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Trouble with squats

ironbabe

New member
Ok, I can teach people how to do squats. I know proper form. But for some reason I can't get a proper squat done for the life of me. Once I go below parallel I feel like my hips want to come out of joint (and that is even with NO weight) . Is it because I am so tall and have extremely long legs? I have a 37 in inseam so I am all legs. I do also have alot of double jointed joints on my body, could it be that my hips are slightly double jointed too? Or is it just because I've never made myself struggle through it and get stronger in the low squat position? Anyone have some pointers? The wider I go it helps, but I am at a loss as to how to do deep squats with proper form.
 
I just had the same problem and my trainer told me that since I have REALLY BIG hips (lol) I have to just spread my legs a little bit wider than most people....try that maybe??? Im certainly not an expert in this but Im just telling you what my trainer showed me this very morning!!!! Good luck!
 
You could also try starting w/ a box squat at your comfort height, then start lowering your box level. This allows you to get familiar with the movement and range with a safety net.
 
Aries13 said:
I just had the same problem and my trainer told me that since I have REALLY BIG hips (lol) I have to just spread my legs a little bit wider than most people....try that maybe??? Im certainly not an expert in this but Im just telling you what my trainer showed me this very morning!!!! Good luck!


Hmm, not sure I would qualify as big hips, (bone structure wise), here is a pic of me back before I started training, but I was lean enough to tell that I'm not exactly wide hipped - I'd like them to be a little wider :) .
 
ironbabe said:
Hmm, not sure I would qualify as big hips, (bone structure wise), here is a pic of me back before I started training, but I was lean enough to tell that I'm not exactly wide hipped - I'd like them to be a little wider :) .

I see...hmm...well I got HUGE HIPS and its sucks...most of the time. Anyway, Sassy's answer is most likely better than mine...actually probably is BUT it cant hurt to try....

---u look so cute by the way ;)
 
If I had to guess (assuming it was just muscle weakness) I would say it feels like the iliacus head of the iliopsoas that feels weak. Hmmm...

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Iliopsoas.html

Maybe if I just force through it (without weight of course until I'm sure I won't hurt myself) and get the iliopspas stronger ..... hmmm.....
 
Aries13 said:
---u look so cute by the way ;)

Well I ain't so cute right now, but I'm working on it. Actually I hate that pic because that was in my slimfast days and I was 130 lbs at 6ft tall with no muscle at all. I would have looked sick if I were any skinnier and I was still skinny fat.

But thank you for the compliment anyways... :)
 
O.k. just a thought.... Maybe once you go past parallel your gluteus and piriformis are overly contracted or even tight to start with so when you get to that point you are putting it into a stretched position. When you first go down you are using the hip flexors as a prime mover and glutes as a synergist. Once you go pass parallel your glutes begin to stretch and start pulling on your greater trochanter. Your deep lateral rotators could also be overly concentric to begin with and you could also be aggravating them.

I'm going off on a limb and saying muscle imbalance and instability in the joint.
So once you hit parallel, you are saying muscles are pulling on the hip joint to make it feel like it is coming out.
The only things that I can think of attaching to the greater trochanter are:
Piriformis, quadratus femoris, gluteus medius and minimus, Superior gemellus, Inferior gemellus, Obturator internus and Obterator externus. Then you also have iliofemoral ligaments in there. I would think though if your hip was double jointed that the ligaments would be loose and you would hear snapping even when you walked.
Lesser trochanter is the psoas but I rarely if ever heard of a psoas weakness.

Here's a piriformis and glute stretch:
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/piri.2.html
http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/GluteusMaximus/LyingModified.html

I would also watch your feet positioning. Make sure your toes are pointed straight ahead so you are not activating the deep lateral rotators.

You can also test this concept by doing seated hip extensions. If you put a heavy enough load on and when you extend your legs your hips and butt want to come off the seat then your hip flexors (psoas, quads, sartorius, TFL) are overly tight and you need to stretch them more often. Try and do the hip abduction machine and see what happens then. If you feel the same pain in your hip then your gluteus medius is overly concentric and you should work on stretching that muscle along with your piriformis. I would find out what the muscle imbalance is before I would even bother with doing any strength training and possibly injure yourself.
IMO
 
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