several months ago, you managed to convince me about the uselessness of stretching
Since then, I stopped stretching completely and, amazingly, I still haven’t turned into Ephialtes of the movie 300.
However, I have always had trouble maintaining a rigid lumbar spine in the bottom portion of the squat, and now that the weights are going up, I’m worried about the safety of my back. I’ve already watched (and read) all of the content you have available on the topic, and I can say I’m pretty sure that my problem is a very restricted flexibility in the hamstrings: in the bottom portion of the squat, I simply cannot, for the life of me, keep the lumbar spine in a neutral position. To give you an idea of the situation, if a try to touch my toes, I can reach, at most, mid shin. (I really don’t think that, in my case, the problem could be an inability to contract the lumbar erectors, as described in Starting Strength, 3rd edition).
I showed the footage of my squat to a physiotherapist I go to once every six months or so, and he said that the lumbar flexion is indeed something that could compromise the health of my back. He, as any physiotherapist would do, suggested stretching.
So now I’m pretty lost… what should I do? Should I try to cut the depth of my squat to a “slightly above parallel” depth, since the problem occurs only at the bottom? Should I try stretching? Stop squatting?? Quit training??? Please help
PS: I don’t know if form check is something you are willing to do online, but if needed, I can provide footage. Please let me know if you can help me with that.
I’d guess you are not setting your back in a neutral position before the squat. We don’t normally do form checks here, but since you asked so nicely and I don’t want you to either stop or waste time stretching, I’ll check your video.
thank you so much for this opportunity (it really sucks that the nearest Starting Strength Gym is in another continent…)
I uploaded a video on youtube: it’s a really light warm up set, because I wanted to make sure that the problem was not “weight related”. link to the video: https://youtu.be/uKKwxyP9bX8
There are a couple of things going on here and your “lack of flexibility” is certainly not the problem. You are indeed not setting your back into a lock normal anatomical position before each rep
You need to stand up straight, crunch your abs, and hold your WHOLE back in place. Your upper back should be tight when you set up under the bar, with your shoulder blades pulled together and your elbows held lower, closer to your lats. Crunching your abs or locking your torso means that you contract your abs and pull your ribs down toward your hips.
When you squat-HOLD your back. Set your gaze at one place 4 ft in front of you and keep your gaze there. Drive up with your hips and HOLD your back.
Thank you so much for your help, I am very relieved to know that a change in my form could fix the problem without any kind of additional work to fix my “deficiencies”. I think I understand what you mean: my lumbar spine is kinda hyper-extended at the top, and then, at the bottom, I can no longer maintain that position: I need to have a more straight position from the top (with contracted abs), and then hold it for the entire rep… am I right?
I have just another quick question: I’ll try to fix my form and do what you suggested, but what should I do in the meantime? Would you consider dangerous the amount of lumbar flexion I show in this video? Should I stop adding weight until my form is fixed?
It’s not “unsafe”, however you need to fix your back position. Your back is fairly uncontrolled here, so you need to learn how to set it and hold it.
You do need to start with your back set with contracted abs, there is no need at all for the hyper-extension, and I’d fix this at a weight that allows you to do so. Again, you are not in danger, but this is a position and habit that needs to be fixed, so use weight that allows you to do so and then move up gradually.
got it. i’ll have to work hard on it, since it happens independently from the weight on the bar. i’ll try also to push my knees out more (i reread rip’s advice on this, too). thank you so much for your help.