Comments on: Why Your Lower Back Rounds During Squats & How to Fix it

By: d

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:40:43 +0000

hi mehdi,i am new to this but my friend is a big fan of this site so i wanted to see if you can help me.i am struggling with squat form.i also get the rounding in the lower back when i reach parallel but also if i go deeper my chest seems to be pulled towards the floor and i lose form.this happens with light and heavy weight.i do have trouble with hamstring flexability but am also concerned about my si joint because i have pain in my right kidney area.can you recommend any good exercises and stretches that can fix this or am i just destined not to do squats.thanks for your help.

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:55:23 +0000

@Paul
Your back shouldn’t round. Work on flexibility as explained in the article.

By: paul

paul — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:51:13 +0000

i use a low bar position when i squat. i round my lower back right before my hips go lower than my knees. if i didnt do this then i wouldnt be able to balance the weight. wat do i do?

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:50:33 +0000

Impossible to help you with that little info Jon. Could be many things. Go StrongLifts.com forum, register for free & explain your story.

By: jon

jon — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:23:19 +0000

i always hurt my lower back when i do squats! its in the kidney area and lower back, of course and i dont know what to do! someone please tell me!!

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:57:49 +0000

No problem about the English, we understand each other. English isn’t my primary language neither.

Lower back pain on Squats can be caused by rounding Caim. Keep the weights light & focus on stretching. Keep us updated Caim.

By: Caim

Caim — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:27:31 +0000

Great article,
I have the same problem and last week I began to feel pain doing the squat, my lower back rounded on the first set and on the second I focused on squeezing the glutes and the abs, but the pain was still there…. I’m sure it’s a similar problem because i can’t stand streching legs for more than 10 seconds. I will try those streching tips and see the improvement.
I’ve been following Stronglifts 5×5 for the second week now, it’s great thank you for all this help Mehdi

(and sorry about the english)

By: daveM

daveM — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:40:36 +0000

That video of Wesley doing the overhead squat was sort of freaky (no offense to Wesley)- sort of like part of his body had a mind of its own and decided it didn’t want to stick with the program. Definitely some weakness combined with short, tight muscles and connective tissue. In addition to what you have tried, I’d encourage some daily work on foam rollers and other methods to work on trigger points and stretching the tissue. I think I remember you saying in a previous post that you don’t have an ART practitioner available, but having Wesley see someone who can do deep tissue work might help as well. I’d recommend these to arnose as well, based on his posts above.

And not that I doubt your expertise in this Mehdi, but since you have the video anyway, I’d consider paying for an hour of consultation with someone like Mike Robertson, Eric Cressey, etc. They are likely to have seen this before and at least suggest some ways to test to pinpoint better where the problems lie and then how to best address these. Most of this would likely confirm what you are already doing as you’re advice seems sound and fits with what I’ve seen and read as well.

You might also try some single-leg work as a supplement. I’m thinking especially of those exercises that hit the posterior chain well, like step-ups & step-downs (& side step-ups), as well as single leg squats (from a box or pistol squats). If nothing else, you might see if the back rounding is partly aggravated by compensating for a particular weakness on one side.

Finally, I’m wondering about some band work like kick backs as a glute activator/strengthener in a manner similar to a squat that might allow practice bracing the lumbar spine correctly at the same time.

Good luck to Wesley, Woo, arnose, and all others addressing the rounding problem! I suspect the learning to be hyper self-aware of what their bodies are doing during a lift will make them better lifters overall than many who don’t have to learn to undo a glaring problem and therefore don’t develop that keen awareness or have the spur to learn more about lifting better.

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:24:23 +0000

@wazzup
Leg swings didn’t work for Wesley because he couldn’t stop engaging his hips, with defeated the purpose of the exercise which is stretching the hams. So I had him do goodmorning stretches. I don’t like any stretch where the knee is in a (near) locked position, makes the knee unstabile. Will post about this soon

@Woo!
For a low bar parrallel back squat: yes. As I wrote: there’s a lot wrong in the first pics. Wrists bend, knees over toes, etc. Article was about the lower back rounding.
Picture of the squat stretch is above: you stay in the position for 10-30 sec letting the muscles tight muscles of hams/adductors relax.
Goodmorning stretch. Again: I don’t recommend it, leg swings better. Goodmorning stretches are done by assuming the same position as for barbell rows. upperbody parallel with the floor, knees unlocked but not bend. Chest forward, let hams stretch.

By: WOO!

WOO! — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:10:31 +0000

aren’t the knees supposed to not pass the toes?
since you said dynamic stretches (leg swings) weren’t working. im looking for clarification on the hamstring stretch and the squat stretch, which i suspect is just touching the toes with straight legs and staying in squat position with the arched back until time stretches the hams to make the back straight?