Hip joint pain from squats...why? (NEW video added)

[moonbogg]

I was fine for several months. I then lowered the safety bars and started squatting lower and recently added weight and now I have hip joint pain during the squat. I've never had hip joint pain at all. At least its in both hips so I know its irritation from the squat, but I thought my form was pretty good and I am controlling the weight well, but now I have this pain.
I'm considering lowering the weight and raising the bars again. My ass is to the grass right now and I go deep on the squat and will lift as shown below:

Bar is high on the shoulders

135lb warm up 10 reps
225lb warm up 8 reps

295lb for 2 or 3 reps
285lb for 2 or 3 reps
275lb for 4 to 6 reps
265lb for 6 reps
255lb or 265lb for 6 reps

I follow this with Stiff Legged Deads @ 235lbs for 5 sets of 8 all at that weight. I do this twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday. I do other stuff but its not likely a cause of the hip pain (at least I don't think).

Video at bottom post as well.

Attempt one
https://youtu.be/5J4ev3f5oTM

Attempt two
https://youtu.be/J4iBSEbOXUU

 

[Koing]

Do you warm up and do dynamic stretches before doing squats?

Going lower will definitely affect your muscles. You are going deeper than they are use to.

Decrease the weight and work on going lower. How is your mobility? Any videos of your squats?

I also suggest wearing long leggings for squats. This will keep your legs warmer and the weather isn't as good anymore. It's pretty cold in the air conditioned gyms I'm training at.

Koing

 

[Zivic]

my guess is that it is a lack of stretching. you have a tight muscle somewhere that is pulling hard at the joint. the stronger you get with the lift, the more it will become an issue.

 

[Pantlegz]

Do you have video of your squats? When you say hip pain, where exactly is it? Front hip joint, back towards the outside, back inside. Does it feel shallow or deep?

My initial guess would be similar to above, something it probably tight but it's hard to narrow down with just 'hip pain'.

 

[moonbogg]

I raised the safety bars one hole up, which is 2" I think. This has helped. The pain didn't start until I started going super low on the squat. I googled "Hip pain from squats" and like anything else having to do with fitness, there were a million totally different opinions on the subject. I'll stay at this squat depth and see if the pain returns. If it returns, then I'll ask a doctor for an X-ray because if my femur is grinding in the pelvis at the bottom of the squat, I could erode cartilage and tear some stuff and then I'm just screwed. Thanks for replies.
Oh, and yes I stretch before every work out and I did dynamic stretches before and during the squats last night. The pain was either not there or minor enough to ignore because I don't remember it hurting much.

 

[TallBill]

I like doing the defranco agile 8 to warm up. Squat three times a week heavy and don't have hip issues.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Since it started happening when you started going really low and you said the pain occurs during your squat - my vote is on femoral acetabular impingement (FAI).

See http://fitnesspainfree.com/why-do-my-hips-hurt-when-i-squat-femoral-acetabular-impingement-part-1/

If it is FAI - best to try and find some way to avoid/relieve it else you risk inflaming your hip cartilage. Speaking from experience, I can say that inflamed hip cartilage is a huge pain in the ass.

 

[Zivic]

I raised the safety bars one hole up, which is 2" I think. This has helped. The pain didn't start until I started going super low on the squat. I googled "Hip pain from squats" and like anything else having to do with fitness, there were a million totally different opinions on the subject. I'll stay at this squat depth and see if the pain returns. If it returns, then I'll ask a doctor for an X-ray because if my femur is grinding in the pelvis at the bottom of the squat, I could erode cartilage and tear some stuff and then I'm just screwed. Thanks for replies.
Oh, and yes I stretch before every work out and I did dynamic stretches before and during the squats last night. The pain was either not there or minor enough to ignore because I don't remember it hurting much.

post up a vid of you squating... I have my doubts about how low you are going. from my experience this isn't a going too deep kind of issue.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I would do like 20 reps of a light weight deep squat. This way you get blood flowing before you put a bunch of weight on your squat.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Also, watch this and make sure you're doing things right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2b8UdqmlFs

 

[moonbogg]

I was a little camera shy and don't like seeing myself, but here it is. I got the best angle I could and dressed sexy for you guys. I even smiled at the end (with my eyebrows at least).
Someone doubted how low I was going, and they were right. Now that I see it on camera, it only seems to be parallel or just below. It feels so much lower while I do them. Crazy. Let me know what you think.

https://youtu.be/5J4ev3f5oTM

For what its worth, I have been "deloading" this week and have been using less weight on the squats and my other lifts. Tonight, in the video, I went as low as I did that gave me pain before. I didn't feel pain tonight, but its still a little uncomfortable. I may have been trying to manage too much weight but I don't know.

Techboy, I am watching that training video now. Thanks.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

You're too high. You're only just barely hitting parallel on half and are above on the other. Also, you're simply dropping down. The movement involves "sitting" by throwing your hips back which forces your body to squat rather than starting the movement at your knees.

If you're deloading, might as well start squatting ass to grass to get used to it and get used to starting the squat using your hips rather than your knees.

 

[TallBill]

I really didn't want to comment because I'm no squat expert but don't want "squat ass to grass" to be your only advice. ATG is for olympic lifters. You can certainly incorporate them into your routine but the #1 reason for most athletes to do ATG is to improve olympic lifts, nothing else.

You look right around parallel to me, although a tiny bit deeper would be nicer. Camera angle makes it look tough. I would recommend lowering your stops, you shouldn't be hitting them.

I'm personally a huge fan of the low bar squat. This video is excellent in its explanation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMFHgVN_pcg

Besides bringing the bar a bit lower on your back I'd suggest bringing your hips back first and then sinking them down like in the video.

Shoe choice might matter too, I personally love my raised up squat shoes but flat chucks help as well.

Some people prefer the head up technique, I'm not a huge fan but its all preference. Have you tried keeping your head neutral or staring at an imaginary point 15 feet in front of you?

 

[TallBill]

I would personally suggest posting the video on another board. Don't be ashamed of videos, they have cleaned up my form A TON over the years. I've reformulated my squat several times.

 

[Zivic]

I have to give you credit of for posting a vid. not easy to put yourself out there like that. I will admit you are going deeper than I expected, but still not quite there yet. You do squat better than any trainer I have seen at my new gym I have been frequenting

Besides bringing the bar a bit lower on your back I'd suggest bringing your hips back first and then sinking them down like in the video.

Shoe choice might matter too, I personally love my raised up squat shoes but flat chucks help as well.

I am no expert either, but I will agree with bill here, you just don't seem like you are sitting into the squat like you should. I find that when you aren't getting depth it's usually related to two issues -> 1.) too much weight 2.) flexibility. taking into account you have pain, I firmly believe you have a flexibility issue.

I will comment on the shoes being very important. You want no cushion in the soles of your shoes. get a set of chucks, reebok crossfit Lite TR (my shoe I use now), a set of oly shoes like adipowers or nike romaleos , or just go barefoot.

I still contend that the pain is probably a tight muscle some where. spend some money and get a massage, spend more time stretching, get yourself a rumble roller and work the hips with it till you find out where your issue is.

 

[moonbogg]

Thanks guys. I think using video as a tool is going to be really great. I will keep recording myself and just compare my form to the guys who do it right. I'll get it and I'll try to go lower as well.

 

[Pantlegz]

Just a few additional things I saw. First, keep your head neutral. Use a tennis ball under your chin to help break that habit. This will prevent the T spine from hyperextending which puts the L spine in a better position which could also put your hips in a better position potentially preventing the pain you're having. Also, as Bill said, sit back into the squat more it will load your hamstrings and help a lot getting out of the hole. Not doing this could also be causing you to use more of the psoas/hip flexors to stay upright - which isn't awful but when you start adding to the load it can stress them and cause imbalances which may be the cause of your pain. And I also second lowering the safety bars, put them one or two holes below the bottom of your squat, they should only come into play if you miss a squat and have to dump the bar(fyi this will more than likely ruin the bar and/or the safety pins). But it's better safe than sorry, especially if you're not used to dumping the bar - having it hit your foot or lower leg would be much worse than buying a new bar, safety pin, or both.

Another thing I've been using a lot for both lifting and jits and really just to fell better overall is the natural movement, movement. I'm a big fan of Ido Portal - there are a couple beginner routines of his on youtube as well as a couple squat routines I've been using to really help improve my movement which is turn leads to better quality movements. Better quality = more efficient, which again means either more weight or less wear and tear at the same weight. Either way it's something worth looking into especially if you're getting sore already. Let me know if you can't find them, I'm sure I can dig them up if needed.

 

[moonbogg]

Good stuff pantlegz. Thanks. Regarding missing a squat, that happened once already and I did the most wrong thing ever. I instinctively tried to fight the weight back up and it was so ridiculous how I was bending and twisting and groaning like an old man trying to get the weight back up. Gravity clearly won and the weight came down to rest on the safeties, luckily softly enough to not damage anything, but the real luck was me not breaking my damn back. So yeah, that was that.
Hopefully next time I miss a squat, I can just simply go back down and set the weight on the pins and not try to fight it. I have control when I miss a bench press so I feel I should have control when I miss a squat as well. I should be able to, in a controlled manner, lower the weight and let it fall on the pins. That's what I am thinking anyway. If I find myself off balance like last time though and I start bending, I'll dump the damn thing and let it crash on the pins.

Like this:

https://youtu.be/423Ew_DQC40?t=155

 

[rga]

Try turning your toes out a bit more and pushing your knees out to match. Instead of using your quads to push up out of the hole, lead with your sacrum out of the hole.

 

[Pantlegz]

Toes out is just compromising ideal form due to a lack of mobility, it's ok to do while you're working on correcting the mobility problem but it shouldn't be seen as the cure to the problem. And while it's hard to see the exact foot angle from the video based on what I saw I wouldn't recommend any greater toe angle than he currently has. and ideally it would be somewhere between 0* and 10* creating as much torque as possible to assist getting out of the hole. edit: It seems I misremembered the idea foot angle, it's 5-15* give or take 5* or so.

This also works wonders for deadlifting, keep you feet as straight as possible and wind you posterior chain up and getting the bar the first 6" will be so much easier and your lower back will thank you.

See: http://www.tabatatimes.com/squats-toes-forward-or-toes-out-2/ has good information and a couple links to mwod videos that explain it a bit better.

 

[Koing]

Toes out is just compromising ideal form due to a lack of mobility, it's ok to do while you're working on correcting the mobility problem but it shouldn't be seen as the cure to the problem. And while it's hard to see the exact foot angle from the video based on what I saw I wouldn't recommend any greater toe angle than he currently has. and ideally it would be somewhere between 0* and 10* creating as much torque as possible to assist getting out of the hole. edit: It seems I misremembered the idea foot angle, it's 5-15* give or take 5* or so.

This also works wonders for deadlifting, keep you feet as straight as possible and wind you posterior chain up and getting the bar the first 6" will be so much easier and your lower back will thank you.

See: http://www.tabatatimes.com/squats-toes-forward-or-toes-out-2/ has good information and a couple links to mwod videos that explain it a bit better.

Toes out pointing to 10 and 2 o clock is fine.

OP you need to focus on stretching more. Pause at the bottom with 40-50% of the weight on a light session or to start with. Get use to the feeling of sitting deeper. At the moment you are just about breaking parallel.

Your balance is a tad off so focus on keeping it mid foot or through your heels depending on how much you lean forwards.

Your hips are hurting because you are now going lower than you are use to and you are increasing the weight. If you go deeper you will have to back off the weights a bit to get your body use to going that bit deeper.

Lower the pins also as you are touching them on every rep.

Koing

 

[moonbogg]

OK awesome. I will lower those pins and get that ass lower and keep weight reduced for a while. I am excited to learn that I was only at parallel because this means I can learn how to go even lower, which is really exciting for some reason. Tomorrow is squat day again and I can't wait to try out going even lower. Do I just go as low as I can possibly manage? How do I know how low to go?
Should I just try to go a few safety pin holes lower at first? Maybe lower it 3 or 4 holes and just work with that for a few workouts?

 

[Pantlegz]

Toes out pointing to 10 and 2 o clock is fine.

OP you need to focus on stretching more. Pause at the bottom with 40-50% of the weight on a light session or to start with. Get use to the feeling of sitting deeper. At the moment you are just about breaking parallel.

Your balance is a tad off so focus on keeping it mid foot or through your heels depending on how much you lean forwards.

Your hips are hurting because you are now going lower than you are use to and you are increasing the weight. If you go deeper you will have to back off the weights a bit to get your body use to going that bit deeper.

Lower the pins also as you are touching them on every rep.

Koing

Right but what he was suggesting was using turning the toes out as a fix to the problem when the problem is a lack of mobility and turning the toes out would just mask it. As far as where, or how far, to turn out the toes is mostly personal preference once from/mobility are correct. Improve that and form and the pain will both be better.

 

[moonbogg]

I went so low tonight my hams touched my calves. If I went any lower I would have been relaxing on my calves at the very bottom, just letting gravity hold my ass down to the ground. But I kept tension all the way down to the bottom.
Weight was significantly lower of course, but it was a little more taxing on the cardio system and harder to keep balance at the bottom, but after a few sets I felt better already. I will keep the weight low for a while. I used 225 tonight and I could do that about 6-8 reps without killing myself, so I'll stay around there for a while.
No hip pain tonight. I did stretch well before and did some hip movements from the agile 8 routine that was suggested above. I'll keep you guys updated on my progress. Thanks for your time and advice. Maybe next time I'll make another video with a better angle and with me doing the new lower squats.

 

[moonbogg]

This was my first attempt at going so low. I look a little wobbly, lol. I think I got good depth and you can see I tried to "sit" back into the squat rather than go straight down. So, this was the first time trying both maximum depth as well as sitting back more. It was pretty funny actually because I almost tipped over in "the hole" at the bottom of the squat. I started tipping backwards and I literally asked myself in my head, "Am I going to eat shit right now?" lol but I didn't.
Anyway have a look.
Of course, weight was kept low. I progressed to 225 during the work out but no more. I will be staying low weight for a while. Not ready to push anything heavy. My ass WILL tip over.
Also, NO PAIN!

https://youtu.be/J4iBSEbOXUU