Why Low Bar Squats Hurt Your Low Back

Many of us have some low back pain, and we don’t need anything to make it worse.

If the low bar squat is hurting your back, well, it shouldn’t.

Low bar squats will hurt your low back when technique is subpar or errors are being made.

The low back shouldn’t be overloaded when performing low bar squats with good technique. If you are particularly sore the day of or the days after your squat session this is a sign.

Look for this

I can almost guarantee that if your low back is killing you it’s related to your bar path.

Bar path in a perfect low bar squat is perfectly vertical.

Take a video of your squat and watch for a vertical bar path. When the bar moves in front of your balance point (midfoot) your low back has to work overtime to prevent you from falling on your face.

The Fix

Ensure that when you descend into the squat your hips and knees break at the same time.

Ensure that when you ascend your hips and chest rise at the same time.

Hips rising before the chest usually causes the bar to shift forward, increase the stress on your low back, and ruins your vertical bar path.

Fix your low bar squat technique which will fix your bar path which will fix your problem.

Visit our guide on how to low bar squat if you need more in-depth information.