Squat Booty: A Well-Rounded Outlook

Hah, haaa…okay, so I thought my title was dorky and cool

…never mind.

This post is really just about SQUATS.

This is going to be part 1 of a several part series…as I don’t believe I’ll be able to cover anything in one post (nor do I have the time or patience to write everything out in one go)

So in order for you to get the most out of this, I’m only going to cover a couple related issues per post as they come to mind, so that I can go in depth with each one and not just rush too much through things.

PROBLEM #1: Bending too far forward.

This is a pretty common one. The chest is not up, the bar is too high up, and you sort of just drop down into the squat, instead of SITTING BACK.

First off, take a look at your elbows. The biggest mistake I see is people having the bar very high, and their elbows ridiculously far back. This is usually accompanied by a very high bar placement, which is basically just short of resting directly on your neck. This causes excessive forward lean, and makes even very light weights hard to squat.

(NOTE: Keep in mind, elbows have to be a little far back if you’re performing a low bar squat, otherwise the weight would be completely carried by the arms, which will cause injury and the bar will not be properly situated on your rear delts. The key is deciding what bar placement you prefer, and sticking with it. We’ll discuss that at the end of this post)

So, what to do? Well, one of the common causes of this problem is an imbalance, or tightness in the shoulders. And when your elbows are very high up in the back, this causes a lot of medial rotation in the shoulders, which will also cause your chest to slouch, making you lean forward rather than staying upright. One thing you can do is before you start squatting, stretch your pectoral minor/front delts. This is a stretch I started doing at the beginning of my squats, and I found it to help tremendously:

Once my shoulders didn’t feel so tight, it was more comfortable to put them in a better position for holding the barbell. If you find that this improves your form right away, fantastic. If not, there are other things to look at.

Something that will help teach you to really sit back into a squat rather than just drop into it is box squats. I think these are pretty important if you have trouble learning to drive your hips back. Start with a high box, and then lower it slightly every week until you can properly hit depth while maintaining a correct back arch the entire way down. Here’s two good videos of Dave Tate coaching the box squat:

You’ll also want to do plenty of posterior chain and ab assistance work in addition to this in order to get your lower body strong enough to support your bodyweight and the weight on your back. Some good exercises to start adding to your program to increase your core/PC strength:

-          Weighted sit-ups

-          Weighted hyperextensions

-          Glute-ham raises

-          Good-mornings

-          Pull-throughs

It’s very important that you keep your chest up at ALL times. From the moment you un-rack that weight, your chest should be up. This problem actually CAUSES Problem #1 many times in the first place, so from here I’ll go straight into…

PROBLEM #2: Chest dropping forward.

How long does it usually take you to set up for a squat?

Something that happens very often, is people just jump right into their set. They put the bar on their shoulders, and automatically think they’re ready to squat. However, they aren’t at all thinking about their chest uprightness, and then they wonder why they keep falling forward on their way up out of the hole.

What you need to do, is make sure your chest is puffed up and out BEFORE you un-rack that weight. Take a few extra seconds to position yourself if you have to. Your back should be tight, and your abs should be tight. Big breath, and chest UP. When you squat, you need to drive your head back into the bar.

Another thing that could cause you to lean excessively is rising with the HIPS first, rather than rising with the chest.

Here’s what I want you to do: imagine there is a tight cord that runs from the ceiling and attaches to your chest, during the entire exercise. When you come up out of the hole, the first thing to rise should be your chest. Hips follow. When you rise with your hips first, this causes your back to take the rest of the movement, and you end up finishing the movement with your back rather than your hips and glutes, which puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your back, and is just a pretty ineffective way of squatting.

Here’s what you should look like when you’re coming out of the hole:

Ignore the fact this guy looks like a douche.

Not this:

Savvy?

Problem #3: Knees caving in on the way up.

This one is usually from a lack of glute and hamstring strength. Simply put, you need to invest in some glutes.

Mini-band walks, wide box squats, glute bridges/hip thrusters, glute-ham raises, and pull-throughs will really help this area.

However, something that will REALLY teach you to focus on using your glutes during a squat is light squats with a mini-band around your thighs, just above your knees. I suggest starting off with bodyweight, and focusing primarily on forcing the knees out. Then move up to doing it with light weights, until the feeling comes natural to you once you remove the bands.

If you don’t have mini-bands, just do bodyweight squats anyway, and practice forcing your knees out on the way up. Eventually you’ll develop a feel for it, and it will come naturally with a barbell squat.

When you come up out of the hole on your squat, imagine you are spreading the floor apart with your feet. Drive with your hips, and remember, knees OUT. Doing so will help you recruit the glutes and hamstrings, which should be the main supporters of your movement.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s discuss:

BAR PLACEMENT:

What is the best bar placement?

Well, there really is no definite answer to that. Everyone has different leverages and preferences, and everyone is going to find comfort in squatting different ways. What is important is choosing one and sticking to it. If you want to really nail your form, you’ll have to get really good at using one type of bar placement.

HIGH BAR:

This is usually referred to as an “Olympic Squat”. The bar is high up on the traps, but NOT digging into your neck. The arms are closer in by your shoulders. Your chest and head should be up the entire time. It should look something like this:

Your elbows should be pointed down, and your back tight and arched.

LOW BAR:

Referred to as a “powerlifting squat”. The bar is much further down, resting on your rear delts. This is more of an uncomfortable squat for most, and because of the bar positioning it tends to make you lean more far forward than a high-bar squat, and your elbows may be a little further back.

It should look something like this:

However, many find that they can move the most amount of weight through this method, and after some getting used to, it doesn’t become as uncomfortable.

To be honest, I don’t really recommend low bar squats to someone who is just starting out, unless there is someone around to coach them on doing them properly. Most beginners have enough issues falling forward in their squats from their glutes and hips not firing correctly, that adding to the lean is just going to make them topple over.

My suggestion:

Start off with high bar squats until you can learn to keep your torso tight and upright. Learn how to maintain your arch, and work like hell on your technique, and then decide from there if you want to keep high bar placement, or crossover to low bar. Either way, you need to get your form down first.

Once you’ve gotten your form down, experiment with different bar placements. Find which one suits you best, and then work on improving your technique.

Other tips and reminders:

-          To create a shelf where the bar can rest upon during your squats, pinch your shoulder blades back, and make sure they’re very tight. Imagine someone placed a pen between your shoulder blades; you should have them pulled back enough that it could hold the pen in place.

-          A narrower grip on the bar (especially if you’re not a very heavy build) will have much more stability throughout the movement, and will help you keep your back tighter.

-          Keep your wrists straight. They shouldn’t be locked, but they shouldn’t be super bent under the bar. Remember, it’s not your arms holding up the weight, it’s your back. You’re hands are just there to keep the bar in place.

-          Stretch your hamstrings, glutes, ankles, shoulders, and hip flexors on a REGULAR basis. Make sure you’re doing plenty of mobility work for them.

-          If it helps, have someone check your form and say, “Chest up, knees out” when applicable.

LAST THING: Shoes matter.

Yes, this is important.

If you’re squatting in sneakers, you’re doing it wrong. Find a flat-soled shoe, or go barefoot. This is very important for balance.

I personally use chuck taylors. Pretty inexpensive, and you’ll find them anywhere:

Or, if you have access to them, these are even better:

…kiddiiiing. But if that isn’t the weirdest fucking I’ve seen all month, I don’t know what is.

Anyway, that about covers it for this post. However, I will leave you with my latest squat video.

Things to note:

-          I’m very short, and the safety bars at my gym are pretty high, so I can only squat just at parallel. Would squat lower if I could.

-          My elbows are a little higher in this video, and I have more forward lean because I’m squatting in a lower bar position. (however if you’ll notice, my elbows still go down slightly as I’m squatting, and I don’t keep them high up during the whole movement, or my chest would cave)

-          I’ve decided to make a switch to high bar squats, since I prefer them to low bar.

Now with that being said, here’s the video:

Hope this helped, and there is still much more to cover. But at least this will give you all something to practice until then.