I Suck at Squats and Deadlifts...

TayTayDrenDren

Ive been lifting for about 4 months and cant seem to do a decent deadlift or squat due to hip pain. I feel it on the sides of my hips and my tail bone and im not sure whats wrong, too much weight, bad form, no flexibility/balance, etc. What should i do? My leg and back muscles arent progressing as much as i want them to and im getting sick of it!

Bazrulon

If you cannot go heavy, then go light and work your way up from there. If 'light' is too heavy, then go bodyweight. Make sure to have perfect form before going heavier.
Also don't forget to prepare your body with a correct warmup and a few stretches

Mycophilia

http://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-deadlift/
http://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-squat/

I recommend reading these articles as they cover pretty much everything. If you still haven't figured out your issue after that, at least you're better equipped for further troubleshooting.

Ironandwine69

Keep doing them. You know why so many people at the gym don't squat and deadlift? Because they are not easy.
Keep working on your form. Work your core in other ways too. A strong core for good balance is very important.

jemhh

These are not necessarily easy exercises. If you can afford a session with a trainer, I'd encourage you to do that. It's possible that you may need to work on some sort of regression rather than a back squat or conventional deadlift. Or maybe you just need to tweak things slightly.

Troutsy

Is the pain a sharp sudden pain or a dull achy pain? Do you feel it while you are performing the exercise or after?

I would either take a video of yourself doing the workout so you can see your form or schedule a session with a trainer at your gym.

sardelsa

Another vote for getting your form checked for sure. Do you feel it with very low weight/bodyweight too or just heavy? You could be going too heavy too fast.. maybe start light and go from there.

Also do any other movements aggrivate the hip? And are you incorporating other lower body moves besides squats and deadlifts? Don't get me wrong they are fantastic compounds but there are so many other things you can do alongside them will help you strengthen your lower body. Even if you get your form checked and still continue to have issues, you can still progress with low weights or other movements. For example I don't squat heavy. I don't have the equipment for it.. but despite that I make low weights and other exercises work for me in order to progress.

rybo

Besides some of the things already suggested you could also do variations. I'm assuming you are back squatting and conventional dead lift with barbells. You can goblet squat & do kb dead lifts to see if you have pain with those. There's lots of information available on proper form, warm ups and mobility drills for those 2 movements.

not_a_runner

rybo wrote: »

Besides some of the things already suggested you could also do variations. I'm assuming you are back squatting and conventional dead lift with barbells. You can goblet squat & do kb dead lifts to see if you have pain with those. There's lots of information available on proper form, warm ups and mobility drills for those 2 movements.

Second this. There's also a lot of other exercises for legs and back aside from squats and deadlift variations. I had to work on some muscle imbalances for several months before I could do a decent barbell squat.
Leg press, curls/extensions, hip thrusts.
For back there's tons of variations of rows, pull downs, etc.
Isolation movements can be helping in figuring out the muscles you're trying to target.

And don't forget patience! 4 months isn't a lot of time to make muscle gains (I assume that's what you meant by "My leg and back muscles arent progressing as much as i want them to and im getting sick of it!") especially if you haven't mastered technique yet.

canadianlbs

i agree all the way about the form checks and other suggestions in here. the extra thing i'm going to add is, there's no way around learning all kinds of stuff about human anatomy if you lift imo.

be proactive about it. google for the names of the muscles in the zone where you hurt, find one of those muscle-map pictures. and then google again for ideas about how to care for whatever muscles you narrow it down to. it doesn't replace the other things people have suggested, but it's a complement to 'outside' advice.

my guess would be tfl or glute medius, if it's the side of your hip. but you're the person who knows where it hurts, so a guess is all it can be.