One of our clients, in our initial strategy session, mentioned how the back squat causes issues with his lower back. Due to a previous back injury. He mentioned that he doesn’t want to back squat anymore and was scared that he might miss out on the benefits of squatting.
Low back pain is all too common in adults these days. Especially guys with years and years of weight training under their belt.
Or people who sit hunched at a desk all day.
So what did we do?
Even though he had low back pain that didn’t mean we couldn’t squat. I told him that we would come up with a plan to keep him squatting but without the low back pain.
Running him through a movement assessment, cleaning up his form, and testing different variations helped us create a plan that works for him and allows him to still make progress to this day squatting.
Here are 3 Squat Variations to test out:
Goblet Squat – Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in front of you. This takes all the load off of the spine and allows you to master the form.
Belt Squat – Instead of compressing the spine the belt squat decompresses because the load is at the waist or below.
Front Squat – Again, this variation takes some load off the spine and puts it in front of the body. It allows you to be more upright and get more squatty.
By including these variations in his training program he has been able to build leg strength with the squat and eliminate his low back pain.
I know how this goes as I have suffered from low back pain too, just like many of my clients. I rarely ever barbell back squat anymore as there are better ways to do it.
You do not have to straight bar back squat!
Squatting is a great movement but there are many ways to do it.
Find what works for you.
Try out the 3 variations above, I hope they help you.
If you have low back pain and would like more info on getting rid of low back pain, comment below with “Back Pain”.