do you have poor squat flexibility/mobility?

[Anewbie12345]

I posted this in the Exercises part of the forum as well, but this seems like it could be especially useful for the 35+ crowd, especially beginners…

I'm a beginner, noob, whatever. Terrible flexibility and mobility. I don't have a camera to record video, but I can feel my bad form on squats: back beginning to round just above parallel. It's really bad just bodyweight, but it also happens with a weighted bar.

I may have found a working-solution…

Today I did Ass-to-The-****ing-Grass "Pseudo-Squats" with great form, and it felt great. Here's how..

Attach the lat pull down bar to where there is no seating (e.g. where people do machine tricep extensions), put it on a weight that isn't too much or too little (have to adjust to find what's right), then… holding on to the bar keeping arms straight, sit back into a squat. Just when my form would normally begin to fail and my back round, the "help" of the weight catches, and I slowly squat down ATG, maintaining good form = a straight back. There was a mirror there and my entire posterior-chain looked great. At the bottom, for your visual, imagine sitting ATG, hammys to calves, with arms up in the air like an Overhead Squat, feet around shoulder width apart, toes mostly forward maybe a 5 to 10 degree outward turn.

One negative thing: it felt like the help was disengaging my hamstrings and glutes on the way down. I'm not really sure though. So I followed it up with RDLs.

What I'm hoping is that over the next month or so I can slowly decrease the weight and maintain form and get to the point where I can go bodyweight ATG with good form. At that point I plan on doing a slow and steady progressive overload for Overhead Squat(ing).

If you've got poor lower flexibility and mobility for squating, give this a try. I came away from it happy.

[Mdenatale]

I just read an article on here about the Goblet Squat or Kettleball squat. It is supposed to help with squat form due to the way you hold the weight. You might want to check that out and give it a try.

[ilovethe80s]

I really like what Dan John does for squat flexibility in this vid

05:40 through 10:00

[-=FLEX=-]

You can do the same thing in the squat rack, more or less, by just holding onto the safeties and doing a squat with no bar.

I start every squat sessions by doing this.

[dunemonkey]

This is just me personally, so take it as such, but I had bad squat form/mobility forever and avoided them because of it. One thing I noticed is that you mention your toes are only pointed out 5 to 10 degrees, which I'm sure works for some. I eventually took up squat form as prescribed in starting strength, and one of the main changes was to rotate my feet out to 30 degrees, and for me, it made all the difference. Before I did that, I couldn't get my knees to track in line with my feet without either coming up on my toes or rounding my back. Once I rotated my toes out a more, it opened up my hips and made my balance such that I could keep my weight more on my heels and sit down into the lift without rounding my back or shifting my weight to my toes. I go ATG on all but the heaviest squats now, and those I still go below parallel. Between that and the low bar position, it really fixed my squat, but again, that's just me. Your geometry may be different. Once I got my form figured out, my mobility/flexiblity seems to be getting better and better just from doing squats with proper form.

[BalhamBeast]

I do something similar. I have a chinning bar in my flat to which I've attached a couple of resistance bands. I stick one under each arm and then squat down. My mobility is hideous, partly because of years of hunching over a PC (poor thoracic mobility), partly because of an old ankle injury that means I have very poor dorsiflexion.

I started with the above arrangement after having a foot operation in July and I was doing one legged pistol squats this way.

You can also try sitting in a squat (hold on to something if you must) for a minute or so each day to build mobility and strength in this position.

[MoldyGopher]

I practiced facing-the-wall squats when I first started out:



There's lots of examples on YT of this.

[igsm1969]

While strengthening my core has helped to where I am able to tighten it to support the bar or support heavy double kettlebell front squats, for mobility, I stretch religiously after just about every session. We have a stretching cage which allows me to squat down deep while holding on to the bars above and to the side, opening up the T-spine as I am down in that position. I do that for different foot positions as well. It also allows me to stretch every body part imaginable. I have been amazed at how much deeper I can go with good form. Last year at this time, I avoided squats like the plague, but now that they have improved and strength has gone up, I actually sometimes look forward to them.

I posted this in the Exercises part of the forum as well, but this seems like it could be especially useful for the 35+ crowd, especially beginners…

I'm a beginner, noob, whatever. Terrible flexibility and mobility. I don't have a camera to record video, but I can feel my bad form on squats: back beginning to round just above parallel. It's really bad just bodyweight, but it also happens with a weighted bar.

I may have found a working-solution…

Today I did Ass-to-The-****ing-Grass "Pseudo-Squats" with great form, and it felt great. Here's how..

Attach the lat pull down bar to where there is no seating (e.g. where people do machine tricep extensions), put it on a weight that isn't too much or too little (have to adjust to find what's right), then… holding on to the bar keeping arms straight, sit back into a squat. Just when my form would normally begin to fail and my back round, the "help" of the weight catches, and I slowly squat down ATG, maintaining good form = a straight back. There was a mirror there and my entire posterior-chain looked great. At the bottom, for your visual, imagine sitting ATG, hammys to calves, with arms up in the air like an Overhead Squat, feet around shoulder width apart, toes mostly forward maybe a 5 to 10 degree outward turn.

One negative thing: it felt like the help was disengaging my hamstrings and glutes on the way down. I'm not really sure though. So I followed it up with RDLs.

What I'm hoping is that over the next month or so I can slowly decrease the weight and maintain form and get to the point where I can go bodyweight ATG with good form. At that point I plan on doing a slow and steady progressive overload for Overhead Squat(ing).

If you've got poor lower flexibility and mobility for squating, give this a try. I came away from it happy.

[tacdgb]

I like sumo squats with a dumb bell. I have been told tho that my squat form is good.

[Grome90]

I posted this in the Exercises part of the forum as well, but this seems like it could be especially useful for the 35+ crowd, especially beginners…

I'm a beginner, noob, whatever. Terrible flexibility and mobility. I don't have a camera to record video, but I can feel my bad form on squats: back beginning to round just above parallel. It's really bad just bodyweight, but it also happens with a weighted bar.

I may have found a working-solution…

Today I did Ass-to-The-****ing-Grass "Pseudo-Squats" with great form, and it felt great. Here's how..

Attach the lat pull down bar to where there is no seating (e.g. where people do machine tricep extensions), put it on a weight that isn't too much or too little (have to adjust to find what's right), then… holding on to the bar keeping arms straight, sit back into a squat. Just when my form would normally begin to fail and my back round, the "help" of the weight catches, and I slowly squat down ATG, maintaining good form = a straight back. There was a mirror there and my entire posterior-chain looked great. At the bottom, for your visual, imagine sitting ATG, hammys to calves, with arms up in the air like an Overhead Squat, feet around shoulder width apart, toes mostly forward maybe a 5 to 10 degree outward turn.

One negative thing: it felt like the help was disengaging my hamstrings and glutes on the way down. I'm not really sure though. So I followed it up with RDLs.

What I'm hoping is that over the next month or so I can slowly decrease the weight and maintain form and get to the point where I can go bodyweight ATG with good form. At that point I plan on doing a slow and steady progressive overload for Overhead Squat(ing).

If you've got poor lower flexibility and mobility for squating, give this a try. I came away from it happy.

I too have terrible lower flexibility. When I was younger I never stretched, now that I'm older, I find that was a terrible mistake.

[jobronze]

Same.

Got better with

Goblet Squats
Switching to Front Squats
5Lbs plate under the heel
Defrancos Agile 8 on Squat Day and Rest Days

[Anewbie12345]

Same.

Got better with

Goblet Squats
Switching to Front Squats
5Lbs plate under the heel
Defrancos Agile 8 on Squat Day and Rest Days

jobronze, how long did it take you to see significant improvement?

[mtpockets]

I have lower back issues, decided to give hip belt squats a 3 month trial, that was 7 months ago and haven't looked back since.

[lunchbreak]

You can do the same thing in the squat rack, more or less, by just holding onto the safeties and doing a squat with no bar.

I start every squat sessions by doing this.

I do the same thing, then ATG bar only and start piling on the plates afterwards. When I started squatting I had terrible flexibility, took me some time to get below parallel.

[BankWalker]

I've struggled with lower back issues for years. Mobility/flexibility with squats have long been an issue as well. Once I discovered ( after seeing several docs and a chiropractor with no luck ) that my tight hamstrings was the root my problem...I've had no more issues. I always do seated leg extensions and SLDS prior to squatting. I've never squatted better than I am now.

[JRT6]

You can do the same thing in the squat rack, more or less, by just holding onto the safeties and doing a squat with no bar.

I start every squat sessions by doing this.

I use a band hanging from the top of the rack. It has cut my mobility warm up time in half.

[jobronze]

jobronze, how long did it take you to see significant improvement?

About a month to get better enough for "safety", not necessarily youtube quality squat depth. But remember also I'm working around the problem as well .. Front Squats allow me to go deeper without lumbar flexion.

Frankly tho, not all of us are biomechanically able to squat deep, we need to make some consensuses here and there. ROM is important, but ATG isnt needed to reap all the benefits of squats.

[JRT6]

I disagree^^^^. Most people can attain a ATG squat; some just have to work harder at it than others. Dosen't mean the ATG is the most effective for everyone though.

[bbsitum]

I was properly warned here about poor ankle flexibility in my case. Just to warn another maybe you have a flexibility problem. I use leg press with foots high at plate and hence capable press with heels.

[Anewbie12345]

I've definitely got flexibility and mobility issues the entire way up the chain: ankles, hamstrings, hips, etc. I'm finding that I need to be patient with backsquats, and possibly avoid them for a few months. Some people say "just squat" and you'll get better ROM overtime. While this may be true, I think of it like learning to play the guitar. If you learned, like I have, with poor mechanics, these poor mechanics follow you into maturaity and really limit you. Whereas if you're patient at the beginning, and learn proper mechanics, you really do set a good foundation for long term success.

So… I'm focusing on flexibility and mobility exercises for ankles hamstrings and hips, and doing accesory exercises like Bulgarian Split Squats, Goblet Squats, RDLs, as well as what I mentioned in the OP: assisted overhead ATG squats using the lat pull-down bar to maintain form. I'm already finding after just one week of switching from bad form back squats, to these accessory exercises, my flexibility and mobility is increasesing.

I'm thinking I'll do these for a few months, and once proper form is achieved and ingrained, then follow one of the beginner strength programs mentioned in the stickies.