The squat. Arguably the best overall exercise for strength and muscle stimulation. Also the exercise that has the longest list of excuses.
Anyone that knows me, knows I LOVE to squat. This is for a few reasons. It is my strongest exercise. I feel comfortable doing it. I love feeling a bone crushing weight on my back, I love being strong. Ironically, when I first started lifting weights, it was the exact opposite.
Wednesday was squat day. There was more than once or twice that I bailed. I’d think ‘why would I want to wake up at 5am to go do LEGS for an hour???”.
Now I am up at 3:50-4am if I am squatting on a weekday and CANNOT wait for a 2 hour thrashing!
My leg day when I started bodybuilding consisted of 2 exercises. Squats and stiff leg deadlifts. All working sets in a 4-6 rep range. That was it. For 2 years. The logic of my training partner was if squats are the best thing for overall leg development, why waste time doing anything else? They were grueling workouts. I never felt comfortable, and could barely walk for days after.
As much as I hated doing it at the time, I still did them because I know they were extremely beneficial. People would commonly come up to me in the gym, and start with why they ‘couldn’t’ (wouldn’t) squat any more, but they surely would be able to go ATG if it wasn’t for their back or knees.
Everyone. Same excuse.
I started paying attention to other people squatting. And it did not take long to realize there was a very common theme to the people that complained about it. THEY WERE’T DOING IT RIGHT! If your heals pop up in the hole, your entire back is rounded, your knees are caving in and the bar is resting on your neck, not only are you asking to get seriously injured, but I’m sure it does hurt!
Now I’m not saying that there aren’t people that don’t have actual medical issues that prevent them from getting underneath a bar, whether it be knees, back, shoulder, etc. But I have seen so many people that were luck not to have gotten hurt due to bad training, and I have seen some nasty injuries as a result as well.
This is where my feelings on squatting to change. My squat form wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. When I started to fine tune my form, and add in intelligent accessory exerciseslike the ones below, it went thru the roof.
I am not going to post a squat routine. That would be pointless. But I do want to go over a few exercises and tips that will dramatically improve your squat and prevent injury, which in turn will also compliment the rest of your training as well.
Box Squat
Box squats are excellent for a few reasons. When you set the box at the proper height, you will always know If you are getting proper depth. When done properly with a pause, you have to overcome the stretch reflex, which make the movement more difficult, but will help train your body to stay tight out of the hole as well as emphasize speed. This is a great tool to help you learn to ‘sit back’ while you squat as well. It is common knowledge that you never want your knees to drift over your toes squatting, but finding a good balance of keeping your weight back, ‘speading the floor’, and sitting into your squat will recruit more hips and glutesin the movement and lift stronger and faster.
-Side note-
There is a common theme with the emphasis of hips and glutes. When you look at a typical powerlifter standing at rest, most of time they will resemble a gorilla. Anterior pelvic tilt aside, this is because they are building up all the necessary muscles required for a monster squat. You need more than just your quads.
Good mornings
Good morning are VERY under rated and under utilized, mostly because if not done properly, they can be dangerous.
When performing a good morning, you will unrack the back and get into a squat position. You will drive your knees apart, only allowing a slight bend. Rather then simply bending forward with the weight, load the weight in your hips and glute, and under control, move your glutesbehind you as your chest comes down and you are in a leaning position. The goal here is to keep the bar over you’re ankles, and the weight in you hamstrings, glutes and lower back, rather than your spine. Maintain a tight truck by holding a breath deep in your belly during the movement. This will brace yourself and give you support out of the hole.
This exercise also will help strengthen your back and very beneficial if you find you round over. By holding the air in your belly, it forces your back to arch more, and the nature of the exercise itself you are forced to remain upright. This will not only compliment your squat, but your deadlift as well.
Glute Ham Raises
Not enough people do these. Because they are HARD. It is almost always going to be able to lift a weight of equal amount rather than lift or move your actual body,. Most people pound for pound cannot do as many quality pullupsand they can pulldowns, just as leg curls versus GHRs. Position the pad so when you lower your body, the top of the pad is just above your knee. Do not rock or swing your body. To work up to being able to handle your full body weight, you may give yourself a slight push up at the bottom, or fix a band behind you to lighten the load at the bottom (depending on the model)
Stance
I am a proponent of wide stance squatting, for 2 reasons. Some people mechanically move better with a slightly (or greatly) wider than should width foot position, and you should always work with your body’s natural biomechanics. Secondly, even if you feel more comfortable with a more narrow stance, you are neglecting certain muscles, and over time these weaknesses could lead to injury.
Every single I squat wide with someone for the first time, I always lower the weight, and everyone still has a more difficult time doing it. The problem is generally weak hips and glutes and lack of stability. This is where spreading the floor (mentioned below) will help. The stronger your wide stance squat becomes, the stronger you regular stance squat will become.
This should also be applied to good mornings as well.
Bands and chain
If you have seen any of the videos I post, you will see a lotof these. Accomodating resistance has many may benefits such as
-increasing speed
- getting more volume in with a higher overall load
- accommodate yourself to heavier weight
All of these when properly programmed into your routine, can make a huge difference.
Spread the floor
This queue, along with ‘sit back’ and ‘big belly’, are the 3 things that will generally help you avoid knee irritation, keep you tight and avoid you coming forward. When you spread the floor, you literally are engaging your hips by trying to push your feet apart. Continually focusing in the isthe entire movement will help your knees form caving in. Ideally, your knees should be (or close to being) above your ankle. Filling your BELLY (not your lungs) full of air while keeping your hips and glutes tight, automatically arch your back, and almost spring you out of the hole. It is important not to exhale on the WAY up, but rather at the very top of the movement. Exhaling will deflate your torso and cause your chest to lower. When you have a lot of weight on your back, that is a recipie for disaster.
Birddogs
Yes. Birdogs. This is a movement I have 100% of my clients do, for a reason. Regardless of your age, sex, weight, or goals, this is something that will dramatically strengthen your back and trunk.
Start on your hands and knees, extend one leg behind you pulling your toes forwards, and extend the opposite are turning your thumb up, or slightly outward. The key here is to engage your entire body. Your entire trunk, glutes, hips, back, everything from your fingertips to your toes, should be tight. Hold this for a slow 10 count, then switch sides. Repeat this a total of 3 times. Whether you have a history of back issues, tight hamstring that tend to give you a tight back, or just looking to be as fit as possible, I HIGHLY recommend I would do these. You could add them as a cooldown as well. Over time you will notice less pain in general and while doing every day activities, and a direct translation with strength during your training.
This movement when added into your warmup routine will warm you better than pretty much anything else your are going to do. I usually have you ditch a cardio warm up completely by using these and a few other specific exercises.
As with all of your training, it is important for variety, smart programming, and proper execution and form. Add some of these exercises in your routine to help out. Make your weaknesses strengths, and see how much faster you will progress.
-Paul Emmick
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