Flexibility problems when squatting!

The Bomb

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Any one else have this problem? My flexibility is so bad that it affects my ability to go down farther on squats. Can anyone recommend good stretches for this?
 
I don't have a lot of experience with the subject. But a lot of people seem to recommend joe defranco's "Agile 8" for good lower body stretching
 
Agile 8 helped me alot. I hurt myself squatting with bad form due to bad flexibility. During the time i rested my back i did agile 8 five to six times a week for about a month along with cardio and my flexibility improved really fast. Now i would never lift without it as part of my warm up.
 
Lazy man's stretching:

I just go a little wider than my actual squat stance and work on stretching. Go down slowly as far as you can go without rounding your back/butt.

You can use the bar/or light weight to help push you down some. Couple minutes a day is all that's needed.

Flexibility is much less of an issue for me now that I've switched to hi-bar FWIW.
 
Check out Starting Stretching. I've been doing it since last month and my overall flexibility improved, including squat depth, and it takes only 15 min.
 
Agile 8 is solid. Squat RX #5 has some good ideas:



Also continue to squat as deep as you can and that will help stretch you out. I'm not sure if it's mentioned in squat RX but you can sit at the bottom of a squat and use your elbows to push your knees out and that usually gives you a nice stretch in the groin.
 
+1 for agile 8. I also use a few more stretches to improve my flexibility. Search google for russian baby maker, spiderman lunge stretch and lying harmstring stretch.
 
Spread your knees apart as hard as you can when squatting, this will help a lot.
 
Popping into and holding a 3rd world squat a few times a day helped/helps me a ton.
 
Popping into and holding a 3rd world squat a few times a day helped/helps me a ton.

This. If you can't flat-heel squat with ease, you really have no business making that movement even more challenging by putting a loaded barbell on top of it. Doing that makes as much sense as attempting the Van Damme lift when you can't even do the splits.

Stretching and mobility routines are important, but it's going to take more than 5 minutes of stretching every other day. You have to make squatting a part of your daily movement habits, not something you only do in the rack.
 
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