Butt shifted to one side during squatting

[FitsWannabe]

Hi, guys. Recently when I'm squatting, my butt will shift to right side when i'm squatting up from bottom position. This doesn't happen all the while even when I'm squatting more than current weight.

FYI, my working sets is 130kg for 5 reps. I tried with 100kg and adjusted my stance and it is still the same. Only when I'm completely concentrate and push with my left leg it will become better but after few reps it goes back to the same problem. I'm not sure whether it is due to my sore left quad from previous leg day or anything else.

Any tips or solution to fix this? Your kind help is appreciated. Thanks

Video attached for my working sets.

[Zang182]

Are your feet and hips square / aligned? That would be the only thing I could think of that might be causing it.

[kanis999]

Are your feet and hips square / aligned? That would be the only thing I could think of that might be causing it.

There are about a million things I can think of that can cause it.

OP my suggestion would be to incorporate regular mobility work. Stretch for like 30 min to an hour per day. 2x per day is better. You probably have either a) trouble firing a major muscle on one side of your body, or b) undue tightness on a major muscle on one side of your body. Which particular muscle is causing it could be so many different muscles, which is why I say there could be a million reasons. Could be a tight ankle on one side, a tight lat on one side, a weak glute on one side, chitty balnace and coordination in general, tight hip flexor on one side, tight quadratus lumborum one side, scoliosis, one leg longer than the other. The list goes on and on and on. Which is why I can only suggest 'stretch everything until you're mobile'.

It is a common problem, but having a tight core can only help. Take a deep breath before you descend into the squat and flex the crap out of your abs and glutes.

[Garage Rat]

Your compensating for something.
As kanis said it could be many things wether it be your injury or more tightness of muscle on one side.
Example a tight hip flexor on one side will will cause a pelvis shift and the uneven squat rep can happen.
As said it, could be tight hamstring,calve,hip flexor or even a mobility issue.
Get a qualified person to look at you and access your issue and provide some corrective movements for you.
Here on the forum we are just speculating on what could be the issue.

[RPAYNE509]

could also be an unconscious compensation for muscle imbalance. I'm going to guess you are right footed/handed?

I have had this issue on occasion because my right leg has always been stronger being the dominant one. Same with arms, Im usually good for an extra rep on my right side.

Concentrate on staying centered and spreading the floor with your feet, this will help you fire both legs. Correcting a motion can take time before it becomes the new learned pattern.

[dmacdonal9]

Your body has a way of finding your strongest position. For some reason you are stronger with that tilt than you are without it. I have the same thing, and in my case I'm quite sure it's related to a hamstring injury on the left side. I think I built up a lot of strength on the other side to compensate, and it's incredibly difficult to undo that.

[magician27]

weak glutes hips ,imbalance between quads

[Vitalero]

try lighter weight and grow slowly, looks like the weight forcing a muscle to work but he doesnt want to

[adamdavidson47]

It looks to me that the bar is crooked to begin with. It could be the camera angle, but it doesn't look right.

[barbecueyeah]

Ah I recognize this all too well. I feel there is a looot of info about squats and the back on Youtube but there is very little content regarding this issue. Personally I discovered this a while ago as well and I have yet to fix it.

For me personally, I think it has to do with strength and muscle memory. I am stronger in my right leg (even though I am "left handed", my right side of the body is the strongest hehe) and I am much more used to using my right leg. In fact, I lay quite a lot on the ground because I got a cat and I noticed that I use my right leg as the main support when I stand back up. I decided to start using my left leg and noticed something silly, I had to spend several seconds just thinking about how to do it. In fact, even though I was going to stand up with my left leg, the first attempts I still ended up using my right leg as main support.


From the googling that I've done in the past, one recommendation seem to be to do some unilateral leg exercises and to not train the strong leg harder (so if you can handle 60 kg right leg but only 50 kg left leg, you want to stick to 50kg on the right leg as well). Does this work? I don't know, just saying that this is what I've seen several people recommending in previous discussions.

[kmiller9959]

I was experiencing the same exact issue. For me it was a hip flexor issue. My left side was not flexible enough. I do more mobility work before squats and/or deadlifts and I switched to low bar squats. For some reason low bars helped my form a LOT.

[FitsWannabe]

I always did 20-30mins of mobility work before my lower body day. I'm am right-handed and I did have a tight hip flexor and hamstring but it improved a lot since I start doing mobility work.

I just not sure why is this happening after I took a few weeks off with minimal squatting which it never happens before.

So other than incorporating more mobility work, work on some unilateral exercise to balance off my right and left quad, adjusting stance and make sure the bar is well aligned, anything else should I pay attention to? And seems like I'm having some problem to flex my left glute. Any exercise that works each glute separately? I incorporated some single-legged dumbbell romanian deadlift and wonder will it helps to isolate my glute?

Once again million thanks to everyone that gave me suggestions! Appreciate that!

[Turtora]

I always did 20-30mins of mobility work before my lower body day. I'm am right-handed and I did have a tight hip flexor and hamstring but it improved a lot since I start doing mobility work.

I just not sure why is this happening after I took a few weeks off with minimal squatting which it never happens before.

So other than incorporating more mobility work, work on some unilateral exercise to balance off my right and left quad, adjusting stance and make sure the bar is well aligned, anything else should I pay attention to? And seems like I'm having some problem to flex my left glute. Any exercise that works each glute separately? I incorporated some single-legged dumbbell romanian deadlift and wonder will it helps to isolate my glute?

Once again million thanks to everyone that gave me suggestions! Appreciate that!

Check out the routine and resources in this post:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1342533651

[FitsWannabe]

Check out the routine and resources in this post:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1342533651

Thanks man. Btw, that is to be done anytime of the day? Just extra mobility work throughout the day?

[Turtora]

Thanks man. Btw, that is to be done anytime of the day? Just extra mobility work throughout the day?

Yep! I do it at night, right before bed.

[Saintsqc]

IMO, mobility is too often the answer to everything. Your descent is good, so why would it be a question of mobitiliy if you can get in the right position ?? If your mobility was the problem, the descent and the ascent would be shifted on the right side. Obviously, you will benefit by an increase of mobility at the hips (every squatter benefits from that), but I dont think it's the key to fix your problem. If it would be a mobility issue, the problem would be there during the descent, you will feel a tightness at your hips when doing the movement and stretching/mobility work just before your squat will have a direct and significant improvement.

I think it's more about a muscle imbalance (right side stronger), a lack of motor control, a prior injury flaring up or an injury incoming. Unilateral work is not a bad idea. Split squat and pistol squats are your friends. In regard to a lack of motor control, pause squats and pin squats from the bottom position is a good way to practice it. You have to think about it, shift your weight on your left side and shove your knees out.

Whether it's a mobility issue or not, you can make the test to pin point your problem precisely.

Mobility test : warm up without stretching for your squat and take a video of yourself when you shift on the right side. Then, do some srs stretching and mobility work, then squat again. If it's a lot better, then finally, mobility is a solution. If it's the same, then mobility is not the solution. Or maybe you didn't stretch the right thing. Look out for piriformis and hips opening stretchings. You can also use this test to pin point precisly what you need to stretch to help your squat. ie :
-Warm up (light squat, ramp up to heavy weights)
-Squat heavy with a video of your hips : does it shift ? yes
-Stretch quads, then squat heavy with a video of your hips : does it shift ? if you see an improvement, you know quads is a part of the problem. If you see no improvement, you know quad stretching does nothing for you.
-Stretch psoas, then squat heavy
-Stretch adductors, then squat heavy
-Stretch piriformis
-Do hips opening stretching

If none of these stretches directly improve your situation, you know stretching wont help you.


Also, for how long do you have this problem ? Sometime, my squat form get weird for unkown reasons and after a couple of weeks, everything get back to normal. Maybe you dont have to worry about it and it will disappear soon enough.

[TrainHard22]

Not saying anyone else in this thread is wrong, just adding my own personal experience. I used to favour one side in the hole as well and after doing a test with a physiotherapist it was because of a glute strength imbalance.

Try laying on your stomach and doing a glute kickback with one leg as a friend pushes down on your leg. If one side is considerably weaker your friend should be able to defeat you easily on that side.

If it's not that then maybe it's mobility.

[FitsWannabe]

IMO, mobility is too often the answer to everything. Your descent is good, so why would it be a question of mobitiliy if you can get in the right position ?? If your mobility was the problem, the descent and the ascent would be shifted on the right side. Obviously, you will benefit by an increase of mobility at the hips (every squatter benefits from that), but I dont think it's the key to fix your problem. If it would be a mobility issue, the problem would be there during the descent, you will feel a tightness at your hips when doing the movement and stretching/mobility work just before your squat will have a direct and significant improvement.

I think it's more about a muscle imbalance (right side stronger), a lack of motor control, a prior injury flaring up or an injury incoming. Unilateral work is not a bad idea. Split squat and pistol squats are your friends. In regard to a lack of motor control, pause squats and pin squats from the bottom position is a good way to practice it. You have to think about it, shift your weight on your left side and shove your knees out.

Whether it's a mobility issue or not, you can make the test to pin point your problem precisely.

Mobility test : warm up without stretching for your squat and take a video of yourself when you shift on the right side. Then, do some srs stretching and mobility work, then squat again. If it's a lot better, then finally, mobility is a solution. If it's the same, then mobility is not the solution. Or maybe you didn't stretch the right thing. Look out for piriformis and hips opening stretchings. You can also use this test to pin point precisly what you need to stretch to help your squat. ie :
-Warm up (light squat, ramp up to heavy weights)
-Squat heavy with a video of your hips : does it shift ? yes
-Stretch quads, then squat heavy with a video of your hips : does it shift ? if you see an improvement, you know quads is a part of the problem. If you see no improvement, you know quad stretching does nothing for you.
-Stretch psoas, then squat heavy
-Stretch adductors, then squat heavy
-Stretch piriformis
-Do hips opening stretching

If none of these stretches directly improve your situation, you know stretching wont help you.


Also, for how long do you have this problem ? Sometime, my squat form get weird for unkown reasons and after a couple of weeks, everything get back to normal. Maybe you dont have to worry about it and it will disappear soon enough.

It just happens to me after I took a few weeks off with minimal squatting. I never or rarely having this issue previously. I strongly feel my left glute is weaker but it might not true. That's why I'm asking for more different opinion. I'll be include more unilateral exercise for my leg day. Hopefully it will gone after few weeks as you experienced ^^

Thanks for the response guys! Thanks for your opinion too @trainhard22!

[Mdenatale]

As has been said, could be a lot of things. It looks like you are simply pushing harder and faster with your left leg, just not sure why. If possible try squatting in front of a mirror. Getting real time visual feedback can be very useful for correcting form problems.

[davisj3537]

Bump

[FitsWannabe]

As has been said, could be a lot of things. It looks like you are simply pushing harder and faster with your left leg, just not sure why. If possible try squatting in front of a mirror. Getting real time visual feedback can be very useful for correcting form problems.

But shouldn't my left leg is weaker and hence the weight shifted to right side? I squat in front mirror long time ago but read some post suggesting squatting without mirror is better. So I always use the rack without mirror. Maybe I'll try squatting in front mirror just for few workout. Thanks.

Bump

Thx for the bump!

[razoreyes]

I kinda feel that you are failing to push your left knee out while coming up.
because it comes inwards while you ascend. Just try doing that and it might help.