Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › Back › Deadlift butt wink

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    • 04/05/2017 at 5:01 am #71767
      AvatarBenny Gonzalez
      Participant

      When I started lifting I never had much trouble with form, but after starting a 9-5 desk job things started acting up.

      Right now I have a butt wink at the bottom of my deadlift that I can’t seem to get rid of. My deadlift feels weak and it feels like I would break my back if I lifted within 50 lbs of my previous max. I think the butt wink is a new development so I assume that is the cause of my weakness/insecurity but I don’t know. I’ve tried mwod’s hip flexion tests and passed them pretty well so I do not believe the problem is hip flexion.  
      I also butt wink on my squat, but I’ve always had that and it’s never caused any problems to my knowledge.
      Here are a couple videos I just took for reference.  Those are just tens on the bar, and I’m lifting cold.  Yesterday I tried several things including couch stretch, banded hip distraction, quad and hamstring smash, psoas smash, and a few others, testing and retesting each time, and nothing affected the butt wink at the bottom of the deadlift.
      Thanks in advance
      Deadlift:

      Squat:
    • 04/08/2017 at 2:50 am #76869
      AvatarPatrick Thomas
      Participant

      Yes, your deadlift may feel weaker with deviations in technique.
      Some things turn off when certain things are present.

      Hip flexion is one things that can impact.
      It’s pass or fail 1 or 0, “passed pretty well” sounds like something is missing.

      Butt Wink when squatting so this isn’t a new issue then.
      Impacting another movement pattern now.
      Butt wink with a squat is never ok
      Pro Episode # 27 – Butt Winking Is NOT ok. Ever. (So don’t you even think it.)

      Starting over extended.
      Bone on bone overextended pelvic position.
      The femur runs into the pelvis. Then reverses.
      Second over extension on the way back up.

    • 04/09/2017 at 8:41 pm #76871
      AvatarBenny Gonzalez
      Participant

      Thank you.

      After I posted that I remembered there was one hip flexion test I did not do well on — the one where you essentially do a good morning and try to get to 90 degrees with the spine neutral. I can get almost to 90 degrees on that one but my back rounds badly.
      I’ll try not sending the hips back as far on my squat and see if that helps the buttwink.
    • 04/10/2017 at 3:37 am #76872
      AvatarPatrick Thomas
      Participant

      Get tight/brace this sets the pelvis position as well.
      Are you seeing improvements with it?

    • 04/27/2017 at 3:40 pm #76901
      AvatarBenny Gonzalez
      Participant

      Unfortunately I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to spend a lot of time working on this.

      However, last night I was doing a metcon with high reps of 185 lb deadlifts.  It just felt wrong so I switched to sumo deadlift halfway through, and the bar immediately felt 50 lbs lighter and all the stress was taken off my low back.
    • 05/06/2017 at 10:24 pm #76907
      AvatarBenny Gonzalez
      Participant

      Been working a little more.. I actually made a lot of progress on the deadlift by thinking about driving my heels through the ground instead of pulling the bar off the ground.  Pulled about 85-90% of my prior 1RM without pain.

    • 05/10/2017 at 8:43 pm #76911
      AvatarPatrick Thomas
      Participant

      Great to hear you are making progress on your deadlift.
      Thinking about driving your heels through the ground engages your posterior chain more.
      Solid foundation from the bottom up wit stability for your back to move.

      Look forward to hearing more on your progress.

    • 02/15/2018 at 5:51 am #77152
      AvatarBenny Gonzalez
      Participant

      So, I finally fixed this problem.

      Here are the steps that solved it:
      (1) Voodoo band on quads and hammies, all the way up onto the hip.  I also voodoo band my foot and calf, but I don’t think that had a material impact on this problem (but I could be wrong).
      (2) Using a lacrosse ball, golf ball, and the pointy end of the Gemini, to dig into the tender spots in my hips and glutes.
      (3) Wrapping a band around my thighs, just above the knees, and doing side steps
      Note that (1) and (2) had to be repeated many times until things really loosened up.  I now do them both on a regular basis as a kind of general maintenance.
      I specifically felt something pop in my left hip after doing (2) and (3) above last week.  Something felt right about it, so I tested my deadlift, and sure enough I was lifting 60-70 lbs more, and all the pain was gone.  Nothing was gradual about this — for years it was 345 feeling like a 1-rep max and just feeling wrong, and then suddenly 405 went up relatively easy, with no pain, with no weight belt.
      I tested the squat a few days later.  I’ve never felt so strong squatting deep.  My back stays engaged very low in the squat, which I was never able to do before.  It had nothing to do with just focusing on engaging the muscles, or improving my form (I mention that since a number of coaches thought the problem was along those lines).  Once the quads, hammies, glutes, and hips were loosened up, it was very easy to stay tight in the bottom of the squat, and once again, lift heavy with no belt and no pain.
    • 02/15/2018 at 5:06 pm #77154
      AvatarPatrick Thomas
      Participant

      Good to hear with your continued work things are improving.
      Identifying aspects for general maintenance is great.

      Sounds like normalizing the tissue around the joint allowed things to return to where they belong.
      When things are in the correct place things turn on as they should. No more compensations within the system.

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