Hi BBM crew, hope the weekend is treating you well. Im really enjoying the heavy singles in this part of the template!
Im now on my third week of this phase, I have the pins set so that I go an inch below parallel, and come to stop at the bottom, but I am finding this is massively taxing on my lower back, in terms of RPE, it is the back fatigue that is controlling my top working sets rather then the entire movement. By the final back off set Im so tight and sore Its hard to do my hip thrusts immediately after. Is this normal for a Low bar pin squat? Ive checked my form and found I was tending to drop forward a bit right before touching down on the pins,. I have adjusted so this is no longer as prominent but still struggling with my lower back fatigue, It is affecting my Deadlifts on day 3 and am finding it hard to keep my lower back istraight as I initiate the pull. Should I change the pin squat to high bar to control the fatigue or do I just need to adjust to the volume and fatigue on my lower back? I Low bar squat on day 1 and that’s my preferred style of squatting. I am all legs at only 5ft 10 and have a very bent over position at the bottom of a squat but I dont feel this fatigue in my back on pause Squats. Im assuming it may just be technique issue or a long adjustment period to the movement.
Any help or advice would be appreciated
Is this depth / bottom position somehow different from the bottom position you’d achieve in a regular squat or paused squat? If so, that may be part of why you’re experiencing this. Pin squats tend to “punish” you for getting forward in the bottom, for example. If the positions are otherwise the same, it may be a load issue that needs a bit more time for adaptation. With that said, there isn’t anything “magic” about low bar pin squats in this situation and they can be substituted for other squatting movements along the spectrum of specificity to your “main” squat style.
Austin,
Thanks for the quick reply, Yeah I think normally in my low bar squat as I hit depth I have the pins at Im starting to already bounce back in a normal squat, so having to stay super tight to the pins is maybe half an inch deeper then I would be used to without the pins, unfortunately the pins cant be moved less then a good 3 inches per position ( so either full squat depth or sub full ROM) with my squat i do tend to lean forward at the bottom more so then going back on heels, I can sometimes see light right under my right heel as I come out of the bottom once form starts to breakdown under a intense load. I think your right that it is most likely me being punished for maybe being more forward then I should. I shall try perfecting technique and maybe load adjustment before I consider swapping to a high bar position.
Thank you!