We all know at this point that we need to maintain lumbar extension during the squat and during pulls… and pretty much during most physical activity. We also know that many of us have a great deal of trouble doing this in certain positions or ranges of motion, such as the bottom of the squat or start of the pulling position. The standard advice is to contract the spinal erectors… which would be all well and good if we knew 1) how to do this and 2) had nothing to fight against. As it turns out, it’s not this simple for most individuals… and those for whom it is don’t need advice about it.

The following is a basic series of drills that I use both in my seminars and with individual clients to get them into better bottom positions. Depending on how inflexible those individuals are, it works either pretty well or extremely well—I have yet to encounter anyone for whom it didn’t have a noticeable improvement, although with extremely tight folks, it will be minor (shocking that you can’t make immediate improvements on inflexibility that has been developing for years). Pavel Tsatsouline deserves credit for showing me a drill a couple years ago that lead me to a part of this following series.

Getting into the Squat

I’m not going to call it an Olympic squat anymore, by the way. It’s the squat. Anything other squat variation needs a qualifier to explain why it’s not correct.

After finding your squat foot position, sit down on your heels in a relaxed position. If you’re doing what I asked, rather than trying to do what you think I’m trying to have you do, your hips will be as deep as they can be and your back relaxed, i.e. rounded. From here, try to set your back in complete extension. With little exception, this will fail miserably.

Stand again, set your back in extension at the top, and squat, attempting to maintain that back extension all the way to the bottom. You will likely lose lumbar extension eventually, although you will probably have a final position slightly better than the one previous. The point is simply that the spinal erectors function much better isometrically than concentrically; that is, they’re able to hold a position a lot better than move into one against resistance.

Next, lie face down with your arms at your sides and simply perform a superman—lift the chest and legs. It will usually help the forcefulness of contraction to think of shortening the length of the back. A few reps of this will a few seconds of holding each will allow you to really understand what spinal erector activation should feel like. Once this is done, return to standing, fire up the erectors at the top to set that back extension, and squat again. Extension will be slightly better than the previous two times, but still not as good as it needs to be.

So the question is, what is preventing back extension in this position? Most people will recognize, or at least be able to repeat, that it’s the tension of the hamstrings and adductors in particular posteriorly rotating the pelvis as we stretch them in the squat. If we look at the pelvis during the extension of the lumbar spine, we can see quite clearly that it rotates anteriorly (unless we lock the pelvis into place and lean the torso backward—no one likes a smart-ass).

Hip Flexor Contribution

Conveniently enough, we have a group of muscles that oppose the hip extensors that are rotating the pelvis posteriorly and softening spinal extension as we squat. They’re called hip flexors. Standing, lift one knee. That’s the action of the hip flexors. Consider that raised leg position—look familiar?

The hip flexors include the rectus femoris—originates on the anterior inferior iliac spine of the pelvis (right below the pointy bones at the front of your hips and above the acetabulum, the shallow cup of the hip joint) and inserts below the knee with the rest of the quads; the iliacus—originates along the back inside surface of the pelvis and inserts on the femurs; and the psoas minor and major—originate on the 5 lumbar vertebrae (and T12) and insert on the femurs. (The iliacus and psoas muscles are collectively termed the iliopsoas.)

Contraction of the hip flexors not only rotates the pelvis anteriorly, but tugs forward on the lumbar spine—in other words, their contraction help set and reinforce the unimpressive efforts of the spinal erectors.

All this can be seen clearly in individuals who have unusually tight hip flexors—this is what we used to call at CrossFit NorCal hairdresser butt. The lower back is hyperextended and the pelvis tilted forward—a sexy look on the right individual, obviously, but probably not great orthopedically in the long term.

Making the Hip Flexors Do Their Share

Ask an individual to use their hip flexors to help hold their back extension in the squat. You probably won’t get much. This is simply because people tend not to have great voluntary control over these muscles, particularly in positions like the squat or start of a pull. So we can help them learn to activate them, and to do so where it counts.

Back to the floor—this time on the back with the knees bent and the feet flat like a sit-up position. First, the idea is, from this position, to try to recreate the feeling of spinal erector contraction from the superman drill. This can be achieved easiest by thinking of pushing the glutes and shoulders into the floor, and then pulling those two points closer together. With this back extension, you should be able to slide your hand under your lower back without interference.

Now lift the feet and bring the knees up and out, essentially mimicking a squat position while lying on your back, and place your hands on your lower thigh at the top of your knees. Once in this position, reset the forceful spinal erector contraction from above. Once that’s set, without allowing any movement, push the knees against the hands. This is the hip flexors kicking in.

It’s very important during this last drill to set the extension of the back with the spinal erectors before activating the hip flexors—otherwise we tend to just get lumbar flexion as well.

This drill can be repeated a few times for a few seconds each. The knees can also be started a bit lower and moved slowly against the resistance of the hands into a higher position to get the feeling of pulling down into the squat.

Squatting Better

Once all these drills have been done, return to your squat stance. Set the back arch with the spinal erectors aggressively, and then use the hip flexors to pull yourself into the bottom of the squat, continuing to fire the erectors and push the knees out slightly, pulling the hips in as deep as possible between the legs. If your back position isn’t at least slightly better than before, you’re doing something wrong. If it’s only marginally better rather than dramatically better, you have some flexibility work to do.

Flexibility

I don’t know what muscles you need to stretch, so please stop emailing me with that question—you probably know more muscle names than I do, because I don’t really care that much. If I knew it at one point and don’t anymore, it’s because I never had to know it. I’ve read textbooks and dissected cadavers, but I’m by no stretch of the imagination an anatomist—my most useful knowledge is knowing that beyond the gross anatomy I am aware of, there are a lot of muscles I’m not aware of. Name all the skeletal muscles you can. Then subtract that number from 639 or 640. That’s how many you don’t know.

It’s interesting that so many people have shifted their way of thinking with regard to training in the sense that they focus on movements rather than muscles, but this new perspective is rarely applied to stretching. The same people who will never ask or care what muscles an exercise uses will, without any sense of irony, ask what muscles they need to stretch.

The point is, approach stretching like smart training—work on the flexibility of positions and movements, not of individual muscles. One because there’s no such thing as individually functioning muscles outside of direct electrical stimulation (at least in a gross movement situation such as athletics), and two because you’re never going to stretch a single muscle anyway. If you must, think of groups of muscles linked by common function such as external hip rotators, hip flexors, hip extensors, etc. This will prove far more useful. Figure out what position or movement is inhibited, and stretch in the opposite direction. Keep it simple, and it will be more effective. Contemplating and naming origins and insertions won’t allow you to move them farther apart from each other.

Don’t Forget

When we recover from a squat and pull a bar from the floor, we’re performing hip extension along with knee extension. If we’re making an effort against hopefully great resistance to extend the hip, do we want to be contracting the hip flexors? Probably not.

This is the tricky part. The hip flexor activation we use to pull ourselves into the bottom position and to help set and reinforce the extension of our lumbar spines must be released once the concentric action of the squat or pull begins, or we’re driving with the parking brake on.

This immediate release can and should be practiced to ensure you know what you’re doing. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your knees out to the sides to the same degree you would place them in a squat. Lock your lower back into extension using the spinal erectors and hip flexors. Once in extension, relax the hip flexors without losing the extension of the back. This relaxation will be most apparent in the rectus femoris. If you can’t feel it, stick your thumbs on their origins at the hips and push down while you’re tight. Relax the hip flexors, and you’ll feel the tension here diminish.

Remember, the spinal erectors will do a good job of maintaining a position—so get that position and hold on tight. If your erectors are weak (and they can always be stronger), do more good mornings with a squat-width stance, and focus on an extremely forceful contraction of the erectors throughout the movement—don’t worry so much about range of motion—never let the extension soften.

Watch Video

From a Catalyst Athletics Olympic Weightlifting seminar: Teaching the squat.