There’s a common belief in the fitness world, especially among trainers, that many people are somehow broken and that we have to run through endless corrective exercises before touching a barbell. Band work, endless mobility drills, and other routines can end up feeling more tedious than beneficial. We don’t need to chase a perfect roster of fixes for everyone.
I’m not denying that corrective work has its place. In some cases, paying closer attention to how someone accesses thoracic extension or hip internal rotation can be appropriate for a specific movement. But when someone reports that an exercise hurts, I don’t automatically dive into a long list of flaws. Instead, I ask them to perform the movement and show me how they set up and execute it.
Often the most obvious issue is something simple about setup or technique rather than some deep dysfunction. Take the back squat as an example. Many trainees report that barbell back squats feel painful in the lower back. Some coaches try to explain the pain with a long, obscure diagnosis—toe mobility, rib position, or imbalanced energy centers—when the real culprit is often how the lifter starts and moves.
If you talk to clients that way, you’re missing the point. You’re a trainer, not a physical therapist, and no one benefits from a laundry list of what’s wrong with them. The goal should be practical improvement, not a parade of excuses.
What changes the outcome is how you set up for the movement. In one approach, the descent is begun by letting the lower back take the load, rather than using the ankles, knees, and hips as the primary movers. This can lead to excessive arching, more bone-on-bone contact, and limited hip depth, which shows up as a butt wink at the bottom of the squat and extra strain on the lower back.
In a better approach, the core is braced to create a flexion moment, the pelvis stays near neutral, and the emphasis is on moving down rather than back. You still aim for a deep squat, but with better hip alignment and more control. The result is a deeper, more stable squat with less butt wink and far less lower-back discomfort.
The key takeaway isn’t a new set of stretches or drills. It’s improving the starting position and learning to create and maintain tension throughout the movement. When you focus on setup and control, you often don’t need a long list of fixes to get meaningful results.
