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Thread: Squat lower back rounding

  1. #1
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    Jun 2024
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    Default Squat lower back rounding

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    Uploading for a friend.

    Things I have noticed:
    - His lower back arches a bit at the lower half of the movement.
    - His back angle is probably too vertical, maybe from the habit of High Bar Squat.

    Some points to take into account:
    - He has been doing high bar squats for a long time. He did 117.5kg 2 weeks ago, and decided to switch to LB (as is intended as part of the program).
    - He is experiencing groin (adductor and inside towards the knee) strain/pain when going down below parallel and being horizontal. He does a long warm up and stretches to be able to go deep at all. He has also felt this in HB but it aggravated in LB.
    - He claims to be bracing his lower back and abs real tight.

    Is it possible the adductor strain is related to the rounding of the back?

    In the book there is a section that addresses this and gives an exercise to control the lower back, where you lay down on the floor on your belly. He claims this doesn't help him much and he knows how to extend the lower back generally (i.e. in the Deadlift he doesn't have this issue).

    Any idea what the issue may be? Thanks!

    Two different angles:
    Squat form check LB 105kg - YouTube

    Squat form check 100kg (3rd) - YouTube

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
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    There’s lots to fix here. Upper back is flexed. You can tell he was high bar squatting. He’s not leaning over at all. Low back is not even an issue.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Satch12879 View Post
    There’s lots to fix here. Upper back is flexed. You can tell he was high bar squatting. He’s not leaning over at all. Low back is not even an issue.
    Thanks for the comment. I tried to cue him to point the chest at the floor, and chest out. Doesn't seem to help. It seems like when he comes to around parallel (even with no bar), he begins to round the lower back to hit depth, even though his knees are out. Not sure exactly what other cues may help. He seems convinced it is a flexibility issue.

  4. #4
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    The bar may not be in the correct position at the top: his grip is loose. His elbows and arms should have the relationship to his torso that they assume right when he "tightens up" to begin the descent. Have him move the bar down is back a shade and pull his elbows in more. This may fix the high-barring.

  5. #5
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    Dec 2021
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    Quote Originally Posted by danz View Post
    It seems like when he comes to around parallel (even with no bar), he begins to round the lower back to hit depth, even though his knees are out. Not sure exactly what other cues may help. He seems convinced it is a flexibility issue.
    Yep - he's thinking of depth being determined by how low the bar goes, not by what his body does.

    Have you had him do the unloaded "praying hands" position? That position inherently gets the body in the right position. It proves that it's not a flexibility issue, and it helps acclimate the lifter's proprioception to where they need to get to. He's got a vertical back pretty strongly ingrained - you need to get him thinking of the right indices for his body to correct that. Getting him in that position and having him push up against your hand pressing against his lower back/hip may help him understand.

    Correcting where he focuses his gaze might help, too. Get him in the praying hands position, get his neck neutral with his spine, and note how far out in front of him that puts his natural point of gaze. Then put a brightly colored object that distance in front of him for the squat, and tell him to keep his eyes lock onto it, and try to burn a hole through it with his stare when it feels like he's slowing down on the way up.

    Also, his toes are pointed way too far outboard, especially in that first video. If that's from you getting him to drive his knees out, it's another misaligned index that he has in his mind.

  6. #6
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    Jun 2024
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Jason Donaldson View Post
    Yep - he's thinking of depth being determined by how low the bar goes, not by what his body does.

    Have you had him do the unloaded "praying hands" position? That position inherently gets the body in the right position. It proves that it's not a flexibility issue, and it helps acclimate the lifter's proprioception to where they need to get to. He's got a vertical back pretty strongly ingrained - you need to get him thinking of the right indices for his body to correct that. Getting him in that position and having him push up against your hand pressing against his lower back/hip may help him understand.

    Correcting where he focuses his gaze might help, too. Get him in the praying hands position, get his neck neutral with his spine, and note how far out in front of him that puts his natural point of gaze. Then put a brightly colored object that distance in front of him for the squat, and tell him to keep his eyes lock onto it, and try to burn a hole through it with his stare when it feels like he's slowing down on the way up.

    Also, his toes are pointed way too far outboard, especially in that first video. If that's from you getting him to drive his knees out, it's another misaligned index that he has in his mind.
    Thanks for the comment. I've tried to get him in the "praying hands" position, even in that position he is unable to get his back straight at the bottom.

    I got this advice which I think is in the right direction - Play around with the stance. It seems to be due to his adductor strain. So we'll try either narrowing the stance and turning the toes out, or widening the stance and turning the toes forward. Different angles will target different adductor muscles so he may be able to get away with one stance or the other. Otherwise maybe a larger heel might help. We'll check this out on Sunday.

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