The Science of Squatting

While it was deadlift day today and a damn good session at that I had occasion to watch some pretty awful squat form in between sets.

I have mentioned before that I despair at the dearth of heavy squatting and dead-lifting in the gym that I train at. Rarely does anyone put more that two wheels a side on a squat and on the rare occasion that someone does the form and lack of depth is frightening. Take tonight for example. Young kid training squat, now I know for a fact he is on a low level of gear (amongst other things has a massive water bloat and acne on the shoulders that could be mistaken for braille)and has pretty decent genetics. Despite natural and augmented assistance he worked up to four plates a side and wobbled out some really nasty narrow stance, quad dominant, round back 1/8th depth sets.

Ok I know I shouldn't be too hard on this kid. His poor squat execution is borne from an absence of good instruction. Apart from decent hardcore and power lifting gyms it's rare to find gym staff versed in the correct execution of the key lifts such as squat deadlift and bench.

There are many great sources of information on the net and in print that assist with technique fundamentals. I would always recommend Mark Rippetoe's seminal work "Starting Strength" along with videos on his website. In addition the EliteFTS site is packed with great instruction from some of Americas top powerlifters. I recently revisited a great squat video series on this site by Matt Wenning. Matt knows what he is talking about having totaled over 2600 lbs in a professional competition, holds an all-time world record of 2665 lbs in the 308-lb class, and bench press over 800 lbs in a full powerlifting meet.

There are 5 videos in the series, the premise being Matt taking an average athlete and providing a master class in improving his squat.

It's a great instructional series and fantastic to see Matt decompose the technique of his subject and identify clear adjustments to turn around his form.

Here is the first video:


I recommend getting over to the site and watching the full series but a few key take aways for me were:

Form and set up is everything. Matt's key points included:

1. Set bar on back
2. Head up
3. Lock upper back
4. Lock abs and tailbone (nice lordotic curve)
5. Push knees out at the top and on the decent
6. Keep lateral pressure on feet (outside edge towards mid foot and rear)
7. Partial squat to unrack
8. Then 2 inch step back then another
9. First motion sit back knees out to sides
10. Key keep head up don’t look in a mirror get used to relying on your Proprioception (sense of your self and relative positioning)

Here is the link to EliteFTS and the video series: http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/articles/powerlifting-articles/so-you-think-you-can-squat-part-1-and-2/

One thing apparent from this series and something I have come to appreciate over the last 4 years is the need for a critical regular appraisal on form. Now as I mentioned before you may not have access to a Mark Rippetoe or Matt Wenning but given today'technology there is no excuse not to video your technique and review offline. Also there are plenty of coaches that are happy to receive your video and provide some online coaching just make sure you pick your coach correctly.

Thankfully Sunday is squat day and I will be definitely doing a form check and putting Matt's great instruction to good use.

Stay Strong!
Thomo