How To Squat Properly: 3 Mistakes Harming Your Lower Back (FIX THESE!)

When it comes to

lower

body strength and size, there's no doubt that

squat

s are gnarly, but at the same time, the

squat

is one of the riskiest exercises in the gym, in fact, the Research and weightlifters often find that squats are the most commonly cited. Injuries that cause exercise performed in the gym more specifically, although it appears that of these squat injuries, the

lower

back

tends to be the most common site of injury, which is simply because the spine is biomechanically the most common joint. vulnerable when squatting. It doesn't mean that the squat is a dangerous exercise that you should avoid because it isn't and it is actually a great strengthening movement for the lower body, but this does mean that you should carefully consider how to perform the squat as there are some exercises common.

Mistakes people make when using it that can contribute to lower

back

pain and injuries over time. In this video I'll explain exactly what those

mistakes

are and how to fix them so you can avoid injury and develop a stronger, pain-free squat. The first mistake you're making has to do with something called a butt wink, which is a term used to describe when someone nears the end of their squat and their pelvis begins to tilt back and their tailbone folds under them creating a little rounding or bending in the lumbar spine and although there is some controversy behind this research, it seems to indicate that this subtle rounding of the lumbar spine is associated with spinal disc injuries and can become problematic over time, especially when performed repeatedly with heavy loads like we do. do in the weighted squat, so ideally

your

pelvis should remain as neutral as possible rather than rounded in the bottom position of the squat now, although some people simply cannot change the amount of weight on the butt they experience due to anatomy issues where in reality, the femur only has a limited range of motion available and means that deep squats simply wouldn't be best for them, most people experience this but wink due to mobility issues and, in fact, the most common problem is a lack of sufficient ankle mobility.

Two recent articles looking at the effect of ankle mobility on the squat found that when ankle mobility in subjects was restricted to simulate poor ankle mobility, there was an increase in lower back stress as well as greater amount of low back pain. butt flexion or wink scene compared to subjects who had no restriction in ankle mobility during the squat and we can clearly see why this happens here with skeletor because when you have proper ankle mobility

your

knee can travel further forward as you go down and you can reach the proper depth without your lower back and pelvis having to compensate, but on the other hand, if your ankle mobility is restricted, your knee can't go as far forward, so in In this case, if I wanted to reach the proper depth in the squat, I would simply do it.

You will not be able to do this because your body would fall backwards since your center of gravity has shifted backwards, so to compensate and prevent this from happening, what the body does is round the back of the pelvis so that you can reach the depth

properly

without leaning back. This is why having tight ankles is often the culprit of this gluteal wing problem. I mean, I personally have very tight ankles and, for example, when I do a barefoot squat without warming up, you can clearly see that a belt occurs, but if I then lift my heels.

Some plates while I bend over the butt wing completely disappears because the lifting helps with the mobility of my ankle so what I suggest is that you record yourself and try this little experiment to see if this is the case for you too and if it is so. What you want to do is simply start incorporating ankle mobility stretches daily and before squatting as this has been shown to significantly improve ankle mobility restrictions, so exercises like various weighted ankle stretches, Wall ankle stretches and simply holding the deep squat are great daily movements that you should do to quickly improve your ankle mobility in addition to this, although some quick fixes are to use a wider stance, as this will allow you to squat. deeper with less ankle mobility, since the knees do not have to travel forward as much. and 2 invest in lifting shoes as they provide a heel lift which helps with ankle mobility and I will leave a link below to the ones I use and recommend, but anyway, until you improve that excessive wink in your squat, It would be best to limit your death during heavy squats to as parallel or as deep as you can go without that excessive rounding to prevent potential problems from arising over time.

The next crucial mistake you are making with your squat is very subtle to detect, but it is a big mistake. problem when it comes to stress and pain in the lower back, so ideally, when you rise from the bottom of the squat, your chest and hips should rise at approximately the same rate in a fluid motion that allows the bar moves up and down as you go. squat, but what some people do instead is something called the good morning squat, which is when the hips shoot first and rise at a much faster rate than the chest, causing the bar to move forward and the upper body leans forward excessively. coming out of the bottom position and this is problematic because we know that more forward lean and more forward movement of the bar during the squat increases lumbar forces and the experience of shear stress in the spine, so instead To minimize these dangerous forces on the lower back while squatting, you need to focus on keeping your chest up during the climb and making sure your hips don't shoot back, especially when you tire later during sets. and, if you're struggling with this, it likely has to do with both your motor coordination and potentially a weakness in your quads because if your quads are weak in the bottom position, your body will compensate by relying more on your glutes and lower back. relatively stronger to now carry the load and that is why we see the hip shoot back and in fact in multiple research articles. like this one from Spine Journal support this and found that when subjects pre-fatigued their quads to be relatively weaker before performing a squat, they now tended to lift with the crouch squat pattern discussed above to decrease the demand. placed on your quads now to correct this, the best course of action would be to lighten the weight and start incorporating pause squats instead, where you'll want to pause briefly at the bottom position of the squat, reaching about halfway through. pause again and then go back to the top and during each repetition you should make sure that your hips and chest rise at the same rate.

It's also helpful to use various cues to help you with this, such as thinking about raising your chest as you go out. the bottom position of the squat, but performing pause squats in this poster will help force your quads to stay engaged during the more difficult parts of the squat and help you nail down that much-needed coordination and then, as you get better and stronger with this, you will be able to start transitioning back to normal squats and overload them as long as you can maintain that new proper form. Now the last mistake has to do with the way you breathe during the squat, which is something that most people overlook, so I'm sure many of you have been advised to inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up. for exercises, although this is fine for most exercises and sets that are less strenuous when it comes to more fatiguing and heavier sets of barbell squats when doing this.

This will result in a lot of instability as you lift the weight, so you need to use a breathing technique that increases something called intra-abdominal pressure inside your abdomen as you squat, which has been shown in multiple articles to stabilize and protect your back. low. By squatting you significantly reduce the spinal compression and lumbar loading you experience and to do this you need to think of it as if you are submerging yourself in water every time you squat, so start breathing deeply into your abdomen and then strengthen your core. If someone was about to punch you in the stomach, then you continue to brace yourself and hold your breath as you dive, lowering yourself back down during your rep and then exhaling and restarting in the top position as you come out of the water.

It takes some practice. It takes getting used to, but it is essential that you do so as it will allow you to perform stronger, more stable squats and will better ensure that your lower back is protected when you start working with heavier weights, so to summarize the video here you will find the exact plan of action you want. To continue with your squats, I highly recommend that you take the time to film yourself from the side or simply have someone film you just to see if you are making any of these

mistakes

, but being aware of these key points such as If you are squatting and implement the necessary solutions for it, you will be able to relieve any lower back pain you may experience when squatting and better protect your lower back from long-term injuries and if you are looking to get it down to a science. -Plan based that optimizes your exercises and all the various aspects of your program for you in an easy to follow way, so that you can quickly build strength and size in the most effective and safe way possible with science and simply visit buildwithscience.com. to take the analysis quiz to find out which specific program is best for your body and where you are currently at Guys I hope you enjoyed this one don't forget to show your support by liking the video and leaving a comment below for What you like would like me to cover below Subscribe to the channel and turn on channel notifications.

Plus, all of this really helps me. Thank you very much to all. See you next time.