Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Full Body Diagnostic with Back squat

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    • 11/08/2014 at 11:45 am #71181
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      The right side of my body is twisted forward and thus my left side is twisted back.   

      I am attributing my issue with a tight T-spine (on right side) and internally rotated shoulders   That translates to a tight  Rightside QL and tight TFL (perhaps on both sides) which might be the main problem and thus leads to the list below.  
      Left side (back story with me is I think I have a hernia in my left quad) I would imagine that I would have compensation issues with it but Roop and the gang don’t think so.
      Left hamstring becomes tighter
      Left hip SEEMS more flexible especially with knee tracking on outside of pinky toe, however, my left side external rotation is lacking.
      Left glute max inhibits/weakens as well.  
      QL is not as tight as my right side
      Erector spinae seems pretty clean for me, I can have a peanut with a 45lb plate without any pain.  
      Right side
      Right hamstring more flexible
      More muscle mass in Quad and glute max
      Right hip is tighter.  I can’t speak for my illacus, but I do gut smash with the supernova and then put lacrosse ball on ql.
      Activated, stronger glute max as well.
      I don’t heel strike mainly because I am very light and careful on my feet. 
      This still doesn’t address why my ankles are so terrible as well.  My post tib on my left leg flairs as soon as I practice having my knee track my pinky toe.
      My hips are not perfect nor the greatest but at least they are better then my ankles.  If I could get my ankles as good as my hips I think I would have some progress to work with.  
      I am wondering if I should just stop strength training all together to stop increasing muscle tightness.  It seems like all I am doing is just tightening everything and then loosening it up, only to tighten it up again.  
      Here is my back squat.  I am trying to load my hamstrings first to reduce load on my knees.  I do box squat mostly to practice.  
      I can’t do an unassisted glute ham raise.  I deadlift better with a hex bar (I’ll do a separate post for that).  I do some one legged jump rope to strengthen ankles.
    • 11/16/2014 at 12:26 pm #75477
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      hey dan, how do you train your squat – are you going to failure every time, or more powerlifting style with minimal reps/lots of rest/high weight?

      what else do you do in your workout besides squat? are you doing CF WODs too? anything else: running, etc.?
    • 11/16/2014 at 2:17 pm #75478
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Squat: powerlifting style.  Starting Strength.  I usually squat with crossfit shoes rather then oly shoes.

      So since I am doing starting strength I am doing overhead press, deadlift (hex bar), bench press (sometimes barbell sometimes dumbbell), and sometimes clean.  
      I am following a starting strength program but being very careful and really just using those movements as a test for range of motion.  
      other exercises are pull ups, dips, tire flips, glute ham raise ( i am at the beginning stages of doing them without assistance)
      I warm up with a 10 minute row, hip circle stuff, and then bands.  
      The twist in my upper back seems to be the starting point of all of this.  I Peanut smash, do capsule stuff, but scapula seems like its not firing correctly and its hard to attack a spot.
      I am thinking sleep might be another issue as my bed is not soft enough. I figure four right away.  I’ve tried using pillow as a prop but end up getting rid of it in the middle of the night.
      It is more difficult doing this by myself, but how else am I going to get a physical therapist to help if I don’t have a injury?  I need a doc to right a script.
    • 11/17/2014 at 1:48 am #75482
      AvatarSteven Meis
      Participant

      Daniel I think your totally overthinking everything. Your squat looks pretty good. My advice would be just stay consistent with whatever program your using and enjoy the process. Training should be fun and enjoyable.

    • 11/17/2014 at 8:46 am #75483
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      I think you are right that I am over thinking it in the sense that I only go to the gym like 4 hours a week.  It’s a fun activity/hobby.  However, i’d like to lift heavier weight — and use the muscles I am suppose to use.  For sure, I have torso lean in that video.  I’d like to use my glutes, hammies, and quads for the lift and not my back…etc

    • 11/17/2014 at 10:03 pm #75484
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      ha yeah you’ve shown the ability to be really detailed in your descriptions!

      i think that based on what you’ve said, that you have some left/right side imbalances that have been around for a long time and they are rearing their ugly heads as you load your system.
      i also think that given the tightness in the QLs and low back, that you are:
      1. not engaging the glutes enough
      2. have not good enough bracing via intra abdominal pressure – you’re depending on the muscles around the core to do the bracing and not supporting it via IAP.
      i cannot tell if this is a debilitating problem or not, but if it really bugs you, you should work on movement pattern first and proper muscle activation, then start to load it.  if the loads you are using now causing enough problems, then i would lower the loads until these problems subside somewhat. or remove the loads all together and only focus on bodyweight and the movements with a light bar.
      i know you are a veteran of MWOD and these forums so keep working on the mobility up and down the chain. however, there are not so many videos on motor control. for that you may want to find a good strength coach to help you figure out your form properly.  I do not know if Diane Fu is available but she would be great.
      As for the imbalances, it may mean some supplemental exercises to help get more balanced.  Someone who is trained in FMS level 2 would be helpful here.  I am personally a fan of those certified with SFG and working with kettlebells in a targeted way would help a lot.
      Proper abdominal breathing would be crucial in generating IAP for a properly braced torso which allows breathing.  If you are chest breather, you should look at working on abdominal breathing and using that abdomen breathing to generate IAP. Teaching that on this forum is probably too hard though.
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