Hi,
I’ve posted this in the female forum as only my friend (Helen) seems to have this issue. I’ve not met anyone who has the same problem so it could just be a newbie’s issue. Would be good to get your input:
So me and three friends (including Helen) moved in together on the 1st of Aug. We’ve been training for a few years now and Helen joined us. Monkey see Monkey do (not that I’m complaining). We are doing WS4SB routine, just fits with everyone’s schedule.
It’s been near 10 weeks and we still can’t get her to squat near parallel. She’s a good 6 inches above. When she gets to about 6 inches off parallel the only movement she does is rock forward. She’s a complete beginner to weights and has progressed massively in just 10 weeks except for this one thing that has not budged. Her strength has improved in the squat. Used to be just bar and now bar + 20kg. Other wights are up too, DB Press, Bench, Deads you name it climbing and climbing fast.
I’ve checked:
- Flexibility; she’s got no issues there
- Goblet squat and she’s perfectly fine
- Body weight squats and she starts to lose balance (fall backwards unless she tilts forward but that’s what we’re trying to prevent to get depth).
- Box squats; perfectly fine
- Gone with a wider stance, spread the floor knees out all that shabang and still depth is lacking.
As soon as the bar is put on her back she just can’t go down to parallel without falling backwards, hence leans forward to accommodate.
Has anyone had this issue or knows the problem muscles and thus recommend a solution? Is it core, glutes, flexors etc…
She’s very determined, making tons of progress elsewhere and cleaning her diet. She’s a girl in OK shape (decently lean) but needs to add muscle. I’m worried that 10 weeks on and she still can’t squat to parallel is going to frustrate her too much if it continues much longer, so much that it would lead to a silly decision.
Thanks in advance.