Hips Leaning to One Side

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
21

[quote]MisterT wrote:

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:

Look, if you can squat ATG no problem as you say, then you don’t have a hip mobility problem. But as I mentioned, your right heel comes up more than the left (both of them should be firmly planted) which does indicate your ankle mobility isn’t up to par. If you allow your heels to raise you’re not going to feel a mobility problem anyway, so how is it obvious to you that the calves ain’t the problem?

[/quote]

I understand.

But how do you explain the hip swing happening at the top of the movement, before the calves are in a stretched position?

The heels come off at the very bottom when the calves are in a stretched position.

I’m not being argumentative, I will stretch my calves anyway, it doesn’t matter, as you caught a problem that needs to be addressed.

I just feel like it’s not the main issue here.

RDLs from behind, the imbalance is clear in this video.[/quote]

Over time, a right-left imbalance any where can reinforce an asymmetrical motor pattern, and when the bad motor pattern becomes obvious it could be hard to identify its original source. So I could be wrong about the calves being the root of problem. But either way, your right and left legs are moving differently throughout the entire range of the lift, so I would still recommend doing some form of single leg work to fix it.

Look up split squats. Practice doing these the same way with each leg and you should able to get total control of your squat form regardless of mobility issues. Think about it at least

22

Good thread, a lot of these are problems I seem to have and will look into it more. My main symptom is lower back pain on my right side only after I finish a set on squats. I don’t really notice it during the set but after I rack the bar and walk away it hurts on that 1 side. I notice my imbalances outside of squatting but I’m sure its related.

I know people without these problems have varying preferences on these two things, but do these matter at all in regards to imbalance problems?

  • Shoes, olympic vs flat
  • Stance, wide vs narrow
23


This is a better example of hips leaning to one side I think…

24

[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
This is a better example of hips leaning to one side I think…

[/quote]

Good work. This is an excellent example

25

[quote]sufiandy wrote:
Good thread, a lot of these are problems I seem to have and will look into it more. My main symptom is lower back pain on my right side only after I finish a set on squats. I don’t really notice it during the set but after I rack the bar and walk away it hurts on that 1 side. I notice my imbalances outside of squatting but I’m sure its related.

I know people without these problems have varying preferences on these two things, but do these matter at all in regards to imbalance problems?

  • Shoes, olympic vs flat
  • Stance, wide vs narrow
    [/quote]

I would imagine the imbalance occurs naturally but is slight and generally not noticeable unless one has frequently done an action that causes one side to be grossly stronger than the other.

Like squatting. After all, your body doesn’t really care how it gets the weight up. It just needs to get it up. So if one side is stronger, that side will move to compensate. Over and over. Until you have an imbalance and it fucks you over somehow.

26

I’ve tried the hip rotation tests it seems my legs are even.

I put more weight on my right that’s for sure. Unconsciously.

I have no control over this, no matter how hard I try my hips always go to the right.

I guess my only shot now is to do unilateral movements.

Any tips on how to program those?

Lunges or split squats?

Barbell or dumbbell?

27

[quote]MisterT wrote:
I’ve tried the hip rotation tests it seems my legs are even.

I put more weight on my right that’s for sure. Unconsciously.

I have no control over this, no matter how hard I try my hips always go to the right.

I guess my only shot now is to do unilateral movements.

Any tips on how to program those?

Lunges or split squats?

Barbell or dumbbell?[/quote]

28

Did you try rotating your right foot out more than the left? If your tibial rotation is uneven it will be like performing an Olympic squat on your right leg and a Powerlifting squat on your left and your hips will shift to the right.

MightyMouse’s photo is actually a great illustration. She is shifting to the left because her feet have uneven rotation. Uneven tibial rotation will have the exact same effect when the feet are evenly rotated.

Try the following:
Lay on your stomach, bend your knees. Do your feet have the same angle? If not, there’s your problem.

29

[quote]csalamonsen wrote:
MightyMouse’s photo is actually a great illustration. She is shifting to the left because her feet have uneven rotation. Uneven tibial rotation will have the exact same effect when the feet are evenly rotated.

[/quote]

So if you have these problems is rotating the foot a GOOD thing? As long as the end result is no leaning to either side? So if you lean with even foot placement you’d be better off with uneven feet and no lean?

30

[quote]

So if you have these problems is rotating the foot a GOOD thing? As long as the end result is no leaning to either side? So if you lean with even foot placement you’d be better off with uneven feet and no lean?[/quote]

As a temporary solution, yes. Your lumbar will be better off and you can continue to make progress as you fix the underlying issue. Tibial rotation can be fixed. I believe there are some drills for doing so on YouTube.

31

[quote]csalamonsen wrote:
Did you try rotating your right foot out more than the left? If your tibial rotation is uneven it will be like performing an Olympic squat on your right leg and a Powerlifting squat on your left and your hips will shift to the right.

MightyMouse’s photo is actually a great illustration. She is shifting to the left because her feet have uneven rotation. Uneven tibial rotation will have the exact same effect when the feet are evenly rotated.
[/quote]

I didn’t get the chance. I’ll try tomorrow.

[quote]csalamonsen wrote:
Try the following:
Lay on your stomach, bend your knees. Do your feet have the same angle? If not, there’s your problem.[/quote]

Holy shit man.

I think you’re on to something.

Holy shit could this be it?!

I will make sure tomorrow.

Would this also explain the hips swinging to the right on the RDLs?

32

There are two reasons on the top of my head why you can’t consciously control how a part of your body stays during squats.

  1. The weight is much too heavy for the weaker muscle to even begin consider dealing with, and as such it doesn’t even bother to try.
  2. You got nerve issues.

Since you’re not apparently dealing with atrophy at any part of your body, I don’t think it’s #2. Post a picture of you squatting without a bar ATG, then with a bar ATG.

One thing I noticed after I looked at your videos again-

Are low bar or high bar squatting? I just wanted to clarify because it looks like you’re low-bar squatting. If you are, then you appear to be keeping your body too upright, and as such the bar is not where it’s supposed to be in relation to your feet. Basically, you seem to be squatting high-bar style with a low-bar position. Not good.

Continuing this- You’re not actually going ATG. Obviously ATG is subjective to each individual (since no one will genuinely be able to have their ass touch the ground while BB squatting), but in general the individual’s hip should be lower than their knees.

In the first video you veer between hitting parallel in some reps, going an inch or two above that in others.
In the second video you’re continually hitting parallel with one hip but not the other.

In any case, try testing the difference in strength between the left and right side of your lower body. The more and more I watch your video, the more I think that’s the issue.

I also think you’re not anywhere close to as flexible as you think you are. Try goblet squats (Goblet Squat 101) and see how your lower body works. The form will be entirely equal to a high bar/front squat, and should be a great indicator of actual flexibility.

33

These squats are low bar.

I’m familiar with how hip drive works and I think these squats are good low bar squats if I were trying to high bar this shit I would have lead with my chest not my ass.

Torso position is relevant to individual body mechanics.

It’s not the only way to judge a LB back squat.

There’s no need to go ATG in low bar, just to break parallel, the point at which the hip is below the knee.

What is your max squat and your BW? I ask because I don’t take advice from everyone. And your post shows a certain lack of knowledge.

Of course I could be wrong and I could be the one lacking knowledge instead.

It’s nothing personal but this is the internet. And if you knew the kind of advice I’ve been given over the years, you’d understand.

34

You’re right that squatting form differs for every individual. However, one of the important things of squatting is that the bar should be at the center (over the middle of your feet in other words) of your body. If it’s not, then you can get into trouble. It’s impossible to tell exactly what’s going on from just videos, but my impression is that the bar is traveling forward. I could be wrong. I could also be wrong regarding all the other things I think about your form. A video is a video.

Regarding ATG/low bars and crap. No, powerlifters don’t have to go ATG based upon competition rules in most places. IIRC, they have to reach parallel. Low bar squats are different from powerlifting squats in terms of stance. Low bar squats are just that, low bar squats. Because their bar placement is different compared to high-bar squats, different muscles are emphasized and your torso position/movement changes considerably. You can certainly go ATG with low bar squats- just don’t have a stance as wide as a powerlifter. It is easier to reach ATG and go deeper with a high bar squat though, because the entire position is more natural to the body and the whole upright position means that your butt will just be plain closer to the ground.

Yes, torso positioning is not the only way to judge a low bar squat, but torso positioning just naturally follows from a proper descent.

If they were good low bar squats then obviously you wouldn’t be having these issues. That you are having them means that they’re not good low bar squats, ya? Either a muscle imbalance or flexibility is causing you to have problems with your form.

My 5x squat before I had to stop because of an tendinitis issue was 210lb at 155lb. 1RM that I did was 245. Probably could have done 255,but I never got to actually try it. My current 5x is 185 at 158lb and much fatter than I was before, and I hope to get to where I was previously by the end of April/early May. Nothing earth-shattering, but hopefully strong enough to talk to you about the exact same issue I had when I restarted squatting and dealt with?

And in case you were wondering, I had the following pre/after stop due to tendinitis fuckage.

Bench-165lb/Can’t bench because of tendinitis.
OHP-105lb/Can’t OHP because of the above.
DB Row (didn’t BB row because I had horrendous form and never had anyone to help me with them)-95lb/80lb
Dead-lift- 305lb/280lb. 1rm-345lb/315lb.

Look, I recognized that I had the exact same issue as you, albeit less drastic than the one you have, and wrote a long post earlier detailing exactly what I tried to fix it and what did and didn’t work. And you decide to argue with me over meaningless crap and call me out on my squat #?

Wow.

35

It’s not meaningless.

Your knowledge of the low bar squat is not good.

I knew you would pull the if they’re good why are you here card, I’m here because I’m leaning to the side in my squat, is my torso position too high, like you said? I don’t think it is.

There’s more of what I’m talking about in the book Starting Strength if you want to know.

Look, man, good advice is good advice, unilateral training was good advice.

It’s nothing personal. This is the internet I question everything.

Thanks for the help.

36

I tried to turn my right toe a bit out, it looks better I think but light weight.

Also, lol…

Allow me to translate what the guy was saying:

“He ask you to film him?”

“Yeah”

“Dude, please tell him something, man”

“Yeah I know”

“You know what I’m talking about, right?” (the full squat, I go to a bodybuilding gym)

37

I have the same problem. If you check this video (Trening NMZ družine - Februar 2013 - YouTube) at 0:48 my hips also swing to the right. ;( Also my right foot is more externally rotated then the left and my left leg is a bit shorter then right (I think, or maybe it’s the other way around).

It seems weird that so many people have this problem.

I’d also appreciate if anyone has any ideas how to solve it. I was thinking about just dropping bilateral squatting all together.

38

So am I.

I don’t know, man. It’s frustrating as fuck I can’t move up in weights till I fix this shit.

I’m already at risk because my spine is broken no need to add to that poor technique risk too.

Sucks. No coaches worth half a shit around either, everyone in my gym is convinced I’m squatting too deep and that I should do half squats instead for my back integrity.

The one’s that do squat deep do high-bar.

And I can’t high bar for shit I can’t sit down between my toes without falling over. All I can do is sit back.

39

Squat looks much better now. You could also try rotating your left foot in a bit, experiment until you find the ideal foot placement. As for fixing the underlying issue there are some videos on YouTube. Also, for me it worked just twisting my leg a bit without moving the foot before the workout and in between sets to get the angles of the femur and the tibia better aligned. It will take some sessions to even it completely. Use caution though, don’t use too much force.

I think this is a pretty common condition. I personally think I got it from snowboarding. But I imagine any activity where you get repeated rotational force through the knee could cause this.