge issue though.
Gorkem, I really like this video about upper back tightness. Watch it and compare it to what you're doing.
And again, stop looking in the bloody mirror. Put something on the ground to stare at if you have to, but STOP looking up. Allow Rip to demonstrate why.
Sure would be nice to have a video that doesn't suck too. Gorkem, please read THIS STICKY I tried to direct you to last time. This video is even more useless than your last one.
I do agree with Jeff that you may have to take weight off the bar to learn a proper squat, but even a body weight squat isn't so heavy that it would be my first recommendation. However, the way you've been squatting doesn't place the same moment force on the low back, and so doesn't strengthen it to the same degree that a more horizontal low bar squat does. It's possible that your ability to maintain spinal extension in the more horizontal position hasn't kept up with the weight on the bar. Really focus on it during warm ups, try to fix it at a working weight, and if you can't manage then a deload is better than trashing your spine. Either way, get a belt and learn to use it. Shoes too.
Member
I'll watch these two videos today and then go train, hopefully I'll get the video right too this time.
Member
I'm posting a new one with hopefully a good angle and a very light weight. I really want to correct my form asap, I lost two weeks f'in around in the gym just too worried about my form.
Starting Strength Coach
Hey Gorkem
Please post the updated form videos in this thread to keep it consolidated, rather than starting a new thread.
Thanks
Member
Okay sir but I'm not allowed to edit my posts so I can't change the first post. I guess I'll just leave it here then?
I squatted with a very light weight today because I really want to get my form correct already, I already lost 2 weeks screwing around at the gym, worried about my squat form and back pain. Here's how I squatted about 100 pounds:
These look good to me. Are they? If so, would it mean that my form is OK, I should go for a deload and then try to work my way back up while trying to maintain the form?
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