My butt hurts

Hey Docs,

I’ve been having recurring pain in my left glute/upper hamstring area for about a year now. It’s not terribly sharp or severe but very nagging. It specifically happens during/after squatting. The further I get away from my last squatting session, the more the pain dissipates. I took about a 3 month break from training for personal reasons a few months ago and when I started training again it came back. I just started reading Explain Pain from Dr Baraki’s suggestion and hope to get a better understanding of pain in general. I’ve been squatting exclusively low bar and this has been bothering me with both the bridge and endurance templates. I plan on doing Hypertophy 1 next. I’ve tried narrowing my stance but it hasn’t seemed to help. Any advice on how I can get my booty to calm down?

Thanks,
DC

Have you tried using any variations other than the low bar squat?

Do you notice any difference in the discomfort associated with load or fatigue (i.e., heavier vs. lighter, or whether it gets worse in later sets vs. earlier sets, etc.)?

I’ve haven’t tried anything other than low bar but I’m definitely willing to switch to something I’m able to better tolerate. It seems to get worse at heavier loads and in later sets. It hurts most at the bottom of the squat coming out of the hole. Paused squats have also been bothersome. I’m somewhat limited with equipment. I currently have a regular Olympic bar, power rack, and leg press at my disposal. Thanks.

I tried squatting high bar a couple days ago and my glute has only become more aggravated. It hurt with an empty bar and progressively got worse as I added weight. By the time I got to 185 it became so bad I was shifting my weight onto my right leg. So I gave up and hit the leg press for the first time in years. No pain. I’ll continue leg pressing but I’d really like to get back under the bar. The pain really occurs at the bottom so I wonder if I were to set the pins fairly high I could find a ROM that doesn’t bother me. Would high pin squats be advisable here? Ultimately I’d like to get back to squatting to depth without pain but I don’t know how to get there.

Thanks,
DC