Squatting Woes

[BigKrabbe]

I seem to be having some problems with squatting lately. In the past few months I have gone to using a slightly wider stance, and placing the bar lower on my back than I used to. I can definitely move weight much easier this way and hit depth better so I really like squatting this way. Only thing is my hips have begun bothering me doing this, to the point where I can't go above 315 even without my hips beginning to hurt. I really enjoy powerlifting, and squatting and would feel extremely inadequate if I could no longer squat in meets (jk of course..well kind of). Does anyone have any suggestions for things that I can do to help strengthen my hip flexors? I have been doing a lot of stretching for them, and rolling out my hips on a foam roller but it's not really helping that much...

[ozarkaBRAND]

Damn.. I was going to advise stretches and foam rolling.. looks like you've got those going already, though..

Hmm.. If you're not already, incorporate front squats with a not-so-wide stance, in addition to what you're already doing, of course. Also, unilateral lower body movements: lunges, split squats, etc... could possibly help quite a lot.

[BigKrabbe]

Thanks Ozarka, I am gonna have to try incorporating those into some workouts to see if it helps!

[dedlifter1]

I had the same issue buddy. Lunges helped, and laterall lunges with dumbells. Also, and i know it looks gay, the machine that is made for your inner and outer hip flexors works AWESOME, it helped me break 405, recently

[Brad2131]

for a few months i tried widening my squat stance because i always saw powerlifters had realllly wide stances. During that few months i developed a pain in my right knee. Finally over weeks of trying different things, i finally figured out going that wide was putting excess pressure on my knees. I am a firm believer in just a tad more than shoulder width. I just did 360 last max and have no knee issues since i went back to my regular stance.

[dedlifter1]

for a few months i tried widening my squat stance because i always saw powerlifters had realllly wide stances. During that few months i developed a pain in my right knee. Finally over weeks of trying different things, i finally figured out going that wide was putting excess pressure on my knees. I am a firm believer in just a tad more than shoulder width. I just did 360 last max and have no knee issues since i went back to my regular stance.

see, i would think a more narrow stance would hurt the knee more, but maybe not. I myself go shoulder with or tad more, toes pointed out about 30 degrees.

[pmiller383]

Do you wear briefs when you squat?

You may also be having a problem activating the correct muscles when squatting, Try doing some glute bridges, and the band good mornings before you squat for 1-2 sets of 25. Also to make sure your abductors are firing correctly take a medicine ball and squeeze it with your legs as hard as you can for 10-15 seconds. You want to place it as high up in your inner thighs as you comfortably can.

[Inarius]

you may also want to look into some mobility drills.

[Caferacer]

No one has mentioned hip flexor training yet. Working on those has definitely helped my stability getting to the hole in the past.

[rxp1997]

for a few months i tried widening my squat stance because i always saw powerlifters had realllly wide stances. During that few months i developed a pain in my right knee. Finally over weeks of trying different things, i finally figured out going that wide was putting excess pressure on my knees. I am a firm believer in just a tad more than shoulder width. I just did 360 last max and have no knee issues since i went back to my regular stance.

do you have a video of your form? just this past weekend I saw a kid doing wide stance squats, but his knees were collapsing in. If you can, video your form and hook us up, at this stage it's all guesswork.

[BigKrabbe]

I do not wear briefs when I squat, but I have them and am going to start wearing them while squatting/deading. Well today I did the normal warm up of rolling out on a pvc pipe before my lift. I stretched out my hip flexors for around 10 minutes and then began to squat. The first few sets kinda hurt, but the weight felt pretty light, so I kept going up, and on my last few sets of 5 I really concentrated on keeping my core really tight with my stomach tight, and really sitting back into my squat. I noticed almost no pain, and managed to get up to 365 with no pain so I was pretty happy with that. I then took some of your guys advice and did 4 sets of front squats, and 2 sets of lunges. Hopefully I can get the pain to complete subside before my upcoming meet! I decided either way I'm squatting though, lol but I refuse to squat less than I did at the last meet so this should be fun.

[dedlifter1]

I do not wear briefs when I squat, but I have them and am going to start wearing them while squatting/deading. Well today I did the normal warm up of rolling out on a pvc pipe before my lift. I stretched out my hip flexors for around 10 minutes and then began to squat. The first few sets kinda hurt, but the weight felt pretty light, so I kept going up, and on my last few sets of 5 I really concentrated on keeping my core really tight with my stomach tight, and really sitting back into my squat. I noticed almost no pain, and managed to get up to 365 with no pain so I was pretty happy with that. I then took some of your guys advice and did 4 sets of front squats, and 2 sets of lunges. Hopefully I can get the pain to complete subside before my upcoming meet! I decided either way I'm squatting though, lol but I refuse to squat less than I did at the last meet so this should be fun.

Good luck Buddy!!