Alternative to Barbell Squats

ruststar

I recently restarted Stronglifts 5x5 after taking a break for a few months. I had been doing really well - my squats were up to 140, my deadlift 160, and my bench press and bent over rows were at 95. I have been having trouble with the muscles in my upper back and it seems to stay with me no matter what exercise or how much foam rolling/stretching I do. The squats, with the barbell sitting on the problem area, aggravate the issue the most. My legs are crying out for more work, but I'm getting leary of the barbell squat. Are there alternatives that work the muscles as well? I miss being able to do the heavier amounts, and my butt is getting flat again!

On another discussion I heard that the bulgarian split squat was a good alternative. Would you agree or do you have other ideas?

claritarejoice

I have the same issue - neck and inner shoulder pain, muscle spasm and radiculopathy. One part of the equation is that if your chest muscles are more developed than your back muscles, you will hunch forward and strain your neck and shoulders. So I am trying to strengthen my back. Another issue is posture - make sure to keep your shoulders back and down as much as possible. Bench and overhead press also aggravate it for me. I have been looking for solutions too so here are some ideas for alternatives to barbell squats. I hope they help:
1) hold dumbbells and keep the weight down by your sides - not as much force on your legs but better than nothing.
2) goblet squats
3) wear a weighted vest
4) lunges
5) weighted glute bridges (I got the idea from this group)
6) squat machine/leg press

If anyone else has other ideas I am interested too!

tameko2

No single exercise will replace a proper squat, but you could put together a couple of exercises for it.

I'm curious though, what issue? And how does squatting aggravate it?

ruststar

I've worked really hard on my form and I'm certain there's nothing in my posture that's creating the pain between my should blades and up through my neck. That discomfort (tightness, never feel completely relaxed) has been with me since a car accident last year. At lighter weights it's tolerable, but as the weight progresses it gets harder and harder to recover from. At my highest weight of 140 for the squats, when I decided to take a break from it, my legs could handle more, but the pain in my shoulders/upper back didn't feel safe.

I had a goal of being able to squat 200 pounds - but I'm willing to give up on that to just have really strong legs and glutes, which is why I'm looking for other variations than be close to as helpful as full barbell squats.

tameko2

I wonder if a safety squat bar/yoke bar would help or not? But its kind of moot, since they're not exactly easy to access.

So um I think I'd do a few things after assuming you've already got a great stretching/foam rolling regimen? . One is, I'd consider leaving a higher rep lower weight squat day in for a while, like whatever weight DOESN'T cause the back issues. See if you can push up the weight you can tolerate a bit although I wouldn't go ULTRA high rep (like I wouldnt' go over 10 reps) and I wouldn't push this at all. Also, have you experimented with high bar vs low bar?

Second is, I don't see why a Bulgarian split squat or weighted lunge wouldn't cause the exact same issues - you're still putting a bar on your shoulders/back and I'm assuming that's what you're seeing as the issue here?

Sooo then. It depends on what you've got access to. If you've got access to the equipment I'd do some combination of a leg press, a glute ham raise, barbell glute bridges, front squats, Romanian deadlifts, and regular deadlifts (not all on the same day, I'd pick one quad dominant and one glute/ham dominant movement and use those consistently for 4-8 weeks then switch til I found whatever worked best for me).

No more than 2x a week for the lower body work, and you're going to use your deadlift as your 'this is the thing that shows I'm super strong' lift.