Hip flexors and squats

[calvinbiss]

I recently changed up my squat form so that I was completing a "real squat" - hips below knees and driving up from the bottom of the exercise.

As my weight has gone up, I am getting more pain/soreness in my interior hip flexors. Its not a soreness that I can push on a spot and feel, but just a general pain while I am doing the exercise.

Anyone else experience this? Thoughts?

 

[eits]

where is it? in your hip or pelvis? do you have any low back pain at all?

 

[calvinbiss]

No lower back pain.

If I put my fingers on my hip bones and move toward my groin at a 45 degree angle, its about half way down. The tendon that seems to attach my quad to my pelvis.

 

[brikis98]

Post a video. One possibility is as the weight has gotten heavier, you are allowing your knees to slide forward at the bottom of the squat. This means that your hamstrings are slackening and, as discussed in Starting Strength, it can lead to a lot of pulling/pressure on something in the hip flexors. Keep it up too long and you get some weird tendonitis-like symptoms. If this is the case, there are three things you should do:

1. Stop squatting for a bit (or reduce the weight) so it can heal. RICE and foam rolling can help.
2. Work on your technique, especially on hip drive.
3. Stretch your hip flexors. The samson stretch should be a daily part of your routine. For people with tight hip flexors (ie, most of us these days due to sitting so much), it's also one of the few static stretches to do before your workout.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

If you're describing what I have to deal with, that pain is actually tightness created by the glutes. Stretch your glutes by holding a low squat position (assistance may be required to hold yourself steady while in a low squat). Also you can do the following stretches:

and

Those have helped me quite a bit, especially with getting depth in my squat without tenderness or discomfort. It's a fairly common problem so I hope this helps you out.

 

[DeckardBlade]

No lower back pain.

If I put my fingers on my hip bones and move toward my groin at a 45 degree angle, its about half way down. The tendon that seems to attach my quad to my pelvis.

Trying to figure out where exactly that would be at, as I have had a lot of problems with my iliopsoas (which is where I think you're pointing to but not sure) as well as piriformis syndrome.

The samson stretch Brikis linked to is very similar to a psoas stretch I do (as far as I can tell there's really only a difference in hand/arm position): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEbvVwuBnzg

The exrx stretch SC highlighted I find awesome for loosening up my glutes.

 

[coreyb]

probably a form issue. post video

 

[eits]

No lower back pain.

If I put my fingers on my hip bones and move toward my groin at a 45 degree angle, its about half way down. The tendon that seems to attach my quad to my pelvis.

that's not your hip flexors. it's, more than likely, your piriformis or glutes.

 

[kalrith]

<snip>

This is now officially a babe thread :awe:

 

[SociallyChallenged]

that's not your hip flexors. it's, more than likely, your piriformis or glutes.

Agreed. The proprioception in that area is very confusing sometimes. Everything inserts around the femur and sometimes the tightness/pain is not localized well. If people tell me their hip flexors hurt or are tender because they're getting lower in the squat, I almost immediately have them do glute stretches. Almost every time, this alleviates the symptoms.

 

[calvinbiss]

I will video today and post. I will also the stretching techniques shown here. Thanks.

 

[calvinbiss]

As promised here is the video from my Friday workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-XOpaz_BXU

First set is 230, second is 205, third is 135. I am glad I videoed because I feel like I am not quite getting low enough at 230, so its time to back the weight down again.

The "pain" is most noticeable right as I am coming out of the hole.

I decided to go lighter and fewer sets for a week and see what happens. On Sunday I did 3 sets of 5 at 135 and, while the pain was still there, it was not nearly as intense and it wore off quickly.

Also, I did all of the stretches suggested and none of them were able to stretch the spot I am referring to.

 

[eits]

your knees are going too far past your toes. lighten your weights until you can get your form down. once you've got it down, then start increasing your weights.

also, i think your toes are pointed too far out. they should be aligned as if you were to just be standing there without weight... about 20 degrees from 90. if you point your toes out too far, it will target your leg external rotator muscles, which are the muscles that are causing you pain (glute max, piriformis, and others).

watch your low back. i can see that you're slightly flexing at the lumbar spine when you get down towards the bottom of your squat. you gotta keep it in neutral, extended position the whole time. you'll find that you might actually be able to squat slightly more if you fix this. it has to do with muscle fiber alignment and and how hard it needs to work to stabilize your trunk.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

your knees are going too far past your toes. lighten your weights until you can get your form down. once you've got it down, then start increasing your weights.

also, i think your toes are pointed too far out. they should be aligned as if you were to just be standing there without weight... about 20 degrees from 90. if you point your toes out too far, it will target your leg external rotator muscles, which are the muscles that are causing you pain (glute max, piriformis, and others).

watch your low back. i can see that you're slightly flexing at the lumbar spine when you get down towards the bottom of your squat. you gotta keep it in neutral, extended position the whole time. you'll find that you might actually be able to squat slightly more if you fix this. it has to do with muscle fiber alignment and and how hard it needs to work to stabilize your trunk.

Yeah, I noticed this a bit as well. To me, this is just another symptom of tight glutes. You're trying to get down to a certain point in the squat, but you can no longer squat down at your hips, so you dip down with your knees.

The toes can be pointed out up to 30 degrees. I think the OP is fine with that. I believe the butt wink (flexion of the lumbar spine) can be fixed through the glute stretches as well. I had the same problem for a while, but noticed most of those issues cleared up, just through stretching.

 

[brikis98]

As promised here is the video from my Friday workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-XOpaz_BXU

First set is 230, second is 205, third is 135. I am glad I videoed because I feel like I am not quite getting low enough at 230, so its time to back the weight down again.

The "pain" is most noticeable right as I am coming out of the hole.

I decided to go lighter and fewer sets for a week and see what happens. On Sunday I did 3 sets of 5 at 135 and, while the pain was still there, it was not nearly as intense and it wore off quickly.

Also, I did all of the stretches suggested and none of them were able to stretch the spot I am referring to.

I think the issue you are having is exactly what I mentioned in my first reply: your knees are sliding forward at the bottom of the squat. In fact, if you watch the video, at the exact moment you start to come out of the hole (when you said you feel the pain), your knees slide forward a bit. Your knees should only be coming forward during the first 1/3-1/2 of the lift. After that, they reach their final position, and the rest of the motion happens around the hips.

One way to learn this is to use the "terribly useful block of wood" (TUBOW) as described in SS. Set up the block an inch or two in front of your foot and do a squat. Your knee should just touch the block, but not knock it over. You can also try wall squats: stand with your feet a couple inches from a wall and do a squat. Trying to avoid smacking your head into the wall as you go. Finally, try the hip drive advice in this video by getting into the bottom of a squat and having a friend push straight down on your lower back. If you can squat back up without losing your balance, you'll get a better feel for the proper way to come out of the hole.

 

[calvinbiss]

Thanks fellas. Makes work-outs more interesting to have something to work on!

 

[coreyb]

this looks like a hybrid squat. you aren't quite doing low bar and not quite high bar. I would sit back a bit more so your knees aren't so far in front of your toes. would help to get proper lifting shoes as well.

 

[coreyb]

to me this is close to a perfect low bar squat.

http://www.vimeo.com/10055310

 

[cw42]

marked for later, i may be having similar issues.