Hello, I’ve recently reintroduced barbell high bar squats back into my program after awhile. I’m not the best at squatting since I am 6’4 all femurs, so I use 1 inch Oly shoes to improve my leverages. I’ve always kind of had “butt wink” (lumbar flexion under load) and was wondering if this contributes to an increase in injury risk as I get stronger. If so is there any way to mitigate this if its even an issue, I’m trying to learn.
Everyone experiences a degree of lumbar flexion during the squat, whether it’s visible or not.
This is not something to worry about, in our opinion. If you’re interested in more specific/individualized advice for a form check, we have a service that may help.
Thanks for the quick response. I have a question about improving ankle dorsiflexion as well. Would it be smart to do some sets of calf raises before my squats to improve AD? I don’t think calf work would limit the weight I can do going into squats since they recover pretty quickly, and maybe loosen up the ankles?
It is unlikely that doing a non-squat warm-up will work better than a squat warm-up for improving ROM and skills in the squat. If you can squat without first doing calf raises, that’s what I’d do.