This is going to be very different from your normal fix your butt wink squat blog. I’ve been combing the internet and it seems no one is talking about 2 major things. Let me explain.
If squats are the king of exercises then low back pain is its arch-rival. You don’t have to dig into the research very long until you find that squats are the most common cause of general pain beating out bench press and shoulder press.
Pain is the enemy of gains
In order to get the most out of our squats you need to find ways to perform them pain free. Today we want to address the question of what is commonly known as “butt wink”. If you’ve ever looked into having proper squat form you have probably heard people talking about butt wink, but what is butt wink, really?
Today we are going to cover 3 things:
What is butt wink? (How to spot butt wink)
What is are the deeper problems with butt wink? (Muscles involved)
And finally, what are some things we can actually do to correct these problems?
What is butt wink?
Butt wink is simply the bodies attempt to maintain an upright position during the squat. This looks like a loss of lumbar and pelvic extension. Also known as posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar flexion.
You’ll notice how I lose the lumbar and pelvic position as the knees hit a 90 degree angle. This rounding at the bottom half or inability to maintain pelvic and lumbar position is what people call butt wink.
BUT! This is also known as the Asian squat, the Slav squat or more recently people have referred to it as the primal squat.
It’s here that people like to differentiate these types of squats in which butt wink is normal to the powerlifting squats in which this wink can be a point at which you lose tension.
While these two camps are the loudest there is actually a third group who bridges these two. We’ll talk about this third group at the end of the post today, but the big difference in the 2 groups is that in one group the butt wink is intentional and in one it is unintentional.
If the butt wink is unintentional then we need to dig a little deeper.
What are the deeper problem with (unintentional) butt wink?
There are many reasons butt wink can occur, but today we will focus on the two biggest ones no one else seems to be talking about. The hamstring and adductors.
Because the squat is such a quad dominant movement the hamstrings are placed in a poor position. Mechanically speaking any weakness in the hamstrings will become apparent. This weakness often starts from poor positioning. There’s a great drill to work on this problem, but first let me explain the adductors.
The adductor’s are on of the most overlooked muscle groups in the body and, like the hamstrings, because the are hardly every trained can become weak. You’ll notice the attachment for the adductors is the front and middle of the pelvis. This is the exact opposite of the point in the lower back in which we notice a loss of position.
The adductors and hamstrings are the two biggest stabilizers of the pelvis. So if you are looking to maintain a strong pelvic and spinal position these are the first two groups you should be looking at.
How to fix butt wink
90-90 Hamstring Marches
Place your hips and knees at a 90 degree angle with your feet flat on a chair and back flat on the ground.
Roll your hips off the ground into a neutral position without using your abs. You should feel your lower ribs pressing down into the ground if done correctly.
Once you have relaxed our abs you should begin to notice your hamstrings working. The real trick is to maintain this pelvic and spinal position as you lift one leg off the wall. Raising (marching) one leg up will place more focus on the hamstring on the wall and challenge your pelvic and spinal position. Do not lose position! Keep the abs relaxed, hamstring working then switch to the other leg. Repeat until you lose the position or 10 reps of marching for best results.
Make sure to do both sides, but pay attention to the differences on the left versus the right. See if you can make minor adjustments to get the movement just right.
The Copenhagen
Lie on your side with one foot on a chair or bench. You may need to place the knee on the bench to begin with but ultimately you’ll progress to the foot. Try to keep your body in alignment. Once your ear, shoulder, hip, knee and foot are in a straight line simply lift your hips off of the ground and hold. Hold as long as you can maintain the position or 90 seconds.
These are best done on squat days, but working on them on your off-days will also help restore some balance in your squat as well. Make sure you do them at least 3 days a week and at most 5.
Summary
If you feel your low back is getting beat up by squats you probably have weak adductors and hamstrings. The two exercise above are a two of my favorites, but there are many other great exercises to strengthen the hamstrings and adductors.
FULL PROGRAM: If however you would like a full program that guides you step-by-step to help control your hips and fix your back pain check out our shop.
WEEKLY MOBILITY CLASSES: I host a weekly mobility, stretch and strengthening class on patreon. Right now we are doing a 6 week shoulder bootcamp focusing on the fundamentals of shoulder movement.
Now though we need to discuss this third group that bridges the two above and moves things to a whole new level…