tehbry
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
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I'm in need of help... and today it's about squats. I'm working on the StrongLifts program, and loving it. I am not very strong overall, but I'm working on it. I love squats - I love the full body effect, I love the work it takes, and the strength I've built from them, but I struggle with them. Here's why: I am only 5'9" and I have long legs/shot torso. Not only that, but the length is in my femurs. I struggle with hamstring flexibility, and am finding it impossible to go parallel, or lower without my lower back bending. How can I fix/alleviate this? I have a great low bar position. I do not bend at the knees. I do 'sit back' and use my butt. I understand the form needed to do this exercise. I am not mechanically setup to be a squatter. My long legs keep the weight very far back relative to my 'pivot point', and disable me from balancing. I will keep working on hamstring flexibility, but I don't anticipate drastic improvement. My PT says it's unlikely to make a massive improvement in flexibility at my age and level. I really want to keep my lower back protected. What can I do? Help? Should I do leg presses instead? Should I do 'split squats'? I really don't want to give up this exercise, but find that as the weights get heavier, the more the lower back suffers. This sounds whiny. Apologies. Thanks, experts. Videos (Also posted on page 2 with Notes):
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