I love the simple squat, and I dont try to hide it.

It is a natural exercise that so many

people have become unable to perform correctly. The squat is an exercise everyone, no
matter what age or gender, should be able to perform. That is why the squat is my most
effective and highly used exercise both in my own personal tness regime and also as a
personal trainer I am a big advocate of the squat to all my clients. As an example of how
anyone can perform the squat, the following picture shows the perfect squat technique
from a babyyes a baby.
Why do we lose the ability to perform the most natural born movements throughout life
when logically we should be getting stronger muscles, tendons and ligaments. The sit
down culture that we have adopted has meant that a use it or lose it affect has occurred,
meaning that we have the ability to squat but the muscles needed to execute the
movements arent strong enough. Lets take our pictured athlete to analyse the muscles
needed to perform a squat, Strong lumbar/ neutral spine means strong erector spinae,
latissimus dorsi, trapezius are needed to maintain this position throughout the lift, in
conclusion, the entire back. Creasing hips below parallel requires gluteals, hamstrings and
quadriceps. Knees tracking over the toes mean strong quadriceps to prevent valgus of the
knee. Upright torso means a strong core and all the muscles that come under the core
umbrella. This short breakdown shows that nearly all the muscles in the body are required
to execute a squat. Therefore, hint to fat loss, hypertrophy and strength individuals, the
squat can full all your goals if performed properly, Ill explain why throughout the
remainder of the article

Key Movement points in a squat if performed under load with a bar:

Hands just outside shoulders on the bar to engage scapulae muscles and maintain high,
upright chest
Feet in a 10 to 2 position, at shoulder width apart
Neutral pelvic position
On downward phase, keep weight on heels
Knees tracking over toes
Ensure hips break parallel with knees
Drive through heels on upward phase, engaging gluteals

Common mistakes in a squat

These are a number of the most common mistakes that people make when squatting.
Dont worry if you nd yourself committing these mistakes; just take steps to rectify them.
An easy way is to get a friend to watch you or better, get a qualied personal trainer to
analyse your technique.
Coming up onto toes- can be linked to lack of ankle mobility and other key points not
being upheld i.e. chest high
Knee valgus (knee turning inwards)- This is often down to weak hip abductors, i.e
piriformis, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus are the major ones to mention .
Knees coming too far forwards- not focussing on heels driving into ground, lack of
hamstring activation
Ankles collapsing- linked to knee valgus, ankles pronating can also be due to squatting in
trainers which distribute weight badly
Thoracic (top of) back rounding- can be due to lack of exibility, lack of core strength and
lack of upper back mobility and strength
Bum wink Lumbar rounding- weak hip exors and again a exibility issue is often to
blame in this situation
Pelvic tilt- An Anterior tilt of the pelvis at start position is due to weak abdominals and a
tight lower back and a posterior tilt is when the posterior chain is weakened and the
abdominals are tight
Unable to break parallel- exibility or a lack of glute activation
Feet pointing forwards- Often from poor teaching, prevents you from achieving full depth,
increases the chance of forward rotation leading to back pain
Common Misconceptions
MYTH- Full depth squats hurt your knees. Many studies show the initial phase of a squat
is when there is the most amount of pressure on the knees and the pressure on the knee
decreases as the degree of exion is increased.
MYTH- Weight training stunts your growth. Several studies have given undeniable
evidence that Squats and weight training in general increase bone mineral density and
growth.
MYTH- Squats mean you get big legs and bum- As mentioned before squats can full
many purposes and you can achieve larger legs with an appropriate diet, weight and rep
range. But for fat loss clients because of the multi joint and multi muscle it is a fantastic
way to lose fat alongside a correct nutrition programme.

SQUAT VARIATIONS

Back squat
The most common squat, performed with the bar on the back of your upper shoulders.
This type of squat can help with many aspects of sport and everyday life:
Increased mobility and decreased pain. Many studies have shown that squat training has
decreased knee pain, bettered balance and reduced inammation
Squats make you run faster. Its science! Newtons 3rd law of motion, every action has an
opposite and equal reaction. Therefore, the more force you can produce in a squat the
more force you can push through the ground, the faster you will run especially if you are
doing hill repeats up Leckhampton hill!
Squat for distance and height. Studies have shown that deep squats improve your
jumping height and distance.
Want strong toned abs? The plank has nothing on the squat for engaging shallow and
deep abdominal muscles. So for a test of core strength, do a squat to test for any rounding
of upper back etc
Front squats
Great exercise for determining structural balance between quads and hamstrings. If your
maximum front squat is less than 85% of your back squat then you have structural
imbalance (Poliquin,2012)
Excellent way of determining exibility in upper body as well as lower body. If you cannot
hold the bar properly on the front of the shoulders you have tight forearms and external
rotators of the shoulders
Front squat train to be easier on the knees and activate quads more
Wide squat stance
A quick word on the wide squat stance. Used by a lot of power lifters, engages the hips to
maximum effect. Can be very challenging for novice and inexible lifters. When training
females I may use this at times to strengthen the often weak hip girdle of a female as well
as taking advantage of the often more exible hip region.

Conclusion

The squat is a fantastic exercise for many goals due to the multi joint nature of the
movement and can be well utilised for testing strength, exibility and muscle imbalances.
This is the rst exercise any well qualied personal trainer should be assessing when rst
meeting a prospective client. All the clients who come to visit me in Cheltenham get a
squat assessment! Please email me to nd out various exercise to strengthen or lengthen
muscles that you have identied are weak or tight from my guide.