Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Squat Analysis

Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever seen myself squat. I have been training pretty serious since I was 14, so thats a long time. If you have never analyzed yourself doing an exercise, try it. It's an amazing learning tool.

I had gotten away from back squatting for numerous reasons. But lately I've been considering adding it back in. So this was the first back squat session in a long time. It's surprising how easily the groove is lost.

As you can see I don't come close to hitting parallel depth. Thats ok, for now. I can see I need a lot, I stress, A LOT, of hip mobility work. You can see exactly where they stop moving and I stop getting depth. Probably the main reason I have been experiencing low back discomfort in the morning. To get any lower would either require lumbar flexion ( no good) with the sacral tuck, something I don't let my athletes do. Long term ligament problems are waiting if that persists. I can see some need for ankle mobility as well.

Any thoughts? Do you see anything that I may need to address on my road back to squatting?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jason,
Have you tried the same analysis with box squatting. It appears as though your hips aren't opening up at all in the vid. I am just wondering if the box squat would help retrain your hips to "open" up.

Just my 2 cents for what it's worth...

Jeff W

Jason Ross said...

yea...i agree...i am going to do some warm up sets with the box squat and spend this week doing extra tissue work on the left IT band and Quad. Then will repost and see if its improved.

Mike T Nelson said...

First off, kudos to you for filming your form and putting it up to analyze. Most will never take that needed step.

My guess is that your ankles are wicked tight and preventing much forward motion of the knees and messing up your hip function.

My guess is that your low back is tight (as mentioned) and while most wont' agree with this---long term I think your lumbars could benefit from some mobility work. Again, nothing crazy for ROM but just to get them "opened" up. Getting the hips and ankles going first is a higher priority.

On the really odd, woooo woo side, I've seen neck tightness inhibit abdominal strength a fair amount too and it appears to be from the sagittal suture in the head. Very precise neck mobility and breath retraining will normally correct it.

This is not to say I am anywhere close to perfect in my movement mayself, but once you get these neurologic "brakes" released, you will see an amazing increase in performance.

are you going to ACSM? If so, drop me a line.

hope that helps!
Rock on
Mike N

Jason Ross said...

Mike...Yea..i've been trying to do more stuff with my ankles and calves. I definitely agree. Where can I learn more about the neck tightness and the sagittal suture and abdominal stiffness? Very Interesting!

Won't be at the ACSM...have fun, should be cool. Can't wait to hear what you pick up. Seattle is awesome!

Mike T Nelson said...

Thanks! Seattle is killer! We did an 8 mile hike up to about 6,000 feet yesterday.

As for sagittal suture and abdominal stiffness I wish I had more to offer. I have not seen it in publish lit or in a book anywhere yet to be honest; but I picked it up from Z Health and Dr. Cobb. I have tested it on quite a few athletes now and it seems to hold up about 80 or 90% of the time--based off manual muscle test and the athlete reporting performance changes. Hopefully we will learn more about it soon.

Rock on
Mike N