Top Ten Squat Tips

By Chris “Ox” Mason

For www.EliteFTS.com

When unracking the bar, make sure that your head is up, your chest is up and your stomach is filled with air. Too many times lifters start screaming and grunting and lose I.A.P. This will make you lose tightness in the squat and start you off on the wrong track. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be intense, just learn how to channel it correctly.

Try to touch elbows together behind your back during the squat and especially when putting the bar on your back. This keeps your "shelf" tight and creates a large amount of space to put the bar on. Also, keep your elbows close to your body; don’t let them come up. This will cause you to fall forward.

Find a lower bar position. This will give the weight less leverage on you, and you more leverage on the weight. This doesn’t mean that you have to automatically become a low bar squatter, but try to find a slightly lower bar position if you are not already doing so. This will take some time to get used to, so don’t expect to feel comfortable right away.

Sit back as far as you can before you bend your knees. We have all heard the term “sit back” when squatting but it is especially important to start to sit back at the beginning of the squat. This will ensure that you start the lift correctly. The first motion of a good squat is pushing the hips/glutes to the rear, not bending the knees first. This will require that you have strong hips, strong hamstrings and a very strong low back. Remember that if you begin wrong, you will end wrong. If you begin correctly, you give yourself a better chance at ending correctly. Get started on the correct path at the beginning of the lift.

You must squat with and without a box. Rotate every 2-3 weeks. I squat with a dip and I can’t train that aspect with the box. This ensures that I improve my squat form and am still comfortable at a meet. But the box makes me work harder and makes me stronger. I believe that you need to practice your full squat form without a box.

Do your good mornings, helps with #4.

Train your abs, but don’t train them like a bodybuilder or a “regular” fitness enthusiast. You must train them heavy with sets of 6, 5 or even triples. You must gradually work up to this or you will tear something.

Rotate in a raw cycle. Don’t wear briefs or a belt and do this with and without the box. You will find out how much you rely on your gear. I do this for the 4 weeks prior to a 12 week meet cycle.

When coming out of the hole, the head moves first, up and slightly back. The body follows the head, if the hip/butt comes up first, the head goes forward, then so does you and the weight.

Make sure that you video your workouts and critique your form as if you were looking at someone else, then make necessary adjustments. Be honest with your training partners. If the squat was high, tell them. Then they will feel comfortable telling you the same. While some of your training partners are friends, you must be comfortable enough to give and get criticism.

Copyright© 2005 Elite Fitness Systems. All rights reserved. 
You may reproduce this article by including this copyright  
and, if reproducing it electronically, including a link to  
www.Elitefts.com.