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It's been two weeks since I've returned from a 5 week break from legs due to a hip flexor strain that was caused by a lack of warm up and improper form.
This is what my form looks like now. Please critique it for me. Also, I have a very tense feeling in my right inner quad and lateral side (I think ITB) that causes irritation during my squat or when I medially rotate my leg. Why is this and what can I do to prevent it? Thank you.
[YOUTUBE]qIUIwtlM4HI[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]NYoNLP-AzM0[/YOUTUBE]
How did you strain a hip flexor?
I just ask because a lot of people confuse hip socket pain with hip flexor pain - they're right next to each other. And your video looks almost exactly like what I see in my own videos right before my hip sockets start hurting - that struggle to avoid a good morning.
[QUOTE=kaleida;1231480453]How did you strain a hip flexor?
I just ask because a lot of people confuse hip socket pain with hip flexor pain - they're right next to each other. And your video looks almost exactly like what I see in my own videos right before my hip sockets start hurting - that struggle to avoid a good morning.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your reply.
Basically I would be initiating the squat at the knees and would be leaning forward. I went heavy with three plates and my right leg was medially rotated and on my way up I think that's when i strained it. It was tight from the beginning of the workout and I neglected to warm it up and roll it out. Please elaborate on what you're seeing in my video- is it not just the struggle that comes with lifting relatively heavy?
[QUOTE=bodybuilderha;1231481273]Thank you for your reply.
Basically I would be initiating the squat at the knees and would be leaning forward. I went heavy with three plates and my right leg was medially rotated and on my way up I think that's when i strained it. It was tight from the beginning of the workout and I neglected to warm it up and roll it out. Please elaborate on what you're seeing in my video- is it not just the struggle that comes with lifting relatively heavy?[/QUOTE]
Medial rotation sounds exactly like what happens when my hip socket hurts. I'm talking about something called "femoral anterior glide" - it means during hip extension the head of the femur wanders too far forward in the hip socket, and it presses against the front of the hip socket, pinching labrum (cartilage) in between femur and acetabulum. The hip socket pain I feel occasionally is from labrum impingement. It happens when the glutes aren't activating enough compared to hamstrings - they are both hip extensors but glutes pull the femur head farther back in the hip socket where it should be, but hamstrings don't.
What I saw in the video looks like minimal glute activation, glutes struggling to keep up with hamstrings and back during hip extension. See how your hips don't fully straighten at the top? If your glutes were firing on all cylinders it would look like a hip thrust at the top. It would also be easier for your shoulders to rise faster than your hips if your glutes were firing more, because the glutes would be doing a stronger hip extension in the weak point.
I can't tell for sure if your hip flexor pain is the same thing I'm talking about, but it sounds so similar.
The 3 things that helped me the most to fix mine were:
1) changing to a more glute-dominant squatting style (I was training low bar but I switched to high bar position, deeper depth)
2) a big reduction in the amount of time I spend sitting, sitting stretches the glutes so they can't pull the femur head effectively.
3) glute bridges and barbell glute bridges - these put hamstrings in active insufficiency with knees bent so the glute have to do more work compared to hamstrings, and they really helped my glute strength catch up to my hamstring strength. At a minimum I do bodyweight glute bridges daily - every time I visit the gym I do them with a barbell and more weight.
I'm not saying you should switch everything up and do exactly what I did....just leaving my thoughts here in case you Google it and it sounds like the same thing you're running into.
[QUOTE=kaleida;1231484653]Medial rotation sounds exactly like what happens when my hip socket hurts. I'm talking about something called "femoral anterior glide" - it means during hip extension the head of the femur wanders too far forward in the hip socket, and it presses against the front of the hip socket, pinching labrum (cartilage) in between femur and acetabulum. The hip socket pain I feel occasionally is from labrum impingement. It happens when the glutes aren't activating enough compared to hamstrings - they are both hip extensors but glutes pull the femur head farther back in the hip socket where it should be, but hamstrings don't.
What I saw in the video looks like minimal glute activation, glutes struggling to keep up with hamstrings and back during hip extension. See how your hips don't fully straighten at the top? If your glutes were firing on all cylinders it would look like a hip thrust at the top. It would also be easier for your shoulders to rise faster than your hips if your glutes were firing more, because the glutes would be doing a stronger hip extension in the weak point.
I can't tell for sure if your hip flexor pain is the same thing I'm talking about, but it sounds so similar.
The 3 things that helped me the most to fix mine were:
1) changing to a more glute-dominant squatting style (I was training low bar but I switched to high bar position, deeper depth)
2) a big reduction in the amount of time I spend sitting, sitting stretches the glutes so they can't pull the femur head effectively.
3) glute bridges and barbell glute bridges - these put hamstrings in active insufficiency with knees bent so the glute have to do more work compared to hamstrings, and they really helped my glute strength catch up to my hamstring strength. At a minimum I do bodyweight glute bridges daily - every time I visit the gym I do them with a barbell and more weight.
I'm not saying you should switch everything up and do exactly what I did....just leaving my thoughts here in case you Google it and it sounds like the same thing you're running into.[/QUOTE]
As a med student, I do spend most of my day sitting and I feel that does take a toll. I guess I really do need to start stretching much more. Any particular stretches you could kindly advise?
The condition you have described does sound familiar. I don't feel like I have a restricted range of motion, just a tightness and irritation during the motion. I'm also going to start doing glute bridges despite the looks :o
[url]http://www.proactivehealthgroup.ca/resources_handouts/Rehabilitation%20for%20Femoral%20Anterior%20Glide%20Syndrome.pdf[/url]
Thanks again
I could just be seeing the angle a little wrong but it looks like your a little far forward as your approaching parallel. Cant speak too much to the hip issue, however, my training partner was having hip issues and switched over to box squats and is having much better success getting it back up to better health.
[QUOTE=IronCoyoteBB;1231510163]I could just be seeing the angle a little wrong but it looks like your a little far forward as your approaching parallel. Cant speak too much to the hip issue, however, my training partner was having hip issues and switched over to box squats and is having much better success getting it back up to better health.[/QUOTE]
i wonder what difference box squats would make.
Like another poster said, it looks like you're bending your upper body forward. Your upper body seems to be too horizontal as if you aren't tensing your whole back throughout the lift.
[QUOTE=bodybuilderha;1231506433]As a med student, I do spend most of my day sitting and I feel that does take a toll. I guess I really do need to start stretching much more. Any particular stretches you could kindly advise?
The condition you have described does sound familiar. I don't feel like I have a restricted range of motion, just a tightness and irritation during the motion. I'm also going to start doing glute bridges despite the looks :o
[url]http://www.proactivehealthgroup.ca/resources_handouts/Rehabilitation%20for%20Femoral%20Anterior%20Glide%20Syndrome.pdf[/url]
Thanks again[/QUOTE]
No problem :) mine was also not really a restricted range of motion just irritation in the hip socket and a slight preference to avoid external rotation in a squat, subtle... which I think is how I missed it for so long. I think the glute bridges and the absence of glute stretching helped me more than any other stretch. Once I had some downward pressure on my pelvis in the back then tensor fascia latae started to feel tight in the front but those stretched our easily for me just walking around and doing the "put one hip out" stretch every now and then.
I also needed some careful heated quadratus lumborum stretches on one side because many years of sitting with my legs crossed gave me a pelvis that tilts higher on one side. But you might not have that issue...my hip region is a collection of problems!! I had to be careful to only stretch it while it was heated because it was very resistant to stretching on one side and sometimes easy to pull my SI joint out of place instead of stretching the muscle.
What should happen in the squat is that the bar should push down on the hips until they reach a point where maximum tension builds up, then you use that tension to drive the hips back up through the bar. What you're doing is just letting the weight of the bar round you over forwards like a reed in the wind. Your hips are barely involved at all. Either you have a severe mobility deficit (either in the hips or ankles or both) or you just aren't doing nearly enough to brace your upper and lower back muscles against the weight. The whole length of your spine needs to be rigid like an iron rod--- the weight wants to bend it, but you need to actively prevent it from doing so.
[QUOTE=tidnab;1231596713]What should happen in the squat is that the bar should push down on the hips until they reach a point where maximum tension builds up, then you use that tension to drive the hips back up through the bar. What you're doing is just letting the weight of the bar round you over forwards like a reed in the wind. Your hips are barely involved at all. Either you have a severe mobility deficit (either in the hips or ankles or both) or you just aren't doing nearly enough to brace your upper and lower back muscles against the weight. The whole length of your spine needs to be rigid like an iron rod--- the weight wants to bend it, but you need to actively prevent it from doing so.[/QUOTE]
That sounds like a better explanation of what I was trying to say with the underactive glutes :) It's hard to describe but it looks so similar to the precariousness in my own squat that went away after I added glute bridges.
Edit: actually to be totally accurate my precariousness didn't go away, it just moved to higher weight :) I'm still working on it and probably always will.