starting strength gym
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 19 of 19

Thread: Elbows hitting thighs when squatting?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    2,882

    Default

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt James View Post
    I'm a month shy of 43. Started LP at the end of February 19. Stretched it out for a bit as I was working in a caloric deficit from about the middle of June through October in order to lose some belly fat and get my blood glucose under control. I started doing a 4-day split the end of October, ended up resetting the squat/deadlift a bit (which you can read about in the injury thread) due to bilateral glute medius pain. The left hip thing has been coming and going for a few months. Deadlifts are progressing fine as of now. My lower body day 1 is squat intensity 3x3, DL volume at 80% for 3x5; day 2 is DL 3x1 and 2 backoff triples at 90%, and squat 5x5. Let me know if there is other info you can use. I do have about a .25" LLD (left leg is longer) which I've been correcting with an insert. Prior to that I had pretty bad bilateral hip pain (along with hip pain due to knee slide). So squats have been challenging for quite a while for different reasons.
    Its rare that rest is the answer but it seems like you could use a week off and then a reset. Its also my opinion that a 3 day a week program would be better for you

  2. #12
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    668

    Default

    Ryan,
    I'm willing to give that a try. I assume you mean some variation of HLM? I've had decent luck with bench and press on the current split, so I can figure out a way to make this all work together. Another thought I had was trying high bar squats with a slightly narrower stance. Not optimal, I know, but it maybe won't aggravate my hip as much. And I'm probably getting plenty of low-back/hip work with my current deadlift programming. Thoughts?

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    2,882

    Default

    Yes there are plenty of TM and HLM variants to choose from. I would stick with low bar for now and see how it feels after some rest and a reset

  4. #14
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    668

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CommanderFun View Post
    It looks like your thoracic spine is not in rigid extension. If it were, you probably wouldn't even be able to be looking forward like that at the bottom. Refer back to the blue book with the tennis ball example in the squat chapter. I don't know if you are gripping wide because something forces you to, but it does look to me like your grip can be narrowed. Your wrists are also in extension at the start, and I think the elbow dip is being caused by your hands trying to realign into flexion at the bottom to better hold the bar in place, an issue again caused by not having a rigid thoracic. Granted I'm no coach, so take what I have to say with some salt, but I was curious and took a look and this is all what stuck out to me.
    The elbows dipping happens when my wrists go into extension at the bottom, not flexion. The grip width I'm currently taking is about the narrowest I can do and maintain neutral wrists. I actually prefer a narrower grip as it feels much more secure but I can't do it without wrist extension. Yet, anyway. I'm working on that, along with keeping the head down. I catch myself lifting my head involuntarily coming out of the bottom so I'm going to use a tennis ball to try to eliminate it.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    668

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Arnold View Post
    Yes there are plenty of TM and HLM variants to choose from. I would stick with low bar for now and see how it feels after some rest and a reset
    Ryan, can you give me a little insight into your reasoning for 3 days, so I can program it correctly? Would part of it be that the light day is helpful in terms of reinforcing the correct movement pattern?

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    2,882

    Default

    I find that a 4 day split doesn't allow quite enough recovery for people over 40 unless its a 1-lift-a-day type deal. You can also generally spread get the same amount of work into 3 days anyway. I tend to use something like this:

    Monday: V Squat, V Bench, Chins
    Wednesday: Press(intensity then back off volume), Deadlift
    Friday: Intensity Squat, Intensity Bench

    That's the minimum effective dose. You can do a light squat on Wednesday or conditioning. You can do weighted chins on Friday or PC or Barbell Row or something. Intermediate programming is a learning process about what works for you

  7. #17
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    668

    Default

    Interesting. Over the holidays I accidentally discovered that an extra day or days between my lower body days seemed to work pretty well. I've been toying with the idea of keeping my press/bench days on M/Th and programming my squat/DL days around that but with extra rest (especially after intensity DL/volume squat day). But I haven't fully implemented it yet. I do chins once a week, twice if I have time.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    668

    Default

    So, a couple other questions specific to the hip thing, since I've been kicking this around in my mind for a couple of days.

    1) Since the hip pain/weakness kicks in at the bottom of the movement, prior to the ascent, would lighter paused squats potentially be an option for strengthening this and getting past it? If so, is that something to incorporate as volume, intensity, or an added recovery day?

    2) Lately I have been squatting with my heels pretty much in line with my shoulder joints, which is slightly wider than what I had been doing through my LP. Since the pain really kicks in when my knees are shoved out all the way, would it make sense to bring my toe angle in slightly (and maybe widen the stance slightly to accommodate depth) so that I'm not having to shove the knees out as far? Looking back over the past few weeks of training, I think that I've been unconsciously avoiding aggravating the hip pain by a combo of cheating depth and narrower knees.

    Also looking back at my log, I think that I experienced missed reps due to the hip pain 4 times: July 5, August 22, and Sept 8, plus the most recent one.

    Obviously I'll also be focusing on the wrists, elbows, and head movement when I come back to it. It strikes me that paused squats might be useful there too, giving me a chance to cue those things up in my mind prior to the ascent.

    Appreciate the help and advice.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    2,882

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Hey Matt - I am not familiar with the hip pain you are describing, so I can't really give any advice other than what I would do(week off, deload, etc). If the pain persists past a few weeks it may be time to enlist the services of someone who can help with the pain

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •