Question on squats

[Will_I_am156]

Just a quick question on my squats. I've started the 5x5 plan about 4-6 weeks ago and have steadily been making progress I'm up from just the bar to about 242 lbs for 5 sets of 5. What I've noticed is that I could probably go heavier but when I get into the hole and am coming up I get a lot of pain in my hip flexor/groin/internal abductor area - it doesn't feel like an injury, more like a weakness in these parts.

I'm breaking parallel on them and pretty sure my technique is ok (I've watched all of the rippetoe videos and took most of it on board) and have no pain afterwards which leads me to think it may just be a weakness. Does any one have any ideas what sort of things I can do to strengthen this part of my squat? I'm hooked on them and want to go heavier but this is holding me back.

Any help much appreciated!

Will

 

[cwschimpff]

Try doing some "corehab" -- planks, etc. That will help some. You might also try some box squats. They worked very well for me when I had a similar problem a few years ago!

 

[morphanos]

Is your stance too wide? sometimes i get the same feeling when i go a little too wide

 

[Will_I_am156]

Thanks for the replies!! I don't think my stance is overly wide, my feet are in line with my shoulders (there or there abouts) any narrower and I wouldn't be able to get deep enough to call it a squat.

My next lift day is Monday so am gonna try again. if I still get the pain I'll give box squats a go and increase the core work and see how that goes.

With box squats what sort of weight should I go with? Should I keep trying to go heavy with normal squatting before I do my box squats or should I substitute them for a few workouts and then try again?

 

[cwschimpff]

CYA Statement: There are a multitude of different approaches to this, and what worked well for me might not work as well for others.

Now that that's out of the way -- what I did was remove "regular" squats entirely from my routine for about a week and a half and replace them with A) Box Squats and B) Modified Pile/Speed Squats.

On box squats, my primary focus was on quick, explosive (but safe and controlled) movements for 4 sets of 6 reps, and my secondary focus was on keeping the weight as heavy as I could while still achieving the goals of my primary focus. In a week and a half, I probably did box squats three times. You may need more or less depending on the nature of your physique.

I ended up doing modified pile/speed squats four times over a week and a half. Why? No idea. Probably just the way the rotation worked out. My primary focus on these was twofold: 1) full-range (no box, deep seat) squats as fast as I could safely perform them with good form, and 2) toes pointed outward at at about a 45 degree angle. You'll need to monkey with the angle a bit to fit the way your body works and prevent knee pain/injury -- the point is, you want your toes pointed outward. Again, weight was specific only inasmuch as I kept it as heavy as I could while still successfully completing the exercise. I did 6 sets of 8 reps here, which is moving out of the range of hypertrophy but still effective imo.

Either way, like I said, what worked for me might not work for everyone, but if you're at a loss, this is what I did when I was having the same problem that you mentioned, and it worked wonders for me! Hope it helps -- let me know how it goes.

 

[zedhed]

Also you might try foam rolling that area as best you can. If you cant get in there with the foam roller try a softball or a tennis ball. Do it till it hurts!
Good luck and let us know what your outcome is bro.

 

[Will_I_am156]

Thanks again fellas. Box squats and speed squats it is on Monday, great post btw CW appreciate the help!!

I'll give it a go with a tennis ball as well Zed, must admit I'm not looking forward to it I've heard it hurts like hell! Haha

 

[PickMe69]

Also you might try foam rolling that area as best you can. If you cant get in there with the foam roller try a softball or a tennis ball. Do it till it hurts!
Good luck and let us know what your outcome is bro.

Im gonna try that too!

Great work btw! Going from bar to 242 on squat... that's impressive, im guessing your already pretty strong, just keep good form and address this issue and the weight will continue to pile on for a while
Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

 

[Will_I_am156]

Been training for a few years but never anything serious. Been following stronglifts and have just kept progressing - fingers x'd it keeps going!!

Was back in the gym this morning after the weekend off. I couldn't get a foam roller so used a tennis ball, I'm glad no one walked in whilst I was doing it. It looked like I was dry humping the carpet Haha It seems to have worked wonders though! I hit up some box squats which were great - could really feel my core and lower back contracting as I push off the box. Ill definitely be keeping them in my routine for the next couple of weeks a least. Once I'd done the box squats I couldn't resist jumping back into back squats - did 5x5 for 247llbs with little to no pain. Next squat day is Friday so will see how I go with 253

 

[SPEKTOR-AAA]

I had this problem when I did my first 5x5 routine. Simply put my stance was too wide. I was getting away with the wide stance only squating once per week but bumping that to 3 times a week caused flexor issues. I narrowed my stance to shoulder width, problem solved. Goodluck.

One more thing you CAN go deep enough with a narrow stance it just takes adjusments and some stretching.