[squats] what am i doing wrong?

I've been squatting for 6-8 months now and working out for about 3-4 years. My squat started pretty low but is now decent for my weight. I weigh 190 and squat about 260. Usually do 3x8 at that weight. Lately though i've been noticing a pain in my lower back and in my upper right leg.
I have no workout buddy and I can't see myself when squatting so I'm wondering if someone can tell me what I might be doing wrong with pain in these areas. The lower back pain is on the left side, away from the spine, right above the (pelvic?) bone. The upper leg pain is real deep on my right leg. Feels like groin ligaments.
Can anyone deduce from this info what's wrong with my form? I usually go down until thighs are parallel with the ground, try to keep my chest out, my head up and my weight on my heels. I don't feel the back pain while i'm doing the actual squat, I feel it after I put the bar down. The groin pain I feel while I'm getting up. I don't think it's a too much weight issue, I can do more then 8 reps if I want or put on more weight. it's the pain that's holding me back

go to a doctor? any pain is not a good sign and telling you to stop.

Lower back pain is usually from leaning forward. I bet you step forward with your left leg first and lean in to rack. If not, you may be bending at the waist by over-arching your back at the bottom of your squats.

The groin pain is something I wrestled with myself some time ago. When you're coming down into your squat, try and think of it like you are sitting in a chair. If you are sitting back too far in the squat, you can create tension on those upper leg muscles if you're not very flexible. I had to take 2 weeks off squatting and let them heal once they started hurting. The only way I could prevent it from happening again was not to go down as far if I felt them starting to hurt. After a couple weeks though, the pain didn't return so I think it might've just been my body needing to adjust to the weight.

Lower back pain is usually from leaning forward. I bet you step forward with your left leg first and lean in to rack. If not, you may be bending at the waist by over-arching your back at the bottom of your squats.

The groin pain is something I wrestled with myself some time ago. When you're coming down into your squat, try and think of it like you are sitting in a chair. If you are sitting back too far in the squat, you can create tension on those upper leg muscles if you're not very flexible. I had to take 2 weeks off squatting and let them heal once they started hurting. The only way I could prevent it from happening again was not to go down as far if I felt them starting to hurt. After a couple weeks though, the pain didn't return so I think it might've just been my body needing to adjust to the weight.

how often do you squat?

Is one of your legs shorter than the other?

lol semi-serious, though.

I went to the chiropractor a few weeks ago and she noticed that and said my hip had been rotated a bit. I would assume that could be a cause for it, have you have any injuries involving your hip?

does the pain occur when you do front squats as well? i learned a lot about how poor my form for back squats was by switching to front squats.

how often do you squat?
3x a week light day on wednesda.y

form is probably the issue

Bar should be pretty far back on your shoulders.

Grip should complement the bar placement and when squatting you should engage your lats by pulling the bar down and pretending to bend the bar towards the front of you (make sense?). Engaging the lats will help protect your back and maintain a neutral spine

Back should remain in a neutral position the entire time. Think of sitting in a chair with good posture. Also, do not look to the sky in your squat. This takes your neck out of a neutral position. It should always be looking straight ahead.

Feet placement can vary a bit, I prefer to have them just wider than shoulder with with, but the toes should point away from you slightly to protect your knees

The chair concept is a good one. Make sure you are squatting with your hips before you begin to bend the knees. When you bend at the knees first you will compromise your neutral spine by the time you begin to drop into the hole (assuming you are doing full squats).

When driving out of the hole, pretend you are spreading ground away from you with your feet and don't let your knees come inward. A squat needs to fully activate the glut maximus and to do that you need to know its actions: extension and external rotation of the femur. Too many people engage too much quads and not enough glut in the squat.

I hope these pointers help. Rest for a couple of weeks then drop the weight and perfect form first.

what kind of shoes are you wearing?
if you are wearing a shoe with a raised heel it could be putting your body in an unatural form while squatting

sounds like a herniated disc with sciatica... bad news dude but the squats a very dangerous exercise. How many people do you know that have squatted constantly for 10 years and not gotten a serious injury?

I guess it's like riding a motorcycle.

Squats are like riding a motorcycle? ... ok. His injury doesn't sound like a herniated disc at all, he'd be incapacitated. The groin issue is likely due to having tight hips. I had this when I started, too. You have to take some time off, work on increasing flexibility in the hips -- if you can't don't go down so low, you'll pull on your hips and get that pain. The best thing to do is drop the weight down some and do a reset (drop weight 20%) and work your way back up really working on proper form for a bit. You're squatting a lot, and you may not have the stabilizer strength to prevent pain. I'd take 2 weeks off, then start back fresh. Worked wonder for me when I started.

I know a lot of bodybuilders at my gym who squat, and none of them ever got injured from it. One guy with a serious injury did so when he was bench pressing and the other did it dead lifting and injured his lower back. There's risks involved with all worthwhile lifts, and if you are experiencing pain, you need to fix your form. I find it's best to lower the weight and really concentrate on doing the exercise right.

The best book out there (in my opinion) for getting tips on form if you don't have access to a strength coach is Rippetoe's. I still use it.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/

This is the 2nd edition, if you search around you can find the 1st edition cheaper.

form is probably the issue

Bar should be pretty far back on your shoulders.

Grip should complement the bar placement and when squatting you should engage your lats by pulling the bar down and pretending to bend the bar towards the front of you (make sense?). Engaging the lats will help protect your back and maintain a neutral spine

Back should remain in a neutral position the entire time. Think of sitting in a chair with good posture. Also, do not look to the sky in your squat. This takes your neck out of a neutral position. It should always be looking straight ahead.

Feet placement can vary a bit, I prefer to have them just wider than shoulder with with, but the toes should point away from you slightly to protect your knees

The chair concept is a good one. Make sure you are squatting with your hips before you begin to bend the knees. When you bend at the knees first you will compromise your neutral spine by the time you begin to drop into the hole (assuming you are doing full squats).

When driving out of the hole, pretend you are spreading ground away from you with your feet and don't let your knees come inward. A squat needs to fully activate the glut maximus and to do that you need to know its actions: extension and external rotation of the femur. Too many people engage too much quads and not enough glut in the squat.

I hope these pointers help. Rest for a couple of weeks then drop the weight and perfect form first.

yeah i read somewhere that looking up during squats will cause you to lean forward putting too much stress on your back.

The best book out there (in my opinion) for getting tips on form if you don't have access to a strength coach is Rippetoe's. I still use it.http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/

This is the 2nd edition, if you search around you can find the 1st edition cheaper.

Wow. I just searched Amazon and Chapters online and they don't have this book listed. Sucks to be Canadian...lol

I think they stopped selling the first edition very recently so it's hard to find right now ...

Starting Strength:Basic Barbell Training (http://www.startingstrength.com/)

Might be able to find a torrent somewhere. I don't think it's worth $30 ... I got mine used for like $5.

Nah. I can't find a torrent for it and it's not coming up in the newsgroups. No worries. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Well, you can always ask Rippetoe:
Mark Rippetoe Q&A - Strength Mill Forums (http://strengthmill.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36)