The Best Squat You’re Not Doing

Here’s what you need to know… Landmine squats are the solution for lifters who can’t squat correctly because of joint pain or mobility problems. For novice lifters, landmine squats teach proper squat form. For veteran lifters, they’re gentler on joints so you can augment your heavy back squats with landmine squats without repercussion. The arc of the bar travels back as you squat down, so you have no choice but to sit back and stay upright. Doing so builds and strengthens the quads. The Problem With Squats Squats are hyped-up as the king of leg exercises, but that only applies to a very small percentage of lifters: ones who actually squat well and ones who aren’t injured. Most lifters actually suck at back squats, at least initially. Mobility restrictions or their own anthropometry makes it tough to squat with an upright torso. As a result, the movement ends up looking like an ugly good-morning-squat hybrid. Even those with good form find back squats to be problematic when they have lower back, knee, or shoulder issues. Front squats are an option, but many find it tough to hold the bar, and it takes a lot of practice to get the hang of it. Learning to squat correctly is worth the effort, but trying to add heavy loads to an exercise you can’t do well is asking for trouble. The Landmine Squat Solution Landmine squats teach the squat pattern, so they’re an excellent way to work towards being able to do back squats and front squats. They’re also a great alternative for those who can’t perform regular squats because of injury. Start with one end of the bar in a landmine unit, or if you don’t have a landmine, just put one end of the bar in a corner using a towel to pad the bar so you don’t scratch the wall. If your gym has 45-pound plates with holes in them, you can also put a plate flat against a wall and put one end of the bar in one of the holes. From there, hold the other end of the bar against your chest and squat down and try to touch your elbows to the tops of your thighs or just inside your knees, depending on the width of your stance. It’s important to set up with the bar against your chest instead of away from your body so that you maintain an upright torso and don’t have to rely solely on your arms to hold the weight. The Goblet Squat Comparison Compare the landmine squat to the goblet squat. They’re similar to goblet squats in that they’re anteriorly loaded, but they’re better for teaching a good squatting pattern because the bar moves in a slight arc. Take advantage of that arc to help reinforce the pattern of sitting back into the squat and maintaining an upright torso – two things people struggle with most when it comes to squatting well. Since the arc of the bar travels back as you come down, you have no choice but to sit back, and you’re also forced to stay upright lest the bar jam into your sternum. Notice that the landmine squat allows the lifter to stay much more upright with far less forward knee travel, making it more joint-friendly for the knees and lower back while still crushing the quads. The landmine squat also allows for far greater loading than goblet squats, meaning it’s not just a teaching tool but a viable way to build strength and muscle if you load it up. Landmine Box Squats Here’s what a landmine box squat looks like as demonstrated by UFC athlete Brendan Schaub. It can also be helpful to perform landmine squats to a box or low bench that serves as a depth gauge. A box or bench will also act as a reminder to sit back into the squat, which is especially useful for folks who tend to come too far forward rather than just sitting back and engaging the hips. Just make sure to set up close to the box so that your calves are just in front of it or even lightly touching it. When and How to Use Them Combined with a heavy dose of mobility work, they’re a perfect gateway to regular squats and front squats to groove the pattern. For lifters looking to increase the volume of their lower body training, try landmine squats as an adjunct to regular squats since they’re a lot easier on the joints. Most people can’t tolerate doing heavy squats more than 1-2 times a week, but you could augment traditional squats with 1-2 days of landmine squats to train the squat pattern and work the quads without beating up the lower back and knees. For lifters who can’t do traditional squats because of injuries, landmine squats are a good alternative. Before you scoff at the idea, try doing them heavy and see what I mean. Landmine squats are a great option for taller guys who struggle to stay upright and have trouble targeting the quads with traditional squats. Doing 10-20 after you’ve completed your heavier leg work will blast your quads into
Origin: The Best Squat You’re Not Doing

Tip: Spot the Squat Like a Pro

Spotters are often needed during the back squat because many lifters just don’t have experience dumping the bar. Squatting down with a heavy weight and realizing you don’t have the strength to stand back up can be a frightening and potentially dangerous situation, especially if you don’t have safety racks ready. Good Communication First Make sure you ask how many reps the lifter is going for so you’re ready to assist when needed. Make sure you communicate that you’ll be standing close and will under-hook their arms and help them stand back up if needed. This is especially important to mention if you’re a male spotting a female. The Do’s of Spotting the Squat Do make sure you’re standing very close to the person you’re spotting. Although this looks awkward, you need to be there should you see the person start to fail. Do use a double-under hook under the arms to keep the lifter’s chest upright should he start to fail. Do maintain a strong flat back and use your hips to help the lifter back to a standing position. There’s no way you’re going to pull the lifter back up with your biceps alone. Do offer assistance when the bar comes to a complete stop and the lifter starts to drop back down. Make sure you’re using just enough assistance to get them past the sticking point. The Don’ts of Spotting the Squat Don’t have your junk against the lifters butt for the entire duration of the set. You should be close, but this shouldn’t look like you’re grinding at the club. Don’t try to grab the bar when offering assistance. If the person you’re spotting is lifting an appreciable amount of weight this isn’t a good way to help him if he begins to struggle. Don’t assist before you’re needed. That’s annoying and ruins the set. Don’t stand so far back that you won’t be able to offer
Origin: Tip: Spot the Squat Like a Pro

The Squat: 10 Damn Good Tips

The Question What’s your best squat tip? Bronwen Blunt – Nutrition and Strength Coach Do heavy squat stand-ups. Warm up to about 90% of your max but don’t squat this weight. Unrack it and hold it for 10 seconds then put it back down. Continue to add 5-10% for each set and up to 20% over your 1RM. Be conservative if it’s your first time trying this. This is a way to overload your squats, which will allow your body to recognize and adapt to heavier weights beyond your current capabilities. It stimulates your nervous system and makes you feel more comfortable with heavy weight on your back. Once you become more comfortable with these overloads, your current 1RM is going to feel a lot less taxing. Pay attention to your setup to maintain stability during the movement. Proper breathing and bracing is extremely important to avoid injury. Most people neglect the importance of proper breathing while unracking the bar. It’s a problem that can get you out of position and make or break your squat. – Bronwen Blunt Jake Tuura – Strength and Conditioning Coach Jump first, then squat. For years we’ve known about the benefits of something called “post-activation potentiation.” Get warmed up, then do a heavy, low-volume squat or deadlift. Afterward, do a jump or sprint. What happens? Explosive jumping and sprinting performance increases after the heavy lift. Put another way, loading muscles with high resistance acutely improves explosive muscle action. Heavy helps explosive. But we never look at it the other way. Will explosive help heavy? Research by Masamoto et al. tested this out. They tested the 1RM of several athletes: sometimes they did tuck jumps and drop jumps first; other times they just performed their usual warm-ups first. The result? When they jumped before squatting heavy, they lifted more weight. Next time you’re getting ready for a heavy squat workout, do a few jumps before training. Not only will it develop explosive ability, but it can significantly add poundage to your squat. Joel Seedman, PhD – Strength and Performance Expert Do eccentric isometrics – lower slowly and pause at the bottom. Visually, the squat pattern is simple. However, neuromuscularly and biomechanically it’s actually very complex. It requires a number of precisely executed components to lock the movement in. Some of these include: Set the hips back without bending over. Spread the knees apart but not excessively. Keep a neutral spine while maintaining a very slight natural curvature of the back. Squat somewhere between 90 degrees and parallel (don’t collapse or go ATG). Pull yourself into the bottom position rather than allowing gravity to push you down. Brace the core and tense your abs. Keep the chest out without hyperextending the back. Screw the feet into the floor by pushing slightly more to the outside of the feet. Keep the feet relatively straight and aligned with the each other. Pull the bar into your back by activating your lats. Keep the head neutral (don’t look up but don’t let the head drop). Maintain maximal full body tension each and every rep. Move in a perfectly vertical fashion without shifting horizontally. Load each leg as symmetrically as possible without favoring one side. And this list doesn’t cover everything. So how the heck do you actually learn to squat without going through an exhaustive myriad of endless cues? The answer lies in performing eccentric isometrics. Now I’m not talking about simply collapsing down into the bottom of a squat, then pausing for a few seconds while you hang out on your tendons and ligaments. That’s a bastardized version of an eccentric isometric squat, and it won’t do anything to improve your squat mechanics… not to mention strength or muscular development. Instead, squat with painstaking attention to sensory signals and proprioceptive feedback using Jedi-like focus and intensity. Lower slowly under control, stay tight, then pause in the naturally stretched position while attending to as much somatosensory feedback as possible. Why does it work? Your own body can provide all of the necessary feedback, coaching, and cuing you need. You simply have to learn how to listen to the sensory feedback coming from your proprioceptive mechanisms and you’ll immediately begin to use the “sense of feel” to make subtle adjustments and fine-tune your movement. The best way to do this is through properly executed eccentric isometrics. This also means learning to sense where the natural stopping point and optimal range of motion is, which happens to be somewhere between 90 degrees and parallel. And just in case you were wondering, no, your body is not an exception to the rule. A proper squat including optimal range of motion and ideal joint angles will look almost identical from human to human if it’s performed correctly, regardless of individual anthropometrics. – Joel Seedman, PhD Lee Boyce – Strength Coach and Performance Expert There are two that I recommend. 1 – Squat the bar
Origin: The Squat: 10 Damn Good Tips