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Barbell Good Article on Squat Depth

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That's exactly the article i found months ago and since then throw in people's faces when they tell me that everyone should be able to squat atg with a bar on their back.
 
Knowing this, it seems worth investigating your body's potential when you run into the issue. It's very easy to read this and chalk off an inability to squat deep to anatomy. I had SFG Leo Shved look at my goblet squat today. He noticed too much butt wink. He had me use two 12-kg bottoms up instead of the 24kg goblet squat. No butt wink at all. It was FMS/StrongFirst magic. I don't yet know my body's structural limitation for depth, but I now know where I can seek some improvement, to the point where my goblet squat hopefully look like the more neurally engaged double bottoms-up.
 
What exactly is the buttwink all about? Anyone who can tell a little about this?
 
Buttwink is not good.

In general, refer to Dr. Stuart McGill on this point - when loading the lumbar spine, don't change its position. IOW, position your lumbar as it will be at the bottom of your squat then keep it there for the duration of the movement.

-S-
 
However, if you are squatting bodyweight only, one's lumbar spine can bend, and if you have no health issues, there is nothing wrong with bending at the lumbar spine. It's just that we don't recommend it when loaded.

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A front squat, which is a squat that is "loaded anteriorly," is less an issue for butt wink because the spine nearly vertical. The closer to horizontal the lumbar spine, the more at risk it is if it moves under load.

Butt wink is almost always something we can fix working with someone in person. It has to do with more than just squat depth - mechanics, mobility, etc., make a difference.

There are a million, give or take, posts on the Internet about how to fix butt wink, about how it's not about this issue or that one, etc. Have a read.

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I'm saying no, that's not a butt wink.

Essentially, the root issue of the butt wink is a lack of hip flexion (can be mobility related or stability related). You cannot fix it by doing squats.
 
Well that's good to know then. Mine moves about the same about on a goblet squat. Just trying to understand what classifies as a wink and what doesn't.
 
I use the "across the room test" - If you can see it from across the room it is. If you are splitting hairs trying to decide, there are probably bigger things to address first.
 
@Wesker11, if I may expand on this point bit: I don't consider butt wink a matter of degree - there are points of squat form and technique that, when followed, yield a squat with good lumbar position throughout. Butt wink isn't something we all do to some degree, or something everyone will do if they squat deep enough - on this last point, look at a high level Olympic lifter.

Brett's lumbar spine doesn't move throughout the movement. He assumes a position at the top, before he squats, and he maintains it throughout.

This may be the biggest misconception I hear about when it comes to butt wink - you are not supposed to just squat with whatever lumbar position you happen to find yourself in when you're standing, which is very often _past_ neutral and into extension. You need to pressurize your abdomen, find _your_ neutral lumbar position - a position that you can safely keep throughout the movement, even if it doesn't meet someone's textbook definition of "neutral" - and then maintain _that_ position to the bottom of your squat and back up again.

-S-
 
So would you say the telling characteristic of butt wink isn't actually the butt, but actually the lumbar spine?
 
Alot of times its over-diagnosed. Everyone has a little butt wink, esp. if you go real deep.

IMO:
1- your glutes sort of get stretched out over your hip as you femur rotates up . . .appears smaller, or disappears sort of. Esp, deep squats. (this of course, is IF you have an actual butt; not a flat a#@)

2- if your shirt is a little long, depends on material, sometimes will get stuck to your pants/shorts and you'll see it rotate around underneath. Creates illusion of worsening buttwink. Got accused/pointed out of buttwink one time at gym by do-gooder. (I record all my heavy sets with phone for form check); tuck in loose shirt into underwear (tight) . . .butt wink magically gone/severely lessened. Do-gooder goes, "yeah, now your maintaining good lumbar unlike you last set"

Everyone has just a little lumbar flexion/ butt wink when going deep, the two things above make it seem much worse than it is.
 
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