As some of you may know i hate legs day due to the fact that i suffer from a lower back pain,my back always seems to cramp up after a couple of sets of squats so most leg sessions are shorter than i would like. Also due to my previous lower back injuries i only ever squat to parallel,untill friday that is. Decided on friday to train legs with ATG squats,was prepared to really drop the weight down and didnt expect to get over about 120kg. Well i managed to get 6 good clean reps at 180 and also even more pleasing was the fact that i didnt get a single twinge in my lower back,so i managed to complete a full legs sesh for the first time in ages! My legs feel like they have been battered with a bat but i'm well happy. Has any one got any suggestions why ATG squats dont seem to be hurting my lower back?

maybe its more natural for your body to go all the way down

I''m quite annoyed that i never tried them before,thinking that they would be worse for my lower back! The physio said that my back pain was due to a tight hip joint so maybe ATG takes the pressure off my hip.

Wear a belt?

curtis wrote:Wear a belt?

Dont work mate, its not that sort of injury. Hard to explain but it feels more like back cramp,anyway ATG's seem to have cured it.

Great news Jake, I think i get something similar, if i go for 160+ totally raw, ie no belt or wraps... or shoes, i get a bit edgy and dont hit depth, the effect of which is it seems putting the breaks on stresses my lower back, which i dont really feel in the squat, but will do on RDLs or Front squats after.

However, whack on the knee wraps, my confidence to drop all the way into the hole comes back, and no problems.

Marks1972 wrote:Great news Jake, I think i get something similar, if i go for 160+ totally raw, ie no belt or wraps... or shoes, i get a bit edgy and dont hit depth, the effect of which is it seems putting the breaks on stresses my lower back, which i dont really feel in the squat, but will do on RDLs or Front squats after.

However, whack on the knee wraps, my confidence to drop all the way into the hole comes back, and no problems.

Yeah, thats sort of what i was thinking,maybe by arresting the movement at parallel i am putting extra stress on my hip/lower back and that could be causing problems.Cant go as heavy yet but after a few wqeeks who knows.

How do you normally place your feet when you squat? I tend to go wider when squatting to parallel and narower on ATG... could be something like that?

Dtlv74 wrote:How do you normally place your feet when you squat? I tend to go wider when squatting to parallel and narower on ATG... could be something like that?

I go quite wide on parallel and just a little wider on ATG,so not really a big difference in stance. Thinking about it , with the ATG's i felt like my back was straighter on the way down so maybe its that?

Big Jake ding ATG's with 180kg

Rab wrote:Big Jake ding ATG's with 180kg

Hoping to get up to 240-250 in a couple of months

Could be the lower stance is keeping your back straighter and making you push up with your legs and less with lower back?

Did you ever have this problem with Box Squats as I'm sure I remember you doing these a while back.

No i dont have any problems with box squats,i did these on friday too. I hadnt even thought about box squats....

I'm doing these at the moment and having a break from ATG's and really enjoy them.

Certainly harder but not so much on the CV system.

Alex wrote:I'm doing these at the moment and having a break from ATG's and really enjoy them.

Certainly harder but not so much on the CV system.

Definately, i tend to do these as a finisher as once i do box squats i'm done!

For all but the most damaged back and/or knees and/or hip, ATG squats will EASE lower back pain. ROM is so important in training. You very likely made it worse by not doing ATG squats. Knee stability certainly.

Wearing a belt is not needed imo unless you are a powerlifter and/or going for 1-2 reps (even then I don't bother as I want my back to get stronger not weaker).

Why did it not hurt? Difficult to say. But probably the greater ROM allowed muscles to get stretched and relaxed (after the lifting) more than parallel squats. canuckpt will likely have a better explanation than me.

Good work btw

health4ni wrote:For all but the most damaged back and/or knees and/or hip, ATG squats will EASE lower back pain. ROM is so important in training. You very likely made it worse by not doing ATG squats. Knee stability certainly.

Wearing a belt is not needed imo unless you are a powerlifter and/or going for 1-2 reps (even then I don't bother as I want my back to get stronger not weaker).

Why did it not hurt? Difficult to say. But probably the greater ROM allowed muscles to get stretched and relaxed (after the lifting) more than parallel squats. canuckpt will likely have a better explanation than me.

Good work btw

I was hoping that canuck or yourself would reply! So i have probably caused myself more pain by only going parallel?! Never use a belt,when i used too(many moons ago) i found my back injury was real bad,no imy lower back is very slowly getting better. Thanks Health!

ATG squats are the boy!!!
My ass still hurts from saturdays bout of them

kean.1 wrote:My ass still hurts from saturday

You're Rab's friend, aren't you?

ahaaaaaa hmm i left that one open for interpretation didnt i

Coupled with what seems to be a liberal use of poppers in Highland gyms, this is all getting a bit worrying

When the poppers get brought out before the donkey calves the shits hit the fan (in a not so litteral sense )

Poppers LOL

Kean is a bit of a crazy fool at times

I do wonder about your gym...

Jake those are some impressive ATGs - I think that going to full depth encourages leg drive better than parallel squats where your erector spinae necessarily come into play more. That's my intuitive take on it anyway

cheers Ollie,i'm actually looking forward to legs day now!