I used to have a lot of low back pain when I squatted. Turned out I was trying to keep my spine too straight. Once I started allowing my spine to curve naturally the pain went away. Wearing a belt helped tremendously as it taught me what my core should feel like when properly stabilized, which helped me keep my back in proper extension.
If you can, post a video of you squatting from the side. Sometimes small changes make a big difference.
Front squats/zercher squats/safety squat bar squats are all fine replacements if back squatting hurts you. The Front Squats are done with the bar on your shoulders, Zercher Squats are done with a bar cradled in your fore arms (look up the lift), and safety Squat Bar Squats are normal squats done with that bar.
I don’t know, but front squat doesn’t focus more on quad and less on posterior chain?
what do you think about wide stance squat with medium-light wheight (and consequently more reps) to keep the perfect form a proper solution?
Front squats are an often better way to hit quads and with less spinal loading…
it seems to me like nobody is actually addressing the issue he’s having? he has an accentuated anterior pelvic tilt, most likely leading to hyperlordosing his back during squats in addition to shitty posture in general. he was able to do squats fine before, leading to the conclusion that it’s some hidden muscular imbalance rather than him just being a pussy.
having the same problem in the past myself, i would most likely say it’s a glute activation issue + poor hamstring strength. what my pt recommended for me was:
3x20 lying side clamshells
3x10 lying side leg raises
3x10 1-legged glute bridges while keeping the hips in a level position and raising the knee of the non-stationary leg to touch the hands a foot above the stationary knee
there are other things you can do like bandwalks and single leg squats to strengthen the general hip area. you don’t do these with weight. these are daily bodyweight prehab/rehab exercises.
i found relief within a week and a half after doing these daily, and better posture about a month later. people often focus on stretching the hip flexors an obscene amount when they encounter anterior pelvic tilt, but in my experience it’s much, much better to strengthen the opposing muscle group. feel free to LAX ball your hip flexors, though. that’s always pleasant.
worst case scenario, go see a pt.
obviously, what worked for me might not work for you. and you may just be screwed. but i would give these a shot. worst thing that could happen is you develop a more conditioned posterior chain. best of luck, sir.
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
it seems to me like nobody is actually addressing the issue he’s having? he has an accentuated anterior pelvic tilt, most likely leading to hyperlordosing his back during squats in addition to shitty posture in general. he was able to do squats fine before, leading to the conclusion that it’s some hidden muscular imbalance rather than him just being a pussy.
having the same problem in the past myself, i would most likely say it’s a glute activation issue + poor hamstring strength. what my pt recommended for me was:
3x20 lying side clamshells
3x10 lying side leg raises
3x10 1-legged glute bridges while keeping the hips in a level position and raising the knee of the non-stationary leg to touch the hands a foot above the stationary knee
there are other things you can do like bandwalks and single leg squats to strengthen the general hip area. you don’t do these with weight. these are daily bodyweight prehab/rehab exercises.
i found relief within a week and a half after doing these daily, and better posture about a month later. people often focus on stretching the hip flexors an obscene amount when they encounter anterior pelvic tilt, but in my experience it’s much, much better to strengthen the opposing muscle group. feel free to LAX ball your hip flexors, though. that’s always pleasant.
worst case scenario, go see a pt.
obviously, what worked for me might not work for you. and you may just be screwed. but i would give these a shot. worst thing that could happen is you develop a more conditioned posterior chain. best of luck, sir.[/quote]
yes, thank you for the advices, they are useful to improve posture. I am going to add the listed exercises in my routine.
But for what concerns legs hypertrophy, I am now confused about squat… I think The solutions maybe are:
remove squat from my routine and focus on leg press, lunges, leg curl, deadlift variation (if they will not hurt me, as I have never performed deadlift since the low back pain)
do squats and focus to mantaint the correct form, instead of lift heavy (I usually do heavy :D). Furthermore. in this case, are Wide stance squat(sumo squat) seriously better to recruit posterior chain in ATP and/or get less stress on low back??
I think a lot of people get hurt squatting because of their shitty mobility. Then they blame the exercise.
I was able to start squatting four months after I sumo pulled 500 lbs. I could only hit 285 for a couple crappy triples. That jumped to 405 for a triple in four months. inb4 this is about hypertrophy
You can’t squat right, so you’re asking about “replacements?” Is it not possible to correct your condition? This seems like the easy way out to me.
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
it seems to me like nobody is actually addressing the issue he’s having? he has an accentuated anterior pelvic tilt, most likely leading to hyperlordosing his back during squats in addition to shitty posture in general. he was able to do squats fine before, leading to the conclusion that it’s some hidden muscular imbalance rather than him just being a pussy.
having the same problem in the past myself, i would most likely say it’s a glute activation issue + poor hamstring strength. what my pt recommended for me was:
3x20 lying side clamshells
3x10 lying side leg raises
3x10 1-legged glute bridges while keeping the hips in a level position and raising the knee of the non-stationary leg to touch the hands a foot above the stationary knee
there are other things you can do like bandwalks and single leg squats to strengthen the general hip area. you don’t do these with weight. these are daily bodyweight prehab/rehab exercises.
i found relief within a week and a half after doing these daily, and better posture about a month later. people often focus on stretching the hip flexors an obscene amount when they encounter anterior pelvic tilt, but in my experience it’s much, much better to strengthen the opposing muscle group. feel free to LAX ball your hip flexors, though. that’s always pleasant.
worst case scenario, go see a pt.
obviously, what worked for me might not work for you. and you may just be screwed. but i would give these a shot. worst thing that could happen is you develop a more conditioned posterior chain. best of luck, sir.[/quote]
yes, thank you for the advices, they are useful to improve posture. I am going to add the listed exercises in my routine.
But for what concerns legs hypertrophy, I am now confused about squat… I think The solutions maybe are:
remove squat from my routine and focus on leg press, lunges, leg curl, deadlift variation (if they will not hurt me, as I have never performed deadlift since the low back pain)
do squats and focus to mantaint the correct form, instead of lift heavy (I usually do heavy :D). Furthermore. in this case, are Wide stance squat(sumo squat) seriously better to recruit posterior chain in ATP and/or get less stress on low back?? [/quote]
if your hips are in great condition and healthy, sure, go for the wide stance squats and see how the feel. it’s not going to hit your quads so much as it is the posterior chain, tho.
my guess is wide stance squats aren’t for you, given the anterior pelvic tilt. it’s like overhead presses with excessively internally rotated shoulders. not exactly the best idea. imo, strengthen the glutes before you start trying wide stance squats.
i’m not omniscient, tho. totally possible i’m wrong.
also do defranco’s agile 8 daily if you can. that’ll help give you better mobility to perform your squats and keep your spine safe.
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
it seems to me like nobody is actually addressing the issue he’s having? he has an accentuated anterior pelvic tilt, most likely leading to hyperlordosing his back during squats in addition to shitty posture in general. he was able to do squats fine before, leading to the conclusion that it’s some hidden muscular imbalance rather than him just being a pussy.
having the same problem in the past myself, i would most likely say it’s a glute activation issue + poor hamstring strength. what my pt recommended for me was:
3x20 lying side clamshells
3x10 lying side leg raises
3x10 1-legged glute bridges while keeping the hips in a level position and raising the knee of the non-stationary leg to touch the hands a foot above the stationary knee
there are other things you can do like bandwalks and single leg squats to strengthen the general hip area. you don’t do these with weight. these are daily bodyweight prehab/rehab exercises.
i found relief within a week and a half after doing these daily, and better posture about a month later. people often focus on stretching the hip flexors an obscene amount when they encounter anterior pelvic tilt, but in my experience it’s much, much better to strengthen the opposing muscle group. feel free to LAX ball your hip flexors, though. that’s always pleasant.
worst case scenario, go see a pt.
obviously, what worked for me might not work for you. and you may just be screwed. but i would give these a shot. worst thing that could happen is you develop a more conditioned posterior chain. best of luck, sir.[/quote]
yes, thank you for the advices, they are useful to improve posture. I am going to add the listed exercises in my routine.
But for what concerns legs hypertrophy, I am now confused about squat… I think The solutions maybe are:
remove squat from my routine and focus on leg press, lunges, leg curl, deadlift variation (if they will not hurt me, as I have never performed deadlift since the low back pain)
do squats and focus to mantaint the correct form, instead of lift heavy (I usually do heavy :D). Furthermore. in this case, are Wide stance squat(sumo squat) seriously better to recruit posterior chain in ATP and/or get less stress on low back?? [/quote]
if your hips are in great condition and healthy, sure, go for the wide stance squats and see how the feel. it’s not going to hit your quads so much as it is the posterior chain, tho.
my guess is wide stance squats aren’t for you, given the anterior pelvic tilt. it’s like overhead presses with excessively internally rotated shoulders. not exactly the best idea. imo, strengthen the glutes before you start trying wide stance squats.
i’m not omniscient, tho. totally possible i’m wrong.
also do defranco’s agile 8 daily if you can. that’ll help give you better mobility to perform your squats and keep your spine safe.[/quote]
Fine, I see.
I just thought wide stance can recruit automatically the gluteus
When should I do my glute activation routine ?? Is doing it in the rest-day (that means about three times per week) a good idea?
do them 4-5 times a week, save for the day before leg day. you don’t want your glutes and posterior chain to have shit for stability the day you’re squatting.
you can do them lying down in bed before you go to sleep, so there’s really no reason not to do them lol. they take like 10 minutes tops. only thing that’s awkward to do in bed is the glute raises because it makes the sheets slide xD
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
it seems to me like nobody is actually addressing the issue he’s having? he has an accentuated anterior pelvic tilt, most likely leading to hyperlordosing his back during squats in addition to shitty posture in general. he was able to do squats fine before, leading to the conclusion that it’s some hidden muscular imbalance rather than him just being a pussy.
having the same problem in the past myself, i would most likely say it’s a glute activation issue + poor hamstring strength. what my pt recommended for me was:
3x20 lying side clamshells
3x10 lying side leg raises
3x10 1-legged glute bridges while keeping the hips in a level position and raising the knee of the non-stationary leg to touch the hands a foot above the stationary knee
there are other things you can do like bandwalks and single leg squats to strengthen the general hip area. you don’t do these with weight. these are daily bodyweight prehab/rehab exercises.
i found relief within a week and a half after doing these daily, and better posture about a month later. people often focus on stretching the hip flexors an obscene amount when they encounter anterior pelvic tilt, but in my experience it’s much, much better to strengthen the opposing muscle group. feel free to LAX ball your hip flexors, though. that’s always pleasant.
worst case scenario, go see a pt.
obviously, what worked for me might not work for you. and you may just be screwed. but i would give these a shot. worst thing that could happen is you develop a more conditioned posterior chain. best of luck, sir.[/quote]
This is awesome advice. As someone who has/had anterior pelvic tilt which was royally fucking my squats, pretty much everything here is spot on. Especially the bit about overstretching the hip flexors. I did that for a long time and it only led to more hip pain. Strengthening my glutes has been extremely effective in fixing the issue however. Lots of BB Hip Thrusts, Reverse Hypers, and Front Squats
ok thanksss
another furhter question, does someone perform dumbbell step-up?? Are step ups good for gluteus attivaion/strengthen?? maybe to alternate wiht walk lunge
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
Thanks for the answers…!! As I said above I did squat for 2-3 years, until I had the low back pain, therefore I don’t need to find an excuse to replace squats, it’s just an health question.
Sincerely I am close to hate leg press, especially the horizontal leg press (I don’t know why it’s annoying for my knees)and I recently known the 45 degree one it’s broken in my gym -.-
Indeed if you tell me a way to do squat the same I will enjoy this one… what about to do squat with more slow and controlled motion and more wide stance (also known as sumo squat)?? Can help for my situation??[/quote]
I’ve hurt my back pretty good at least 3 times squatting over the years. Had lower back pain, etc. After the last time it happened, which was about 1.5 years ago, I decided to start from scratch while admitting to myself that I’ve been squatting wrong with bad mobility and a weak midsection/lower back all these years.
I started mobility work before squats as well as high rep SLDLs to warm and stretch the hams.
I did (and still do) high rep rack pulls after squats as well as lots of back extensions.
Added in high rep goblet squats 2-3 times a week in the mornings.
Increased volume for upper back.
I love the squat. But I always sucked. I basically told myself, regardless of the weight I have to start over with, I won’t let this lift beat me.
With doing what I’ve listed above, my back has never felt better. I don’t get all bound up in the hole like I use to and my lower back feels rock solid where I would lean forward once the weight got remotely heavy. No knee caving anymore either, which was a big issue for me.
Finally the numbers are getting back up there. If you want to squat, fix whatever it is that’s causing you problems. it’ll be worth it.
If you don’t want to fix it, there’s several suggestions on substitutes here.
Good luck!
[quote]cueball wrote:
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
Thanks for the answers…!! As I said above I did squat for 2-3 years, until I had the low back pain, therefore I don’t need to find an excuse to replace squats, it’s just an health question.
Sincerely I am close to hate leg press, especially the horizontal leg press (I don’t know why it’s annoying for my knees)and I recently known the 45 degree one it’s broken in my gym -.-
Indeed if you tell me a way to do squat the same I will enjoy this one… what about to do squat with more slow and controlled motion and more wide stance (also known as sumo squat)?? Can help for my situation??[/quote]
I’ve hurt my back pretty good at least 3 times squatting over the years. Had lower back pain, etc. After the last time it happened, which was about 1.5 years ago, I decided to start from scratch while admitting to myself that I’ve been squatting wrong with bad mobility and a weak midsection/lower back all these years.
I started mobility work before squats as well as high rep SLDLs to warm and stretch the hams.
I did (and still do) high rep rack pulls after squats as well as lots of back extensions.
Added in high rep goblet squats 2-3 times a week in the mornings.
Increased volume for upper back.
I love the squat. But I always sucked. I basically told myself, regardless of the weight I have to start over with, I won’t let this lift beat me.
With doing what I’ve listed above, my back has never felt better. I don’t get all bound up in the hole like I use to and my lower back feels rock solid where I would lean forward once the weight got remotely heavy. No knee caving anymore either, which was a big issue for me.
Finally the numbers are getting back up there. If you want to squat, fix whatever it is that’s causing you problems. it’ll be worth it.
If you don’t want to fix it, there’s several suggestions on substitutes here.
Good luck!
[/quote]
thanks, I got lots of good advices here! but I don’t like goblet squat because the dumbbell make less efficient especially if you want to add weight considerably. Maybe the box goblet squat make the work harder but I’ve never tried it 
Did you ever try heavy walking lunges?
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
[quote]cueball wrote:
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
Thanks for the answers…!! As I said above I did squat for 2-3 years, until I had the low back pain, therefore I don’t need to find an excuse to replace squats, it’s just an health question.
Sincerely I am close to hate leg press, especially the horizontal leg press (I don’t know why it’s annoying for my knees)and I recently known the 45 degree one it’s broken in my gym -.-
Indeed if you tell me a way to do squat the same I will enjoy this one… what about to do squat with more slow and controlled motion and more wide stance (also known as sumo squat)?? Can help for my situation??[/quote]
I’ve hurt my back pretty good at least 3 times squatting over the years. Had lower back pain, etc. After the last time it happened, which was about 1.5 years ago, I decided to start from scratch while admitting to myself that I’ve been squatting wrong with bad mobility and a weak midsection/lower back all these years.
I started mobility work before squats as well as high rep SLDLs to warm and stretch the hams.
I did (and still do) high rep rack pulls after squats as well as lots of back extensions.
Added in high rep goblet squats 2-3 times a week in the mornings.
Increased volume for upper back.
I love the squat. But I always sucked. I basically told myself, regardless of the weight I have to start over with, I won’t let this lift beat me.
With doing what I’ve listed above, my back has never felt better. I don’t get all bound up in the hole like I use to and my lower back feels rock solid where I would lean forward once the weight got remotely heavy. No knee caving anymore either, which was a big issue for me.
Finally the numbers are getting back up there. If you want to squat, fix whatever it is that’s causing you problems. it’ll be worth it.
If you don’t want to fix it, there’s several suggestions on substitutes here.
Good luck!
[/quote]
thanks, I got lots of good advices here! but I don’t like goblet squat because the dumbbell make less efficient especially if you want to add weight considerably. Maybe the box goblet squat make the work harder but I’ve never tried it
Did you ever try heavy walking lunges?
[/quote]
Maybe you mis-interpreted my intent with the goblet squat.
The intent of the goblet squat was not for a substitute to BB squats, rather as a tool in helping with movement patterning and hip mobility. As you see, I prescribed HIGH-REP goblet squats in the morning.
This is an accessory lift and something to help groove the movement while opening up your hips. This was not a movement intended for any kind of significant weight progression. I’m talking about 35lbs-50lbs for 2 minutes straight. Or 30-50 rep sets.
Edit: Again, this was a suggestion only if you wanted to fix your issues with the back squat. Also, higher weight goblet squats aren’t that awkward. My gym has DBs to 120, and I’ve never had issues doing goblets with them.
PS-Don’t hold the DBs by the handle when you do goblets. Put the heels of your hand under the top-side of the DB. Your forearms will be vertical and the DB will just kinda sit there. Much easier to hold this way.