Lower back pain while squatting

[SUBZER0ED]

I think I'll ask someone to check my form out next time I squat. It's hard to realize on my own if I'm doing any of these things.



Yea I haven't been using running shoes I've been using regular sneakers, but they are pretty old and worn out so they might not be giving me the stability I need. Never tried a cross trainer shoe, wonder if that'll help.

I always squatted in front of a mirror, to keep an eye on my form.

Good shoes are essential! They make shoes that are designed for leg exercises. They have a flat sole and a wide, wedged heel. They are designed to help provide a stable platform and maintain good positioning and balance. I have a pair of Reebok Cross-fit weight lifting shoes, but most any big name makes shoes for lifting.

[TripleK4TripleG]

I always squatted in front of a mirror, to keep an eye on my form.

Good shoes are essential! They make shoes that are designed for leg exercises. They have a flat sole and a wide, wedged heel. They are designed to help provide a stable platform and maintain good positioning and balance. I have a pair of Reebok Cross-fit weight lifting shoes, but most any big name makes shoes for lifting.

Maybe I should try out some lifting shoes then. Now that I think about it I was kinda rocking back and forth on my feet in my crappy old shoes. Might have contributed to me hurting my back.

[GTTofAK]

Your lower back is weak. That is all there is too it. It gives out on you before your legs do.

You need to focus on deadlifts for awhile so your lower back strength can catch up to your leg strength. Work in good mornings and weighted hyper extensions on the roman chair too. That will focus on the lower back. You also get good lower back work doing heavy rowing.

[GTTofAK]

Back work will help you as a fighter too. Much of your punching power comes from the posterior sling where the back, glutes, and hamstrings work together to create a torque around the hips.

[TripleK4TripleG]

Your lower back is weak. That is all there is too it. It gives out on you before your legs do.

You need to focus on deadlifts for awhile so your lower back strength can catch up to your leg strength. Work in good mornings and weighted hyper extensions on the roman chair too. That will focus on the lower back. You also get good lower back work doing heavy rowing.

I tried deadlifting yesterday and I felt the same pain that I felt when I was squatting. It's kind of a stiff feeling with some dull pain. You think this is because my lower back needs strengthening or because my form is ****ed up on both exercises?

[GTTofAK]

I tried deadlifting yesterday and I felt the same pain that I felt when I was squatting. It's kind of a stiff feeling with some dull pain. You think this is because my lower back needs strengthening or because my form is ****ed up on both exercises?

That stiff dull ache is muscle pain. An actual spine/disk problem would be shooting nerve pain. I had depression of disks after a fall. The shooting pain is excruciating.

I had the same problem early on in my training as you do because I didn't do any heavy lower back work, only power cleans and high volume hyper extensions, but had extremely strong legs. I was young and ****** and didn't realize that my ability to do a zillion hyper extensions didn't' meant\ I had a strong back it meant my back had a lot of stamina which is totally different. My back would ache so bad after a squat session and for a while when I first started deadlifting. After about a month the pain went away forever.

If you are interested in form watch these two videos.





Ripitoe's stuff is the best there is for guys starting out. DeFranco is a little more advanced. While rip doesn't mention it but DeFranco does, which is why I posted both, you need to pull the slack out of the bar or you will do a cat ****/scared cat deadlift. The back has to be fired and activated before you begin the leg drive. If you begin the leg drive first the back will not be ready to transfer the force to the bar. The legs and hips will go up as the unactivated back rounds forward. So you look like a sacred cat. Then the back will say 'oh **** I got to pull this!' activate and pull bull back. If you pull the slack out and activate the back first the force transfer to the bar will be immediate, so no scared cat.

This will really benefit you in the long run. Look at your avatar. Where do you think the lions share of the force is being generated in GGG's hook? Its coming from the posterior sling.

[TripleK4TripleG]

That stiff dull ache is muscle pain. An actual spine/disk problem would be shooting nerve pain. I had depression of disks after a fall. The shooting pain is excruciating.

I had the same problem early on in my training as you do because I didn't do any heavy lower back work, only power cleans and high volume hyper extensions, but had extremely strong legs. I was young and ****** and didn't realize that my ability to do a zillion hyper extensions didn't' mean I had a strong back it mean my back had a lot of stamina which is totally different. My back would ache so bad after a squat session and for a while when I first started deadlifting. After about a month the pain went away forever.

If you are interested in form watch these two videos.





Ripitoe's stuff is the best there is for guys starting out. DeFranco is a little more advanced. While rip doesn't mention it but DeFranco does, which is why I posted both, you need to pull the slack out of the bar or you will do a cat ****/scared cat deadlift. The back has to be fired and activated before you begin the leg drive. If you begin the leg drive first the back will not be ready to transfer the force to the bar. The legs and hips will go up as the unactivated back rounds forward. So you look like a sacred cat. Then the back will say 'oh **** I got to pull this!' activate and pull bull back. If you pull the slack out and activate the back first the force transfer to the bar will be immediate, so no scared cat.

This will really benefit you in the long run. Look at your avatar. Where do you think the lions share of the force is being generated in GGG's hook? Its coming from the posterior sling.

I guess I just gotta wait a few days for the stiffness to go away and then keep going at it. I had been watching rippetoes vids already and I feel like my form is correct, but since I kept getting stiffness I was thinking maybe something was off. Makes sense that I'm feeling it in my lower back though, because just like you I've never really done heavy lower back work. Hopefully I'll just be able to work through this noob stage and the pain will stop coming.

[GTTofAK]

I guess I just gotta wait a few days for the stiffness to go away and then keep going at it. I had been watching rippetoes vids already and I feel like my form is correct, but since I kept getting stiffness I was thinking maybe something was off. Makes sense that I'm feeling it in my lower back though, because just like you I've never really done heavy lower back work. Hopefully I'll just be able to work through this noob stage and the pain will stop coming.

Well its good that you have already found Rip. His stuff is flat out excellent straight forward no nonsense no gimmicks. There is a reason so many gurus use so many gimmicks. They aren't that good. They have to separate themselves with something unique. If you are honest with a potential client and say 'press, bench, row, squat, deadlfit' the obvious initial reaction is 'then why in the hell do I need to pay you?'

[AddiX]

I guess I just gotta wait a few days for the stiffness to go away and then keep going at it. I had been watching rippetoes vids already and I feel like my form is correct, but since I kept getting stiffness I was thinking maybe something was off. Makes sense that I'm feeling it in my lower back though, because just like you I've never really done heavy lower back work. Hopefully I'll just be able to work through this noob stage and the pain will stop coming.

Alan Thrall has the best videos for power lift technique, and how to fix bad habits. That dude knows his stuff and is great at explaining things.

Personally, I don't squat. I don't like the way it feels, it's a very unnatural movement, it destroys knees and backs like mo other work out, our spines quite frankly haven't evolved to do it.

There is a lot of ways to build strength and bigger legs that aren't as dangerous.

And I really don't know why so many people still love Rippatoe. His workout sucks IMO. You can always tell who's doing his program because they do the same crap all the time at the gym, yet look like they don't work out.

[GTTofAK]

And I really don't know why so many people still love Rippatoe. His workout sucks IMO. You can always tell who's doing his program because they do the same crap all the time at the gym, yet look like they don't work out.

What do you mean by looks like they work out? Do you mean some kid who is in the development phase of their body around walking around at such a low body-fat percentage that they are actually shooting their long term development in the foot? Do you want to be an effective athlete or do you want to look good at the beach? Crossfit for example will make you look great with your shirt off but you are in line for an ass kicking.

Look 10 years ago we didn't even know who exactly how the muscle was built. Its been a very interesting decade, thanks to new invivo imaging we can actually see the process now. We know what happens and how it happens. We can see the stemcells becoming new muscle nuclei. We can see them growing. We can see them going dormant when training stops and exploding back when training starts again.

Strength training creates new neculi, high volume training grows existing nuclei.

We know for a fact now that youth should be dedicated to strength training. That is when the potential for new nuclei is at its highest. You have the rest of your life to grow those nuclei into nice looking beach muscles but only a very narrow window in your teens through 20s to make them.