Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Squat Help

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    • 09/11/2015 at 9:32 am #71462
      AvatarLiz Smith
      Participant

      Hi guys, 31 year old. 6.1, 80kg. Have always been active. Cannot squat at all. Its ridiculous, its horrible, it embarrassing. Cant even get to parallel, when I’m anywhere near, my upper body is totally doubled over. Its disgraceful. Have been working through Kellys books but feel I need a more specific approach. I dont know what or where was the initial root cause, but for sure now I have ankle dorsiflexion limitations, hip capsule, hamstrings are so tight and I manage occasional lower back issues. Really need to get this sorted and start seeing some change and improvement. 

      Any advice would be great. If anybody is aware of any online physio/coaching that could help me progress that would be awesome.
      Thanks
      Ian
    • 09/14/2015 at 6:20 pm #76188
      AvatarJustin LaRoche
      Participant

      Ian,

      Your not alone! Luckily, a lot of us have been in your shoes. Number one place to start IMO, is to work on your air squat. Get into that position of restriction and WORK! Work to keep your feet straight as possible, work to keep your chest UP as much as possible, work to keep your big toe planted and work to keep shoving your knee’s out! If you can, perform this in front of a mirror so you can see what’s improving.

      By looking up your chest will have a better tendency to stay more vertical and the opposite holds true as well. Where you look determines where your chest will go.

      I should mention, there is no simple cure to this. You need to find what works for you and put in 10-15 minutes of work everyday! Couch stretch at work… I do… sure people look at me weird for standing all day but, let’s be honest who’s crazy…. me ( standing all day ) vs my co-workers ( sitting all day )?

      A personal go-to for me is below. Go to youtube and type in MobilityWod Pre-squat. Or just click this link that I am putting below. The pre-squat routine is something I try to do EVERYDAY that and couch stretch.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBHzXF-mVjY

      If you need to work on dorsiflexion, find Kelly & Roop’s video with the 100lb slam ball. No, I don’t have one of them but, I have a sand bag ( 70lbs ) and a barbell that perform that same principle. Or work on one ankle with a heavy-ish kettlebell. You can find a video on the Crossfit Invictus site.

      Now, quit reading and get moving! Send some feedback and let’s keep bouncing around ideas.

      Stay supple my friend,

      Derek ( STL, MO )

    • 09/15/2015 at 8:27 pm #76189
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      These video sequences from Carl Paoli can help with the movement/positional part of learning the squat:

      http://gymnasticswod.com/content/air-squat-progression-pt1
      http://gymnasticswod.com/content/air-squat-progression-pt2
      http://gymnasticswod.com/content/air-squat-progression-pt3

      Sounds like you’ve got the mobility part down. Now work on the motor control aspects.

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