Squat assistance

lucycw87

Hi all, I'm a new member so I hope I'm not covering old ground here! I'm really struggling with my squat form. I've watched loads of videos such as the 'you think you can squat' series and read a lot of articles but I just wanted to check that my understanding was right.

I've always had issues with the squat. I was lifting back in 2010 and it was a problem then and then I went off to university and stopped and am now getting back into lifting.

I thought that I'd got my goblet squat form sorted but having videoed myself today I can see that my back is rounding as I get close to parallel/at parallel - if I stop before I round then I can't reach parallel. If I add a bar to my squat then it all goes completely out of the window - I can't get down to parallel and the bar is more in line with the ball/toe of my foot than midfoot in both high bar and low bar positions.

Am I right in thinking that this is probably due to tight hips and hamstrings? I can really feel in my hips where I've been squatting today so I'm assuming that that's part of the problem - I can't sit back enough due to tightness in hips/hamstrings and so obviously I'm not going to get the depth and my upper body is going to end up further forward?

So moving forward, what should I do with this? Am I not going to be able to follow stronglifts? Should I keep trying to squat or should I use different leg exercises that I can do while I work on flexibility? And are there are exercises that will particularly help to target those areas?
Would it be a good idea to do something like a box squat, starting quite high and then reducing the size of the box slowly over time as I improve? I'm not sure my gym has a box but I could try and find something!

I'd really appreciate some advice, a lot of the guides out there assume that if you're having problems with your squat then if you correct your form you can get it right and I don't think it's that easy for me!

krokador

Heya, and welcome aboard!

Few questions for you: how wide is your stance when you squat? Can you actually get to parallel when using just bodyweight? Can you do it while holding on to something to keep your balance? If you still can't, try widening it just a bit and see if that helps at all.

How tight are your ankles? Mobility there is just as important as in the hips! The cool part is, you can combine a hip flexor stretch with an ankle stretch so you can kill two birds with one stone there

Also, how's your lunge (bodyweight, again)? If you're majorly unstable, it could carry over to the squat a bit.

You can still do SL, but you might want to keep the load somewhat light until you really have your form down.

LishieFruit89

My only suggestion is to also post this in the East, Train, Progress group here.
I'd attach the form video when you post it there and also post it here.

lucycw87

Thanks for the replies so far! My stance is around shoulder width or maybe slightly wider with toes pointed out. If I try and go to parallel with bodyweight then I have a tendency to end up with the weight more on the inside of my feet (my feet end up rolling inwards) and I'm not very stable - I can't sit back into it, in order to be able to stay down in that position then I have to have my arms out in front of me to stabilise. If I try to push my knees out further to help even out the weight distribution on my feet then my hips really start to pull!
I can squat down with something to hold onto, but if I let go then I'd fall backwards, my weight feels really unevenly distributed. If I take a wider stance then my hips really pull again and I can't get down low enough.

I have a feeling this is a combination of poor hips, legs and ankles - and possibly anterior pelvic tilt :-( I feel quite hopeless at the moment!
I did that test for dorsiflexion where I stand near a wall and try and touch my knee to the wall and my right leg can only touch the wall if my toes are about 5/6cm away. My left leg is much better, It's more like 10-12cm but still not the 15cm all the website guides say you should be able to do.

My lunges are fine, I don't find them difficult, I can generally keep my balance and I can get them low enough so that my knee touches the floor.

I'm really embarrassed to post the video because I think my form is completely awful (and I don't want to be ripped to shreds for doing it completely wrong) but here's the goblet squat one. This was in my garage (couldn't get a video when I was at the gym this morning) using a really light dumbbell because that's all was available at home! Please ignore the washing machine in the background! http://tinyurl.com/pc4tfy6

krokador

Oh, I can somewhat see the little bit of rounding at the bottom there. It looks like you're a bit afraid to let your butt go back (from what you've described, that's understandable) and you end up bending forward to counter balance. Working on mobility in general would indeed probably help. Here's an article I read a while back that outlines a few fixes for that "butt wink", maybe it'll help you out a bit!

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/02/06/bottom-position-squat-defining-characteristic-human-existence/

Also, you should try to get yourself used to balancing in that bottom squat position, even if it means holding on to something at the beginning. Just getting down there and moving around a bit will work on the tightness. The box might not be a bad idea either if you can find one, since it'll allow you to drop back without fear of falling to the ground.

Hope that helps

lucycw87

Thanks for that krokador :-) I did a lot of reading last night and then read your linked article and it supports the conclusion that I'd come to anyway... it's anterior pelvic tilt! It makes sense, if I buy jeans they always gape at the back and are tight round my belly, I've never been able to get flat abs (always a pooch there) and if I try and do floor ab exercises I really struggle to do them correctly because I can't keep my lower back pushed into the floor!

I found a really great article on T Nation that gives a whole list of exercises that include the ones in the article you linked so I'm going to work on those because they help the problem by increasing mobility and flexibility while strengthening the weak areas that cause the pelvic tilt. And I'll keep practising getting down into that squat position and sitting there, and hopefully over time I'll see some improvement!

I have a feeling I've been like this for a long time so it might take a while to sort it out!
Link to article on anterior pelvic tilt in case it helps anyone: http://www.t-nation.com/training/trouble-with-the-tilt-correcting-apt