If the external rotators of your hip are tight it is possible to have outwardly pointed toes and an inability to inwardly rotate the leg.

The lateral rotators of the hip are:

Piriformis
Gemellus Superior
Obturator Internus
Gemellus Inferior
Obturator Externus
Quadratus Femoris
Gluteus Maximus
Gluteus Medius (Posterior Fibers)

Logic dictates that if these are short you would obviously stretch them and that this should fix the problem right? 

But hold on there Sparky!  In my experience, people are more likely to have a weak posterior chain and are more susceptible to internal than external rotation of the leg.  In fact, weak glutes (part of the external rotator group) are one of the primary causes of anterior rotation of the pelvis so it is fairly uncommon for them to be tight.

Before you make a snap judgment and start stretching, you’ll want to make sure that the muscles themselves are actually short.  Another possible scenario is that you have a condition called hip/femoral retroversion where the head of the femur is in such a position as to make your legs slightly externally rotated.  Since this is a structural problem, all the stretching in the world can’t fix this.

Stretching the glutes when they’re not tight can actually lead to an anteriorly rotated pelvis, knee pain, back pain, and even pronated feet.

In plain English, a failed assessment can lead to stretching the wrong things and a whole lot of unnecessary pain that will prevent you from training and getting wicked strong.

Do a quick search on YouTube for Craig’s Test to see if you have this condition before you stretch your external rotators.  It just might save you a lot of grief.

Is it actually good for you?

Squatting is widely accepted as one of the greatest movements in strength training and, among those who are more versed in the iron game, it is also widely accepted that not squatting past parallel makes you a total ninny.

That is…until Eric Cressey wrote this article HERE.

In essence, what Eric was saying was that if you can’t squat past parallel without going into lumbar flexion that perhaps you should avoid it.  Instead, it might be better for you to squat to a depth that prevents lumbar flexion (possibly by doing a box squat) and thereby reduce your injury risk.

In fact, the current thinking in the strength training community as a whole seems to be that loading the lumbar spine under flexion is a bad idea in any circumstance.  The general consensus is that when the spine is flexed there is nothing to resist the anterior shear forces produced by the load and the risk of injury is high.  I actually subscribe to this theory myself.

However, I recently stumbled across the little tidbit of information below that has given me pause.  That is not to say that I’m sold on the idea or that I’ll be changing my methods any time soon, but it is important to keep an open mind.  After all, you can pretty much find information to support whatever viewpoint you have.  Reading information that is challenges your viewpoint is probably going to teach you more than the stuff that agrees with it.

While reading through Functional Anatomy of the Spine by Middleditch and Oliver I stumbled across this point:

“Posterior rotation of the pelvis causes an increase in flexion at the lumbosacral junction and hence increases tension in the thoracolumbar fascia. Lumbar spine flexion also passively increases tension in the thoracolumbar fascia. Competitive weightlifters may flex or ’round out’ the lumbosacral area and it is suggested that this affords some protection by increasing tension in the thoracolumbar fascia and posterior ligamentous structures, thereby contributing to stability in the low lumbar area.”

They even go so far as to say that this effect might help to reduce anterior shear forces produced by flexion.

Click the image for a larger version:

As I said earlier, I’m not totally sold on that idea and I’m definitely not about to start suggesting that you should squat with a flexed spine, but there is a point to take home.  If the thoracolumbar fascia can contribute to spinal stability, then contracting the lats (which attach to the fascia) while squatting could theoretically pull the fascia taut and reduce anterior sheer.

Just some food for thought.

Today my single-leg Romanian deadlift variation was featured along with several other incredible exercise variations from industry leading strength coaches Christian Thibaudeau, Charles Poliquin, Nick Tumminello, Chris Colucci, Mike Boyle, and Scott Abel.

Check out these cool variations at T-Nation.com.