How to Improve Your Squat Technique
Learn how to optimize your squat mechanics to prevent injuries
Is there really a “right” way to squat? It’s a complicated question, but the answer is yes! The squat is a complicated, multi joint, compound exercise that strengthens your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core musculature. Below we’ll discuss how to improve your squat technique - more specifically, the details of how to set up for a proper high bar back squat. I will also discuss common patterns that you want to avoid during the down phase and the up phase of the movement pattern.
Lat Engagement:
The latissimus dorsi muscle starts at the shoulder, but spans across the back like a wing! It plays a major role in increasing thoracolumbar fascia stiffness, providing stability to the lower back when squatting.
How to Engage the Lats?:
Think about bending the bar and pressing it into your upper traps. You also want to think about pulling your elbows down and in towards the midline of your body. It can’t happen because the bar is there, BUT it will light up the lats.
Transversus Abdominis Engagement: the TRA is a deep muscle that wraps around from the back to the front of your body. Think of it as your own internal weight lifting belt. This muscle improves spinal stiffness, increases intersegmental stability and prevents the joint of the spine from shearing forces. It is a crucial component of preventing butt winking and low back injuries. The TrA should be engaged throughout the movement pattern, although many times people lose that contraction during the transitional phase between down and up phases of the squat.
How to Engage the TrA?:
My favorite cue is to tell my patients to gently allow the horizontal fibers of that muscle come in towards the umbilicus, allowing the muscles to spill into the umbilicus as if it were a black hole. Then think about everything being gently pulled in back towards your spine. I typically practice this with people on their back or on hands and knees before we think about it while standing. It is very important to remember that you DO NOT want to hold your breath while performing this activity. All that will do is increase your blood pressure, intraabdominal pressure, and potentially lead to syncope (passing out).
Sit Down AND Back:
the cue I hear most providers give is “sit back.” When performing a high bar back squat, you need to sit down AND back. This will allow your knees the freedom to come forward and will allow you to keep a fairly upright torso. That will ensure that the trajectory of the barbell is fairly vertical throughout the movement pattern. This does require a or of hip flexion and external rotation as you sit down and back. I will be publishing a future blog and video content on how to improve those ranges of motion to optimize your squat depth.
Keep Your Knees Facing Forward:
As you come down in the squat, your knees will want to drive in towards one another. Drive your knees out, keeping them over the middle of your foot (I like to have my patients aim for the 2nd toe as the alignment between the knee and the foot). On the up phase, it can be normal to see SOME adduction (knees falling in). This is because a powerful muscle called the adductor magnus kicks in. It is primarily a hip adductor, but also assists with hip extension. Of course, when coming up from a squat, we need to powerfully extend our hips! So… the adductor magnus kicks in, producing a little bit of adduction. Just be sure to get back to the proper alignment on your way up after that initial adduction.
Push Through the Tripod:
Many people think that gripping the floor with your toes is an effective way to be stable and produce force when coming up from the squat. The problem with that is it actually causes your foot to be unstable. You may feel yourself trying to balance on different parts of your foot when doing that. What you want to do to produce maximal force is to feel the ground with the tripod of your foot (1st metatarsal, 5th metatarsal, center of the heel). Then push forcefully, straight down into the ground. This will ensure optimal recruitment of the motor units that allow for hip and knee extension (recruiting the quads, glutes and hamstrings).
What happens if you don’t push through the tripod?
If more of your weight is on the heel of your foot, you may experience that your knees extend and your buttock rises, but that you are still bent over and your back isn’t coming up at the same rate. This increases the risk of a lower back injury. Getting optimal gluteal recruitment means pushing through the tripod. Pushing through the heel recruits the hamstring, but prevents the glute from kicking in. You can try performing a single leg bridge through your tripod versus through your heel to prove this to yourself. You should feel it a lot more in your glute when pushing through the tripod and A LOT more (even to the level of cramping) in your hamstring when performing it through the heel.
I hope this content was helpful to you and it guides you as you work on your squat goals. If you or anybody you know needs help with their technique because they were injured, are having pain with different movement patterns, or want to optimize their results, feel free to reach out. I would be happy to provide you with a phone consultation to determine if I am the right provider to serve your needs.
Disclaimer: This is not intended to be formal medical advice. Your individual needs should be met by the appropriate health care practitioners. Please consult with a trusted provider.
Dr. Paul Nasri, PT, DPT, OCS, COMT
Doctor of Physical Therapy
The Game Plan Physical Therapy
