Lift Letter: The squat didn't hurt you. Your hips did.
Squatting deep didn't hurt your back. Squatting deeper than your hips can actually go did.
Those aren't the same thing.
Most people blame the squat.
Something flares up at the bottom, and the conclusion feels obvious.
"The squat is the problem."
"Stop going so low."
"Maybe just stop squatting altogether."
I get it. I thought the same thing for a long time. Then I stopped squatting and lost a ton of strength.
Took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out that wasn't the answer.
The squat didn't hurt you. Your lack of hip range of motion likely did.
More specifically, your hips ran out of range before your squat ran out of depth.
And when that happens, your lower back picks up the slack.
Tissues that are already sensitized just keep getting more stress on top of them.
That's not a squat problem. That's a hip flexion problem.
Hip flexion
The reason the distinction matters is because the fix is completely different.
If you understand what's really going on, that your hips don't have the range to support the depth you're asking for, now you have something to work with.
You don't stop squatting. You sequence it properly.
Two things that actually helped me and that I use with clients all the time:
Barbell box squat
You squat to the box, pause, come up.
The box controls your depth so you stay inside the range your hips can actually support.
You're still squatting. You're still loading.
You're just not forcing your lower back to compensate for what your hips can't do yet.
Front foot elevated split squat.
This one isn't just a workaround. It's actively rebuilding your hip's ability to get into flexion under load.
Foot on a step, drop straight down, knee drives forward.
You're training the range you actually need, without piling compressive load onto tissues that aren't ready for it.
Neither of these is permanent. They're a bridge back to full depth squatting, where your hips are actually there to support you when you get to the bottom.
The goal was never to squat less. It was to build the hips that let you squat more.
Hope you're moving well and brewing better ☕️
Gabe
