Squat Technique

    Today I will be going over the general technique of a simple weight squat. The weight squat isn't exactly the hardest, but you will see yourself getting a lot stronger when you do it correctly. Besides power cleaning and deadlift, this is one of the most difficult exercises when done correctly. I myself have a 515 pound squat only due to how I squat. I see this day in and day out that many people don’t do it right.

    It starts with the middle of the bar resting on top of your shoulder blades and right behind your neck. When younger and doing the placement of the bar incorrectly, you can mess up the growth plates in your back and it could very much affect how you grow. This also could mess up the spine. When the bar is in the correct placement you want your hands at about each side of your body close to your shoulders. Most people who do not have complete flexibility within their shoulders are seen with their hands at the ends of the bar instead of from their shoulders. Once the hands are at about the correct placement as well as the bar we can now begin to squat.

    You want your feet pointing straight as well  as your body. When you go to actually squat, you want your back completely straight. Once it is straight then you can point your head upwards. You want you be looking directly up into the air. Once this has occurred, you can slowly lower yourself into a squat position. This position is going to have your knees bent at about 90 degrees. Many power lifters will tell you best that if it is not 90 then you are doing it incorrectly. You want the knees bent at about that angle if you know anything about math and angles. Do not go above 90 or it is not a real squat. If you go below 90 you are doing it incorrectly and one could hurt themselves. The only time you want to go below a 90 degree angle is when you are front squatting, but that is a whole different post. Once you finish getting as low as 90 degrees with your legs, you then want to bring yourself up into a standing stance again. You want to then go back to the bar that was holding this weight and set it down. Once this is finished you have then completed a successful squat.