So my GF has been coming with me to the gym for months now, doing 5/3/1, but she still can't perform a back squat with good form. Her main problem is that her upper torso sinks at the bottom and her back rounds. We've been trying to fix it but we are pretty much at our wits end. She knows how to do it in theory but for some reason she can't perform it in real life. And I can't coach her any better. I've told her every cue etc. I know. She is extremely frustrated with the whole exercise because she can't perform it with confidence and she's still stuck with low weights.
I think we are going for one more deload to try to get the form right but if it doesn't work, I'm not sure what will. If it comes to that, is there any alternative exercises we could use? Preferably free weight of course. I'm mainly worried in the health of her back if she keeps on pushing with back squats. I guess goblet squats could be one substitute but I don't think she has the strength to hold a heavy enough dumbbell long enough. As a last resort, would it be an entirely ridiculous idea to use Leg Press/Hack Squat machine and then do some free weight "isolation" for the butt with for example Hip Thrusts?
First, you are right to be worried!!! Loading up a rounded back with weight is terribly simple to end up with a herniated disc or worse!!
Rounding back at the bottom is mobility and flexibility mostly. Can she sit at a 90° angle, legs flat, maintaining a lumbar curve in her back? If not she probably has some hamstrings mobility issues. A good exercise/check for hip mobility is to lay with your back flat on the ground, butt touching the wall, and now working on your feet in a squat position on the wall. Start with feet high and slowly lower into a normal squat stance.
The good thing about hip mobility, if that's the case, is that while there definitely is some flexibility in there to work on, it's largely strength also (heh, easier than flexibility). Look up wall squats, or maybe called wall facing squats. The idea is you stand with your feet a few inches from the wall, arms raised, and you squat. When her butt winks and she's all the way to the ground it should cause her back and shoulders to round which then causes her hands to touch the wall. So the goal is to do the exercise at a distance where she doesn't touch. When she gets a few sets of 10 reps out, she steps an inch or so closer to the wall. With perfect form, a trainer should be able to stand toes to wall and so a body weight ass to grass squat without their knees or hands touching the wall.
These are just some examples. But yeah, check her hamstring and hip mobility and flexibility. And yes, she can still do squats in the meantime but have her STOP the split second her butt winks. That's her current limit, and any further with loaded weight (even lighter weight) and you are risking injury.
