Squat to be healthy

How should I squat?

The squat as you may have gathered is my favorite lift and for good reason. The squat is the most useful lift for anyone wanting improved athletic strength. Many have taken to the deadlift recently. The deadlift is a great strength movement, no doubt. The skill involved in the deadlift does not compare to the squat. We will cover the deadlift in another blog. The squat is athletic simply because if your sport occurs on two feet the squat has direct transfer. Since Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe, has hit the scene a lot of beginners are being led down the “low bar” squat path. We will discuss this later in this blog. Technique is our focus for this column. We will start from the floor and travel upward through the system.

Even if you are training for something keep things clear

The feet are placed shoulders width or slightly wider. Place the heels under the hands when standing with your arms at your sides. The natural angle is slightly turned out (6º-13º) rather than perfectly parallel (FMS deception). This is the natural angle from the hips. Everything aligns to make the movement systemic rather than segmented. Segmentation is accessory work or bodybuilding. The squat is a full body movement. Yes, the legs are involved. They are not the primary movers. The hips are the primary movers on the squat. Distribute the weight through your heels and the outside of your feet without ever removing any part of the feet from the platform. If maxing out grab the floor with your feet as if grasping through your weightlifting shoes. Converse, Chuck Taylors are basketball shoes from the 1940s they are not good lifting shoes. They are far too unsupportive.

The knees should point in the direction of your toes. Pretend you are buried in sand up to your knees if you

Do not do these circus acts in the weight room!

can. This means the shins, tibia, remain perfectly perpendicular to the platform or as close as you can throughout the lift. The base of support is of supreme importance. Imagine there is a box drawn around your feet on the platform. Keep the bar above this box regardless of the lift being executed. Powerlifters maintain the knees over the heels throughout the lift. Weightlifters must allow the knees to travel forward. Weightlifters
use leg strength more than powerlifters during a squat because they must remain more upright. Weightlifters squat with their hips if they are skilled. They use legs strength to drive the hips back and always lift with the hips principally. This is how we protect the knees and maximize force production making the lift hip driven. Rippetoe says the low bar squat is superior for the clean and snatch strength. During the pull this is accurate. The recovery from the bottom of a lift is best served by the high bar squat in his vernacular. Lifting from the hips all the while. Weightlifters use their leg strength more than powerlifters during the squat. Athletes should practice both forms of squatting. This is the best for knee health. Use your hips to squat and everything else falls in position.

Box squats are great to get the hips more involved.

Now the hips. The hamstrings are the primary movers on a squat. The gluteus maximus get top billing on hip extension, erroneously. When we extend the hips without added weight the glutes do the work and the hamstrings are stabilizers. With added weight this reverses and the hamstrings are primary while the glutes stabilize. So, develop hamstring strength and perform better in any sport movement including squats. Standing at the beginning of a squat we are loaded. Reach back with the hips to initiate a squat. The hips

pre-load and turn on as many motor units (muscle) as possible going down. Contain the system and do not reach so far that the bar travels away from the base of support. If we are allowed to reach maximally the hamstrings will have a stretch reflex at the bottom and activate most thoroughly. Once we reach the point of reversal, the hole, we drive the hips forward and this drives the chest skyward. Before we had squat racks lifters would stand and squat in a hole. The stronger the lifter the more they would fill the hole with dirt allowing a greater range of motion. At the bottom of a squat the lifter would be “in the hole” and this position earned the aforementioned name.

The midsection must be solid for squatting. Vasili Alexeev said, in Russian of course, a weightlifter must have abdominals that will stop a bullet. He is credited with inventing the Russian Twist since he did them to this end. A very serious coach came up with this exercise. The midsection must remain a very strong medium for the hips to deliver their force to the bar on the shoulders. The midsection must not move during a squat. If the middle is soft the back takes too much weight and the lift may bomb. I tell lifters to brace the midsection as if a fourteen year old is punching them in the belly during a squat. Strong midsection allows a lifter to support the arching of the back with little danger of hyperextension. Each section of the body must be balanced from any side to the other. Structurally all sides must be equal.

His midsection remains stronger than everyone in crossfit combined. He died two years ago. One does not have to maximize strength and look like him. Looking for a six pack is dangerous.

Traditionally the back is a stabilizer during a squat. Many trainers talk about triple extension of the ankles, knees, and hips. I say we must have quadruple extension. Extend the ankles, knees, hips, and back during a squat. The arch of the back must be somewhat augmented for safety sake during a squat. Once again the

Strength!

front-side must be galvanized to counter this amplification. Actively extend the back and make it participate during a squat. Do not simply stabilize the back. There will be no movement if the back is strong. The chest will be up and the hip forces will transfer most directly to the bar. Pull the scapulae, shoulder blades, together and maximize mid-back extension broadening the chest concurrently. The strongest muscles of the back, the trapezius, are where the bar unites with our frames. Never use a bar pad as it takes the weight further from our center mass and makes the lift harder. Use the traps and make them stronger. The shoulders travel up in life contrary to personal trainer logic on the internet. The traps are responsible for this action and this is the position for the bar on a squat. Push this structure into the bar endlessly wile squatting to ensure back extension.

Again, the traps are retracting the scapulae and supporting the weight. The deltoids must be flexible enough and allow weights to stack on our frames squarely. A common overuse problem for squatters is biceps tendonitis. The biceps tendon becomes inflamed over time when the biceps are so very inflexible that the weights sitting on the shoulders disrupts the system. The triceps and biceps have roles at the shoulders which are often ignored. Make certain everything is aligned to force the weights upward. Keep the shoulder blades back. Keep the elbows behind the bar enough to keep it on the traps. Do not rotate so much that the bar can possibly end up being pushed forward at all. The hips travelling back will keep the bar on the shoulders assuming the back is extending sufficiently. When the hips are flexed the shoulders should pull the elbows under the bar for an upward coordination. Recover the elbows, behind the bar slightly, as the hips are fully extending. Always keep the blades retracted or pulled together so you have a ledge to place the bar upon.

There is a ledge for the bar on the trapezius. A skeletal protrusion exists in this area. Place the bar below this protrusion. Sitting on the strongest muscles in the upper body, the trapezius, is the best place for the bar. Many are placing the bar too far down the back and this is dangerous for the musculature of the shoulders and arms. Low bar squatting does increase the leverages of the back. The rulebook on squatting states the bar cannot sit below the rear deltoids. There is a sweet spot where the traps create a rack and the bar must rest here not below. Pulling the shoulder blades together enhances this rack for the bar. Use the rack.

His head is not up or down but straight ahead.

The head should be considered part of the upper back and shoulders during squats. Pull your jaw into the bar (on back squats). Face forward while squatting. Do not look up. Do not look down. Neutral means looking straight ahead while in every position of a squat. Your chest and head should always face in the same direction. Your chest should be presented to the wall in front of you. Looking down, as Rippetoe advises, makes the squat a back lift. Keep a full body orientation while squatting. Keep your head up is a saying when things get tough. The bottom of a squat is when things are the roughest. Keep your head up but do not look up. Look straight ahead.

For squats the back is extending and the torso must be as upright as your build allows. Taking the hips backwards should not place the back at 45º or anywhere close to it. Extend the back. Bond the bar to your frame above the rear deltoids.  Stay upright and lift the weights with your hips and everything else. The high bar squat will help a weightlifter recover from a clean or snatch. The high bar squat builds a lot of leg strength. A low bar squat will empower the pull for a weightlifter. A low bar squat will build a lot of hip

There is a lot wrong with this picture. Do not ride the bar this low on the back.
It will ruin your shoulders.

strength. Front squats are fundamental for a weightlifter. Front squats build legs. Overhead squats empower snatch strength. Overhead squats build mid-back extensors. Safety squats, if you are lucky enough to have this bar, facilitate back extension while squatting. Box squats are good for those interested in maximizing hip extension. Do a variety of squats in training. Always do back squats. The Bulgarians do a simple variety of exercises. They do snatches, cleans, jerks, front and back squats. They are the best weightlifters on earth.

Squats are the best movement for athletic training. Done properly they build more strength than anything else can. I spoke with someone who told me the Turkish getup was his deserted island exercise. He thinks they train everything. If he could only do one exercise he would choose the getup. His loss! The getup is a fad. A circus act. If you think of the Turkish getup is a go to exercise you are selling yourself short. Come to my gym and I will show you a more efficient way to put weights overhead. I double dog dare you! Ha-ha… If you want to compete make certain it is a gym competition because you will not win anything if you do not squat. The best squatter on earth is the strongest person on earth. The strongest athlete on earth has the best clean and jerk. Squats rule the world!

Get stronger or get out of the way!                                                        docsgym@live.co