Introduction
The squat is a fundamental human movement pattern and the barbell back squat variation has been called the king of all lifts and for good reason, the squat is a full-body compound exercise that uses all the major muscle groups. Your leg muscles are the main movers and power the movement, while the musculature of the core and lower back work hard to maintain a stable torso, your upper back, shoulders and arms keep the bar fixed on your back.
Being stronger makes life easier, every action you perform day to day requires a degree of strength, the stronger you are the less difficult these actions are
Benefits
Some key benefits to the squat and exercise in general include:
Increased strength
Build muscle
Increased explosiveness
Increased endurance
Increased fitness
Burn fat
Stronger joints
Increased flexibility
Greater bone density
Build discipline - squats are hard
The key to unlocking all the benefits of the squat and staying safe, as with any exercise, is performing it with proper form and technique.
Technique
Steps:
Unrack the bar
Take a deep breath into your stomach and brace your core.
Squat down by pushing your hips back, bending the knees and keeping your back neutral, the bar in most cases should follow a vertical path and remain over the mid-foot.
Squat until your hips are below your knees, all healthy adults should be able to squat to this depth, if not, then working first on other squat variations and becoming more comfortable in the bottom of the squat will be required before barbell back squatting.
Stand up by pushing the hips straight up, pushing the floor away with your legs, while maintaining your back angle, keeping your chest up and knees out. Do not allow your hips to shoot up too fast or your knees to cave in.
Breath out, get tight, repeat for the desired number of reps.
Re-rack by walking the bar forward until you hit the rack, then lower it, don't be tempted to aim for the hooks as you may miss them.
Set up
Rack. The bar should be placed at mid-chest height, too low or too high can make unracking the bar awkward and dangerous.
Stance. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, this is a good place to start but everyone's hip structure is different and you may prefer being wider or narrower. You will have an optimal stance width where you can generate the most power, however you may not be able to initially use this stance due to mobility issues.
Feet. Start with your feet turned out slightly and maintain equal pressure over your heels and toes, with a good arch, you want the weight to balance over the middle of your foot, don’t raise your toes or heels. Again with regards to foot angle, preference, hip structure and mobility will play a role.
Knees. Push your knees to the side, in the direction of your feet, do not allow them to collapse in (knee valgus)
Hips. Bend your hips and knees at the same time. Move your hips back and down while pushing your knees out.
Lower Back. Squat with a natural arch throughout the entire movement.
Grip. Squeeze the bar hard, but do not support the weight with your hands, a neutral wrist is ideal. The bar can be gripped with a thumbless or full grip.
Grip Width. Grip the bar wider than your shoulders, but not excessively so. In general the narrower you can grip the bar the better as this allows you to keep a tight upper back.
Bar Position. Put the bar between your traps and rear deltoids (low bar) or on your traps (high bar).
Elbows. Behind your torso at the top, not vertical or horizontal. Inline with your torso at the bottom of your Squat.
Upper-back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and create a shelf to rest the bar on, pull down on the bar.
Chest. Keep your chest up not allowing it to collapse under the weight, this does not mean overarching your low back or flaring the ribs in an attempt to keep your chest up, take a big breath and stay tight.
Head. Keep your head in line with your torso, don’t look at the ceiling or at your feet, don’t turn your head sideways.
Common issues
Good morning squat (hips shoot up)
The good-morning squat fault (named for the exercise), is a fault where the hips shoot up faster than the chest on the ascent, decreasing back angle and putting increased pressure on the low back.
This technique is less efficient, due to the increased torso lean the hamstrings lengthen and the ability of the glutes to indirectly assist the quads with hip extension (Lombard's paradox) is compromised.
Primarily the cause for this technique flaw is one of co-ordination and learning to fire the correct muscles at the right time, fortunately the fix is just as simple. The good-morning squat fault usually comes about as fatigue sets in or when approaching weights in excess of 90% of one rep max, spending more time with lighter weights and drilling correct form usually clears this fault up.
This fault can often be associated with the bar coming forward of the midfoot position, again this can usually be addressed by simply practising the correct form. Using a box can help here, use a weight you can easily squat for 10 reps and squat down to a box set at the correct depth (parallel). Have someone coach you into the correct bar over mid-foot position, this real-time feedback will allow you to build an awareness of where your body needs to be.
Knee cave (knee valgus)
Knee cave occurs usually on the ascent out of the bottom of the squat where the knees collapse in, this is less efficient and increases injury risk.
As above this is primarily a co-ordination issue where the correct squat technique has not been learned and reinforced. The first port of call is to simply cue keeping the knees out and to track in line with the feet, of course, the knees should not be pushed out so far as to compromise the position and stability of the feet.
The lateral hip musculature, predominantly the glute medius, in this case, plays a big role in maintaining knee stability, it is these muscles that we want to stimulate into action at the correct time. It can be beneficial to strengthen these muscles, but simply strengthening them in isolation may not fix the issue, we want to strengthen and use the muscles in a position that carries over to the squat.
For this reason, banded lateral walks, banded squats and RNT split squats that feed into the issue can all be helpful.
Banded lateral walk
Stand with a band placed just above the knees, assume a half squat position maintaining good posture and then "crab" sideways, keeping the feet facing forward. This exercise should be felt in the lateral glutes not the front of the hip or quadriceps, if this is the case then try to imagine leading the movement with the heel and keeping the toes pointing forward not turned out.
Banded squat
Perform a squat with a band placed just above the knees..... basic stuff and it works. Hold at the bottom of the squat for 5-10 seconds, repeat.
RNT split squats
Reactive Neuromuscular Training, follows the same principle as above, if we "feed into" the movement error with the use of a band then the muscles we want to recruit need to fire in order to overcome the resistance, in this case the glute medius needs to activate in order to prevent knee collapse. Assume a lunge stance and with a band placed just above one knee, pulling the knee in, perform a split squat. These can be rear foot elevated, weighted, unilaterally weighted or used with no weight at all to provide different challenges.
Butt wink
A funny name maybe, but not a particularly funny technique issue to have, aside from the increased injury risk the butt wink can be a frustrating issue to clear up, once again coordination is a major player or possibly a slightly too narrow stance.
The butt wink occurs when the Femur runs out of room at the bottom of the squat causing the pelvis to posteriorly rotate under the body resulting in the "wink", imagine the tail bone rotating under the legs and creating a rounded lower back.
Again a question of addressing co-ordination first and then any mobility issues.
Mobility
Up until this point I have actively avoided blaming mobility issues as the cause of the above squat faults and have instead cited co-ordination as the number one cause, this has been for three main reasons.
If you can't get into a good bodyweight squat, you have no business loading the movement with a barbell on your back.
Mobility is in effect a kind of co-ordination, oftentimes a person cannot get into a position (the squat being a good example) simply because they have not been in that position often enough over a period of time. The muscles act to protect themselves when placed at the end of their perceived range of motion, in positions they are unaccustomed to, especially in an unbalanced environment. They act to prevent further lengthening... or more simply put they are in an unfamiliar situation that they feel quite uncomfortable in so they freeze up, we've all been there. For that reason good coaching and proper cueing should be your first port of call.
Mobility is very specific to the individual, the body acts as one system and a restriction in any area (upper back, lower back, shoulders, wrists, knees, hips, ankles, feet, etc.) can lead to any of the above issues and many more, it is therefore hard to directly attribute cause and effect without first seeing the individual in question.
For those reasons the single best way to improve your squat mobility is quite simple... Squat and squat often, every day in fact, become comfortable in that position over time through repetition and time served sitting at the bottom of a deep squat, firstly with bodyweight/goblet squats and then progressing to other variations such as the barbell back squat.
With that being said, If there are certain obvious mobility restrictions that are causing a break down in technique, measures can be taken to address these restrictions and restore more optimal movement throughout the system.
Common areas include the ankles and hips:
Ankles
5-inch wall test
The 5-inch wall test can be used to identify any restrictions in the ankle, set up with your toes touching a wall or other flat surface and touch your knee to the wall. Gradually move your foot back and retest, if you can successfully reach the wall from a distance of 5 inches you most likely have sufficient ankle mobility for a squat, if you fail this test then you will need to work on your ankle mobility.
Box/bench stretch
Place one foot on a box or bench and lean into your knee pushing it forward of the toes trying to keep your heel down, try to flex your foot up in order to increase the stretch. If using a bench it can also be useful to grab the underside and pull yourself down into your knee.
Banded ankle stretch
Should you feel a pinching/blocking sensation at the front of the ankle then a banded ankle stretch may help, the band acts to pull the Talus bone down and away, facilitating proper ankle dorsiflexion.
Anchor the band at one end and place the other low on the ankle, not on the shin, putting tension on the band place your foot on an elevated surface and rock the ankle back and forth into end range of motion.
Hips
It can without proper assessment be difficult to ascertain the true cause of restriction in the hips, a couple of good stretches below hit the key areas that can become tight.
Worlds greatest stretch
Get into a deep lunge position, to get the most out of the stretch it's important here to activate your glute on the trailing leg with your knee off the floor, assume a good stable foot position on the front leg with knee inline with the toes and not collapsing in.
Rotate your arm closest to your front leg up, hold, and then rotate back around and under your other arm, hold again.
90/90
The 90/90 stretch is great for opening up internal and external hip rotation, keep your back straight and don't be tempted to round your back in order to "increase" the stretch.
Neck Pain
This usually occurs as a result of cranking your head up when coming out of the bottom of the squat, stop doing it, pick a spot in front of you that allows you to keep a neutral neck position throughout the movement.
Another cause could be having the bar too high up on the neck, drop the bar down a little.
Wrist pain/elbow pain
This can occur for a few reasons:
Wrists too bent, try and keep them relatively neutral.
Insufficient shoulder mobility, using a thumbless grip can help, but a full grip is preferable.
Supporting the weight on your hands rather than your upper back.
Low back/hip pain
Low back pain is often a result of one of the above mentioned squat faults, the "good morning" or the "butt wink", remedy these faults first. Another cause could be core stability issues, it's important that there is very little movement in the low back, the spine should be neutral throughout, while the hips and legs power the movement.
When it comes to the hips there are many different issues that could lead to many different types of pain and it can be difficult to ascertain the true cause, some of the main issues are:
Hip flexor pain
Pinching at the front of the hips
Pain at the side of the hips (hip impingement)
These symptoms can have many causes, but below are a few common issues:
Insufficient ankle mobility plays havoc with squat mechanics and can cause excess pressure to be placed on the hips and low back, get to work on restoring some ankle mobility.
Lazy core - learn to properly brace the core, exercises such as the bird dog, stir the pot, single-arm farmer's walk, side planks, ab wheel rollouts are all helpful here, the key is to learn to resist force through the core (anti flexion/extension/lateral flexion and rotation exercises) rather than just learning to produce force.
Lazy glutes - get the glutes firing with glute bridges, glute thrusts, lunges, etc, try single-leg variants to aid with stability at the knee.
Knee pain
Usually associated with the above Knee Cave (Valgus) fault, fix this first. Other causes could be a patella tendonothapy, which is most common in "young jumping men" i.e. young men that play a sport that requires a lot of jumping or dynamic movement. The usual fix is to temporarily limit shock forces through the knee (jumping/plyometrics) and stick to slow resistance training. It is important to realise there is a Goldilocks zone at play here, to rest the knee completely and then return to training would be more harmful, like muscle tissue the goal is to slowly increase stress over time and force adaptation.
Top tips
Goblet squat for mobility, add a band to fire up the Glute Medius
Power starts from the feet, ensure they are grounded and stable.
Do not underestimate the core and core bracing, this is where the battle for the rep is won or lost.
Squat daily, set yourself a target i.e. 10 squats a day.
Try to avoid grinding reps out in the early days, reinforce good technique if things start to get ugly call it a day.
No ego
How to program
The initial priority is to perfect your squat movement patterns with bodyweight and goblet squats, repetition and volume are key here in order to groove the movement and make it second nature. These repetitions must be of good quality, every rep counts and your body will learn from them, a personal trainer/coach can help here and speed up the learning process. As part of a program 5 sets of 5-10 three times a week is a good start, but in reality, these squats can be performed every day wherever you are, the more the better.
Once your squat form is at an acceptable level, the next step is to build strength through the movement, this can initially be through progressively loading the goblet squat and then moving onto barbell movements such as the back squat or front squat. Again 5 sets of 5-10 2/3 times a week with light loads in order to build confidence and learn the inherent differences associated with barbell squatting, this phase of training should take no longer than a few sessions as the hard work perfecting squat mechanics has already been done.
Once familiar with the new squat technique one or more of the squat sessions can be changed to a heavy day where 5 sets of 5 reps are performed, having a light day (5x10) and heavy day (5x5) can be beneficial. This strategy when combined with progressive loading (adding a small amount of resistance each week in the region of 2.5-5kg) and periodic deloads can be run almost indefinitely as the backbone of a good program.
The above strategy can be run for a long time, even years if the lifter takes regular breaks or encounters an injury, etc., it is important to eek out as much from the program as possible, the goal is to build a base layer of strength before moving on to other programs, of course, this is specific to the individual.
The next step would be to gradually alter reps and sets schemes to ensure continual progression, again this is specific to the individual but an example could be to use 3x5 on a strength day, include a back off speed/power day (use 80% of 5 rep max for 5x5) and a volume/hypertrophy day (3x10).
Of course much will depend on the makeup of the rest of your program, but this is one way to program squats for continual progression, the general rule of thumb being that a novice can use a standard linear progression template and make solid progression for a long time, once that has run its course it becomes necessary to program for individual needs, but it is always possible or even encouraged to run further blocks of linear progression in the future.
Number 1 rule, do what you find fun and interesting, the best program is the one you actually do.
Until next time,
Mike Murray
Personal Trainer
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