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Keep a Straight Lower Back when Squatting Deep?

Beginners
#1

Hey guys,

I am looking for help with my squat.

I am having trouble on a few counts and it is making squatting even with lighter weights feel dangerous and leaving my lower back sore.

  1. I can’t keep my back vertical like I want to do, I think this is due to having hip and lower back inflexibility

  2. I can’t squat deep and also maintain a straight lower back when I am at the bottom, it rounds forward and relaxes, otherwise I can’t get that deep position.

I have been doing the agile 8, foam rolling and static stretching for 3 weeks and doing it even more over the last week since I started lifting.

Any advice?

#2

Are you squatting high bar or low bar?

#3

post a video

#4

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Are you squatting high bar or low bar?[/quote]

High bar, although I have tried low bar too. Low bar feels better with the lower back not rounding as much but I am still having a problem with insanely overexagerated leaning over, even when my back is straight. In both styles.

Even on air squats with no weight, I can only squat by having my body leaning over to a ridiculous level.

I am very inflexible and have stiffness in the hips, lower back, calves, ankles. As I mentioned above I am working on these issues but it is not making any immediate difference (as I had not expected it to)

#5

[quote]Perlenbacher15 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Are you squatting high bar or low bar?[/quote]

High bar, although I have tried low bar too. Low bar feels better with the lower back not rounding as much but I am still having a problem with insanely overexagerated leaning over, even when my back is straight. In both styles.

Even on air squats with no weight, I can only squat by having my body leaning over to a ridiculous level.

I am very inflexible and have stiffness in the hips, lower back, calves, ankles. As I mentioned above I am working on these issues but it is not making any immediate difference (as I had not expected it to)[/quote]

you already diagnosed the problem yourself.

it’s tightness, and you’re new to the movement.

patience daniel-son

it will take you a long time to adjust

#6

[quote]Jarvan wrote:
you already diagnosed the problem yourself.

it’s tightness, and you’re new to the movement.

patience daniel-son

it will take you a long time to adjust
[/quote]

Yes. Trying to force things by loading a dysfunctional movement will hurt you in the long run. You need to work on your flexibility, first and foremost.

#7

[quote]Perlenbacher15 wrote:
I have been doing the agile 8, foam rolling and static stretching for 3 weeks and doing it even more over the last week since I started lifting.

Any advice? [/quote]

Agile 8 is great but you need to identify your specific mobility issues and attack them (ie. You most likely need additional work). Following a cookie cutter mobility program and hoping things come good is going to be frustrating.

#8

One other thing, and it may just be me but you said “I can’t keep my back vertical like I want to do, I think this is due to having hip and lower back inflexibility”, how vertical are you talking, and guessing you’re talking about at the bottom of the squat, but pretty sure a lot of people think (wrongly in my opinion) that your back should be perfectly vertical the whole time.

If I’m onto something here then I’ll let one of the better/more knowledgeable squatters go into this more but yeah, I didn’t think your back was supposed to be vertical. Obviously you’re high bar squatting so more vertical than low bar but still…

*and as previously said, post a video! It’s the best way to allow others to help

#9

Following agile 8 is a good start. What I did when I had this problem was to do agile 8 every morning and again at night (quick through only 10 minutes or so). This developed a mobility routine that I could stick to.

Also some other time during the day I worked on specific issues. I used MobilityWOD for this and it helps. Kstar recommends 2-4 “movements” a day everyday (another 5-15 minutes) I believe and that is what I did. What helped me were the couch stretch, V-sit, and any external rotation and flexion stretch.

SUM UP: Keep the agile 8 so you can establish a routine and mindset, use MobilityWOD to try and identify and specific, individual mobility restrictions and correct them.

#10

[quote]rusty92 wrote:
One other thing, and it may just be me but you said “I can’t keep my back vertical like I want to do, I think this is due to having hip and lower back inflexibility”, how vertical are you talking, and guessing you’re talking about at the bottom of the squat, but pretty sure a lot of people think (wrongly in my opinion) that your back should be perfectly vertical the whole time.

If I’m onto something here then I’ll let one of the better/more knowledgeable squatters go into this more but yeah, I didn’t think your back was supposed to be vertical. Obviously you’re high bar squatting so more vertical than low bar but still…

*and as previously said, post a video! It’s the best way to allow others to help[/quote]

This is why I want to see a video. OP is talking about how his back is at a ‘ridiculous’ angle. I want to see what ridiculous means to him.

For all any of us know in this thread, his squat could look perfect, and yet everybody has all this advice they want to hand out. Without a video, I don’t believe advice can rightly be given.

#11

Try forcing your knees apart, keeping your chest high, pulling your arms in as close to your shoulders as you can, and looking at a point above parallel. Sometimes it’s just the basic stuff that screws up your form.

#12

Does your low back round when you’re at parallel, or only when you go lower? How low are you going and why?

As far as staying vertical, it could just be your leverages. A person with short legs and a long torso will be more vertical than a person with long legs and a short torso, no matter how flexible they are.

A video will help.