Never really squatted before this month or so and all is not well - 5 weeks in & Im on the verge of quitting. I cant stop my lower back rounding at the bottom and I cant work out why. Hamstring flexibility is decent, lower back is strong, Ive tried every technique adjustment I can think of and nothing helps at all. My back is really starting to feel the strain at this point and I think it definitely needs a good weeks rest at least. Happily, the puffed up bodybuilders at the gym have all the answers. :: BB-'270lb!? Lower the weight thats crazy, do 20 reps with 110lb and take thirty seconds between sets like me.' Hut*Hut: - 'im strength training for boxing, not bodybuilding' BB-*blank stare, walks off* 'Strap yourself up to high heaven like me', 'put blocks under your heals like me', 'quarter squat with your toes pointed forward like me'. And if you dissent out comes the predictable response - 'but Im a personal trainer'. Seems they all are. Judging by how fucking weak they are it also seems my 16 year old brother would make them his girlfriend. Twice. Reminds me why I avoided gyms all these years in the first place. Might just go back to pistols and deadlifts at home. :boohoo: Any tips? LOK, Buddy? Anyone?
Sup Hut? as you know I'm all into bodyweight stuff right now.. bodyweight squats and if you can do pistols that's awesome as for the weights.. what I'd recommend is just go not quite as deep.. I have seen people round their back and get hurt in the gym but normally if you can go back up just before that.. you can still get a deep enough squat one method I have used with people before is to put a chair in the cage and just go down until your butt hits the chair and then up.. not sitting or resting on it.. just soon as you feel it.. also make sure you are looking UP when you do your squats.. you dont want to go forward at all.. just UP
Cheers LOK.... I considered reducing the depth but I was reluctant to, partly out of pride, partly cause I wanted to get the hams and glutes involved as much as possible. But I think in the circumstances it's good advice - imperfect squatting is better than nothing and it's sure as hell better than fucking my back up! I'll give that a go on thursday and see how I go. Maybe as my flexibility and strength increases I'll increase the ROM in time.opcorn:
Well, I've always been wary of putting anything under my heels when I squat because I wouldn't want fallen arches, which can fuck up your back as well. Do you keep your abs tight? Do you breathe properly when you squat? You shouldn't be straining unduly. Breathe in on the way down and breathe out on the way up. You might need to do some specialized lower and mid-back training to keep your back from arching. Do you wear a weightbelt? I'd advise against it. If you don't, good. Monitor your breathing to make sure you breathe out on the way up. Even breathe out in a controlled explosive manner on the way up. If you watch yourself in the mirror, tell yourself constantly to keep your back arched as you go down. Perhaps you're leaning too far forward when you squat. One way to make sure you don't lean too far forward is to do front squats with the bar across the front of your upper chest and collarbones. If you lean forward, which often does round your back when it should be arched, you'll drop the weight. Sometimes, particularly when we go for strength, we cheat the movement without realizing it. I got up to squatting 435 for 6 last year, and I wasn't really focussing that much on it. One of the things that helped me was doing front squats as well as back squats (the exercise that lets you handle lots of weight across your back). With front squats, you'll find out where your weak links are right away and you'll know if you lean too far forwards. I would also recommend more lower back work...not just deadlifts. Good mornings and hyperextensions target your lower back specifically so that you strengthen it. Hope this helps. Edit: BTW, I disagree with LOK on one point. Don't shorten the rank of movement because the lower you go, the stronger your lower abs and hip muscles will be. Lighten the weight rather than decrease your range of motion. You could also try Grease the Groove where you select a fairly heavy weight, but you do it 5-6 sets throughout the day EVERYDAY, and then you increase the reps by 1 per week. 3 months later you're doing 12 more reps per set. That would be great progress by anybody's standards.
Hut.. I'll agree with Buddy that lighter weight and deep is better than heavy and not deep.. but if you want to stay heavy.. shorten the ROM just a bit I also STRONGLY agree that Hypers should be done.. when I squatted with weights.. the only time I used even a pad on the bar was going real heavy.. my normal squatting was deep with no pads, no belts, anything i'd see guys in there with SUITS on.. knees wrapped, pads.. .. just silly to me.. basically they were doing more weight than their body could handle unless they wrapped it up ok.. I'd say do this.. drop the weight.. just put a plate on each side.. (135) do them deep and correct and just increase slowly each week.. maintaining form maybe the deep lighter weight squats will work out any in-balances if you are set on heavy weights.. you gotta limit the ROM or risk hurting your back until you can correct it
Thanks guys, you've helped me get my thoughts together on this one....at this stage I think my best bet is to train without squats until I can get some decent hands-on coaching. I know I could probably drop the weights and squat without straining my back, (I started very light 5 weeks ago at about 150lb & didn't notice any problems till I got over about 235) but keeping the weight low really defeats the purpose of strength training. I feel like I would be better concentrating on Deads and Pistols which I can progress in and those things would serve to maintain my squat strength anyway. High reps are definitely not an option for me. The reduced ROM might be worth a try, but it still feels like band aiding the problem a bit. Same with belts & stuff under my heals. For some reason Im pretty determined to keep my training as low tech as possible in every way, I really want to avoid any kind of excess equipment. So I think my short lived experimentation with gym-going has run it's course! At least until I can locate a reputable strength coach. Back to a DIY Tsatsouline program. Deads, Presses, Pistols, 1 arm push ups & Power cleans will get me as strong as any man needs to be!
