When in doubt, squat!

Regular readers will know I present the squat exercise as the complete solution for nearly every conceivable fitness need.

Ladies: want firmer hips, buttocks and thighs? Men: want to gain size and strength fast? Even if weight loss is your goal, nothing will turn your body into a fat-burning furnace faster than squats. So in short; when in doubt, just squat!

Your goal and present stature will determine the weight on the bar and the number of repetitions you perform, but there are no other variables. The movement is universal, and the rules for effective squatting are the same for all of us.

While I’ve briefly touched on the most important technical aspect of the move many times before, good technique often requires good coaching over several weeks.

So in the spirit of the old saying, ‘give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime’, today I present the ultimate guide on teaching yourself – and coaching yourself through – the king of all exercises: the squat.

This will be a two-part series, with part one outlining the sequence for learning the move correctly and checking your form, and part two helping you identify potential problems, and offering simple solutions to remedy them.

Always use a squat rack or power cage for your squats, and remember that free bar squats are far more effective than any variation performed on a smith machine or leg press device.

Let’s take it from the top. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width, dip your head under the centre of the bar, positioning it on the fleshy part of your trapezius muscle. Stand up, take two small steps back, position your feet also slightly wider than shoulder-width with the toes pointed ever so slightly outwards, the toes should point in the same direction your knees will travel, anything else will result in unnecessary rotational forces in the lower leg.

The three main cues to keep in mind while squatting are as follows; Weight over your heels, back tight, sit back. These are the three commandments of squatting.

Most mistakes in the squat can actually be corrected by repeating these three cues to yourself and emphasising them while you squat. Let’s go into a little more detail about each.

Weight over the heels: the combined weight of the bar and yourself should be predominantly towards the heel of your foot, and it should stay there throughout the entire movement. If you can’t get this right, try squatting while standing on the edge of a step, with only your heel on the step, and the balls of your feet hanging off the edge. Perform some body weight squats and you will quickly get the hang of it.

Back tight: your back should be tightly arched, and remain so throughout the entire movement, with the only exception being at the top. At the top of the movement squeeze your buttocks and your abdominals. As you begin your descent into the squat, begin arching tightly. From the neck right down to the tailbone, the back should be actively arched.

This ensures all the power generated by the buttocks and legs is transferred to the bar for an effective lift, and that the spine remains in a neutral and safe position. If you can’t get the hang of this think about touching the ceiling with your chest, and the wall behind you with your butt.

Sit back: as you descend into the squat think about sitting back, not straight down. By pushing your hips back and actively sitting back, you will ensure that your weight stays predominately over your heels, and you are engaging the right muscles – the hamstrings and glutes.

If you can’t get the hang of this, stand right up in front of a wall, with your toes no more than half a foot away from it, arms out to the side, and squat. If you don’t sit back, it will be physically impossible to complete the move.

To coach yourself, set up a digital camera to film you from the side, at about hip height. Next, film yourself directly from the front, also at hip height. After your workout, sit down and perform a technique analysis. This should become a regular routine each time you squat.

You should be filming at least one or two of your main sets for the purpose of analysis. If you’ve done all of the above correctly, this is what you should see when you perform your technique analysis.

From the side: look at the end of the bar; it should travel up and down in a perfectly straight line, this is your bar path. If you extend that imaginary line downwards through the floor it should intersect your foot at a point close to the centre of your foot, slightly towards the rear of the foot. The back should remain tightly arched throughout the movement, resembling a U-shape. The top of the thigh at the hip should be lower than the top of the thigh at the knee, in the bottom position of the squat. From the front: the shins should remain parallel to each other, with the knee directly over the foot.

If you can see all these characteristics in your video, congratulations: you have managed to develop perfect technique. The problems tend to crop up when one or more of the above conditions are broken.

Next week we will have a look at some of the easiest ways to tackle the most common mistakes which are made by people learning to squat.

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