This is probably a bit of a random post but its going out anyway!

If you train regular and have lower back pain you have probably blamed one of two things,

Squatting or Deadlifting

As a result you probably wear a big stupid weights belt now for everything, curls and even your tricep kickbacks…oh dear dont let me catch you doing those :-)

Squatting and deadlifting have gotten a LOT of bad press for like FOREVER and in a very small percentage of the time, regardless of how good technique is, squatting and or deadlifting just may not be for you.

Regardless, the question looming over everyones head is; ‘How low should I squat?’
There are the group of people that say you Must squat ‘ass to grass’ and then the other group say you shuold never break parallel.

Who the hell is right?

How low should you squat?

Lets take a look at an example…

This guy is an MMA fighter and his first fight is coming up shortly, he was in the gym everyday, lifting heavy enough and with some intensity! Only thing is, after every set he stood up like an old man and put his hand on his lower back and proceeded to twist and turn all over the place to seek some relief.

He asked me for advice on a completely ‘unrelated’ matter while I was training myself (big mistake) but being a nice guy i helped (quickly) but after I helped him I could help but mention AND video his squat.

See he asked me about ‘core strength’ and besides proceeding to tell him that that it was core stability he needed and not core strength (yet anyway) as such I couldnt help but revert back to his squat. After a few tests it was obvious he has WAAAYYY too much laxity in his lower back…his spine was like a string of spagetti!

He was strong but posessed too much laxity in his spine and then proceeded to compress it in a flexed position with squatting movements.

It was effecting everything he was doing in the weights room.

Although he is a proponent of ‘full squatting’ and using full range of motion, compund exercises etc. (my favourite) he was beginning to listen to the meat heads in the gym and wear his Kidney belt while doing curls in the squat rack to alleviate his back pain. And even started squatting in the smith machine…Grrrrr…

Anyway things to consider;

1. He shouldnt be loading his spine in that bottom position, for the time being he should stop just when his tailbone (coccyx) starts to curl under his ‘arse’ yea I said arse, get over it.

2. Needs to work on his ankle mobility, thats the reason he cant get his knees out in front of him and then needs to flex his t-spine and lean forward and curl that coccyx to keep his balance/ centre of gravity.

ankle stretch

3. Practice ‘arse out, chest out’ technique with his squatting. The best thing to do for this is wall squatting, there’s no cheating :-)

wall squat

4. Wearing a kidney belt…ever…training with it on doesnt protect the back, it makes your back become dependant on it and weakens your back… guaranteed you are more likely then to hurt yourself picking up your shopping and not squatting.

Bit random but there it is…

Bryan

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