Squats - Hips and Foot Placement Off?

[dave_dave]

Hi everyone.

I’ve always had a good squat, however in order recent years, despite my efforts, I cannot seem to squat past 330 (bearing in mind my working weights have always been 450+.

Anyway, there are 2 things I am struggling with.

1. When I unrack and prep for my first squat, no matter what position I’m in it feel like all the stress is going down my right quad and u can’t seem to activate my left quad to the same degree unless I adjust my hips.
2. When I assume my foot position, as a result of the above, I can only find a solid possition when my left foot is approx 2 inches forward comparsd to my right foot?

Does anyone have this issue or had experience fixing it?

I have not had any recent injuries…

Thanks in advance

Dave

[FlatsFarmer]

Sounds like something crooked in your hips/pelvis. You’re trying to move your feet to square your hips up.

Sometimes people view this as a posture issue, fixed with breathing.

These dudes can get extreme, exhaling into balloons and stuff.

Or dudes take a Chiropractic approach and focus on the S.I. joint. They want totry to “Adjust the Sacrum.”

Sometimes people focus on making sure the adductors and abductors are working together correctly.

Do that for both sides.

There is also hip flexor stretching.

Foam rolling the groin.

Or internal hip roation.

I almost hesitate to include stretching the hip flexors and increasing internal hip rotation. Those things are useful, but most of the moves and techniques in videos I’ve seen are Extreme. Stuff like this, which lots of ewe tube dudes advocate killed my hips and made shit worse.

Anyway, I could go on for days with stretches, hip ROM, glute activation stuff, pre-squat warm ups and single leg assistance type exercises. Do you do any of this stuff? What’s your routine like? What other issues are you having?

[dave_dave]

Thanks for the comprehensive response!

My warm up consists of basis dynamic stretching, I do a few of the exercises listed below allbeiet inconsistently so I suppose there is the first port of call.

The only thing that has changed in the last 2 years is that I went from squatting in flats to Olympic lifting shoes, would this highlight a weak quad or flexibility issue?

Thanks again.

David

[FlatsFarmer]

Stuff that emphasizes the quads definetly causes crooked hip issues to flair up for me.

I mostly squat in flat shoes, sitting back to a high box to avoid hip issues.

Sometimes I rotate in front squats, Smith Machine hack squats, deeper box squats or step ups, trying to get more quads. Pushing these quad focused lifts for too long always gives me trouble and makes my hips get tight and turn crooked. Something about hip flexion.

So yes, I think the heeled shoes and quad dominant style could be wrong for you. Your squat going down 120+ is also pretty strong evidence! Ditch the heels for awhile and see how you feel.

[dave_dave]

Brill

Thanks again for your help. I’ll get some chucks and introduce consistent warm up drills and see how the numbers improve.

David