Getting Your Back Out of Your Squat, by Paul Check Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 02:41:17 -0400 From: Paul Chek Subject: Puzzling Squat Problem: >I am currently helping train a friend for his first powerlifting > competition, he is 5ft 10ins and 165lb of light-medium build. He is > reasonably new to both heavy training and powerlifting, but is making > reasonable progress in the d/lift and bench (330 and 180 respectively so > far). The problem he is having is with the squat, whenever the weight > starts to get heavy ( > than 240 on triples) he suddenly develops a > tendancy to bend over excessively and rely on back strength to perform > the lift (i.e. hips rise first, then back performs the rest).< Dear Readers, I would like to address the above issue, but must be succinct due to time restraints and pending projects: Sounds like this man may be suffering from several things: 1. May have a long torso, leading to a higher center of gravity and greater relative load on his back extensors. This is often the case when Dead Lift strength is good and squat is poor (but not always). To fix, see below: 2. Poor Form: If he is not well schooled in squat technique, he will have faulty recruitment patterns. This is often referred to as co-contraction. When beginning heavy squats, novices often tend to over-recruit the lats and rectus abdominus. The Lat recruitment is often seen as (and felt by the squatter) as an attempt to pull downward on the bar. Both of these muscles will act to flex the trunk at the sticking point in spite of the fact that the brain is activating them in attempt to tighten the thoraco-lumbar fascia. The thoraco-lumbar facia mechanism is dependant upon synergistic recruitment of the gluteus maximus, internal oblique, transverse abdominus, erector spinae and latissimus dorsi. When properly activated, the mechanism creates an extension force on the lumbar spine and is directly related to the intra-abdominal pressure mechanism and hydraulic amplifier mechanism. If the abdominal muscles are activated in a flexor pattern, which is inevitable if the rectus abdominus is activated, then the lumbar extensors are often overloaded, as evidenced by the forward bend. To protect this athlete from progressively programming his nervous system to perform with poor squat technique, you can implement the following: 1. Prior to initiating the squat, athlete should take a full breath, filling the thoracic cavity. This is a prerequisite to functional activation of the intra-abdominal pressure mechanism and all others mentioned above. - keep grip as close to shoulders as possible to assist in activating the thoracic extensors and scapular adductors, which help hold the trunk erect. 2. Having taken the full breath, have him draw his belly button toward his spine, keeping it pulled in tightly through the entire lift. This ensures activation of the transverse abdominus and deactivation of the rectus abdominus. - If wearing a weight belt, tell him not to allow his stomach to press on the belt at all! Wearing the belt only encourages rectus abdominus activation and faulty recruitment patterns. This is a major source of potential back pain in all who wear weight belts! The sooner you wean off weight belts the better. It is essential that the abdominal wall be trained to subconscious competency prior to letting athletes use belts for big lifts or the faulty recruitment patterns will accelerate your chances of disk, facet joint, and ligament injury. 3. Prior to initiating the squat from the KNEES (not the hips), have him lift his toes in his shoes. This will functionally shorten his feet, causing the brain to alter the recruitment of his trunk extensors to move the combined center of gravity (of the athlete and the load on his back) backward over the now shortened foot. Sometimes it works too well and athlete can fall over backward - so be prepared! 4. As he progresses through the ascent, only allow the air to be released through moderately opened lips, otherwise you lose thoracic cavity pressure, which destabilizes the rest of the torso and results in overload of the back extensors! - Additionally, as he comes off the bottom, encourage forward migration of his elbows. This will activate the thoracic extensors and contribute to his extensor strength. I hope this helps. It is a very complex topic. The interested reader can learn much more from reviewing my videos and published material. Sincerely, Paul Chek MSS, HHP, NMT www.paulchekseminars.com