Squat Roundtable
I spoke with four strength coaches, located at four different institutions and with varying backgrounds, and asked them about some common flaws they saw when people squat, and to give a few tips for any readers who were interested in squatting heavy weights. While these coaches work with different populations and address people with different goals, there are several common themes.
Tate Tobiason, MS, CSCS is a strength and conditioning coach at the University of North Dakota, and had this to say:
1. Always Train With a Belt
The first tip to improving your squat is to always train with a belt. By this I mean that when its squat day, you put on your belt right away and do not take it off until the end. However, do not tighten the belt up until your heavy working sets. Leading up in your warmup sets, wear your lifting belt lose enough where you can feel it, but where it doesn’t provide support. Practice bracing into the belt during your warmup sets, filling the empty space with a “power belly”. This is a great way to activate your core and practice proper bracing as you work towards your heavy working sets. Once you hit your heavy sets, tighten that sucker up, fill your power belly, and experience a whole new sense of stability and power. Remember, your belt is meant to assist in core bracing, not supplement it.
2. Stop Shrugging When Bracing
Okay, now that we have discussed the importance of bracing into the belt, let’s cover how to brace. And by that, I mean how not to brace. I see many lifters before a squat take a large breath of air in by shrugging their shoulders and raising their chest. No, no, no! Do not do this! From the moment you un-rack the bar to the moment you re-rack it, maintain tightness. This excessive breathing causes unnecessary movement and relaxation of key structures required for big lifts. Instead, brace before you un-rack the bar, perform your three step walkout, and then take in a little more air to fill the belt out. This is especially important for you low bar squatters.
3. Open Your Hips
Finally, learn how to open your hips and involve your entire lower body. Many young squatters limit their potential by simply thinking of the squat as a knee-forwards, butt-back movement. While this is not entirely wrong, it isn’t entirely correct. To get the most out of your squat, learn to open up the hips. Think of pulling your inner thighs and glutes apart as you sink straight down. This helps to involve more of your hip structure along with supporting muscles, not to mention, helps one hit depth easier. Arguably the best powerlifter of all time, Ed Coan, is a big proponent of opening up the hips to further squatting performance. However, Ed uses different lingo which shall not be repeated.
Austin Shook, BS, CSCS is a strength coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University, and noted these three common faults he often sees when people are squatting:
4) Lack of Variety.
Once lifters pass the beginner stage, it is common to see some lifts plateau and it becomes harder to see progress. It often seems the first step is that people simply try to do more of the same thing, especially when it comes to the squat. In my opinion, the best thing to do in these instances is to change things up and add some variety. This can be as simple as adding different intensity techniques (tempo, pauses, drop sets, etc.), or more drastic changes like switching back squats for front squats, goblet squat, box squats, or adding accommodating resistance (bands or chains). Simply put, getting a little creative and changing things help can help progress, rather than doing more of the same.
5) Not Breathing Properly.
When it comes to “correct” breathing during the lifting some people have differing opinions. What I teach my clients and athletes is based on creating Intra-Abdominal Pressure (IAP). Start by deeply inhaling through the nose (there are several ergogenic benefits of nasal inhalation). It is important to breathe into the belly, using the diaphragm to create that IAP. Once pressure is created from the inhale, brace for the descent, and then exhale through the mouth on the ascent. Common mistakes I see are mistimed breathing, breathing up into the chest rather than down into the belly, and holding one breath for too many reps. In short, oxygen is your friend and the more you can do to properly utilize it, the better off your lifting will be.
6) Foot and Ankle Instability.
I would argue that when it comes to squatting (and most ground-based exercises for that matter) one of the areas that gets taken for granted the most is the foot and ankle. Looking at the anatomy of a squat the foot is where force is directly transferred into the ground and the ankle is the first joint that energy passes through. It makes up the roots of our foundation for a squat. Instability in the foot and ankle causes compensation up chain and can be the cause for several cases of knee pain when squatting. In order to keep a stable base during a squat, lifters should focus on three points of contact in the foot: ball of the foot behind the big toe, ball of the foot behind the pinky toe, and the heel. Having these three points down at all times creates a good base for a stable foundation. Foot stability is crucial for a good squat, and for that reason foot-wear selection can be crucial as well. You don’t have to go and buy the nicest pair of Nike Romaleos but having a relatively flat shoe that has good support is very helpful. Many lifters like to lift in converse, because they offer those two points and are relatively inexpensive compared to other lifting shoes. However, high top converse (or any high-top shoe) may inhibit dorsiflexion and make squatting (especially high-bar) more difficult. This leads me to my bonus tip for squatting regarding the ankle: increasing dorsiflexion (bringing the toes toward the shin) flexibility can be beneficial for squat and make hitting depth easier.
Blake Strecker, BS, CSCS is a sports performance coach at the University of Nebraska, and adds:
7) Don’t Let Bias Blind Your Squatting Preferences
With social media being the apex influencer of practically EVERYTHING we do these days, it might not surprise you to learn that you DON’T have to do everything your favorite fitness figures do in your own training. As much as I love watching the Chinese Weightlifting team perform relatively narrow stance, ATG high bar back squats, I realize that due to anatomical differences, utilizing that same technique might not be the best option for me if I want to lift the heaviest weights I can efficiently. Likewise, though I respect Mark Rippetoe, I recognize that low bar back squatting with one’s torso near parallel to the floor might not be suited for lanky, tall basketball players. Heck, you don’t even have to slap a bar across your back to squat. You can hold a barbell in the front rack position (front squats), a dumbbell or kettlebell in the front rack position (goblet squats), a bar in the crook of your elbows (Zercher squats). The possibilities are endless, and limiting yourself to what your favorite influencer does can be so counterintuitive to meaningful progress.
Blake Fricke, B.A., CSCS is a strength and conditioning coach and personal trainer in Lincoln, Nebraska, who noticed the following squat faults happening too often in commercial gym settings:
8) STOP Squeezing Glutes at the Top
I see this one more than I’d like to, working at a commercial gym. People will come up out of the hole and squeeze their glutes forward at the top (thinking this will work the glutes harder). I encourage my clients not to do this as it ends up putting too much stress on the lumbar spine. The squat already loads the spine and squeezing the glutes at the top does nothing but round the lumbar region which in turn can result in injury. I encourage you to just establish a neutral pelvic position and maintain it throughout the movement.
9) Not Creating Intra-Abdominal Pressure (IAP)
When squatting, you want use your body’s “internal belt” to stabilize and support your spine. To do this, take a big deep breath into your belly, not your chest. You can always tell if someone is doing this wrong if you see their chest or shoulders rise as they inhale. Remember, you want to fill your belly. One cue I like using with clients is “show me how fat you can make yourself” or simply using my fingers to touch their lower back and belly, and cuing them to push my fingers out using their core.
10) Rooting the Feet
I strongly believe squatting starts from the ground up. I give all my clients the cue of having “active” feet. When you create an arch in the foot and spread the toes and grip the ground, you lock everything into place. If you are truly grabbing the ground with your feet, you are locking in your ankles, knees, and hips. If you are not sure if you are using your feet try doing some barefoot training for a cycle or two.
You can contact the authors of this article with questions below:
Tate Tobiason: tate.tobiason@und.edu
Austin Shook: austinshook90@gmail.com
Blake Strecker: blake.e.strecker@gmail.com
Blake Fricke: fricke_blake@hotmail.com
