Hey, what's up guys? I'm Scott from Muscularstrength.com and today I'm going to teach you how to perfect your squat form
Are you guys are having a hard time going ass to grass also known as
ATG because you're not you're unsure of how to get proper by placement with or without the pad on the bar and
It's much more than where you're placing the barbell on your back has a lot to do it your foot position as well
And what's gonna determine where your feet should be as you squat
Has to do with whether or not you're doing a high bar or low bar when you're squatting, but also how flexible you are
so we'll
go over a few quick things and after we're done each and every one of you is going to be able
To go to the gym and have a much better squat now
Let's start here with a pad just because this is where most beginners start
first of all
Every beginner thinks they need a pad you don't I can understand for some of you who are a bit more on the skinny side
You might want to use a pad because you haven't really built up any meat back here to hold the barbell yet
But there will always come a time where you need to get rid of this, okay?
Now these pads have been floating around for a while
They're much better than a traditional pad because they have the center piece right here, which is a lot more
It's a lot easier to squish which means you can get this barbell closer to where it should be without it
Now what I see with a lot of people when they get into position
They come in and then they actually end up resting the pad more on their neck
versus across their traps like this and that's mistake number one if you're coming in and you're resting the pad on your neck and
If you're a beginner
You don't know better it feel it actually feels like this is where the bar should be
Because of how the pad is shaped
But what ends up happening when the pads in your neck as you end up going down you actually end up
You know unconsciously pushing the pad into your neck, which now you have all that weight of the barbell
Resting on your neck versus your back which is gonna throw off your squat and make you lean forward and cause problems in the future
now what you actually want to do and come back behind me so I can show
instead of having the bar high like this as soon as you get underneath the bar, pull it down and even as you pull down,
It's gonna actually lock the barbell where it needs to be on the proper part of your shoulder see right here versus here
It's only an inch, but it makes a huge difference
And then once you're pulling it down across your shoulders or cross your traps now
You're in a much better position to squat and stay upright again
If the pads in your neck, it's gonna push you forward if you pull down and hold it here
It keeps you upright and now you're able to squat
but what you want to do is
start getting used to not having to use the pad so my recommendations to those of you who are
Let's say you're doing four sets do the first two sets with the pad
second two sets without the pad get used to not using it now for
High bar squatting we'll go over low bar squatting later or at the end of the video
For high bar squatting this is where you want the bar position you come underneath
Get your back in the center and then you're gonna pull it up right about here
And if you look at my back
it looks like as if there's like almost a shelf there and that shelf is gonna hold this barbell in position as
I go up and down and as that bar stays in position
You'll also notice as I go down that my elbows aren't flying back like this that happens a lot as well
You don't necessarily want to turn sideways
You don't necessarily want to swing your elbows forward like this
But they should be relaxed enough so that as you go down to the bottom
You can move them. The bar should be resting on your back
Not on your hands if you're putting too much pressure into your hands
That's what's causing elbows to go back and even though the bar though might be going across your traps and the shelf
You can still push yourself forward and throw yourself off balance like this
So make sure your hands are in a position where they can be relatively loose and feel comfortable
Right here. Now the last part of the equation is your foot position now
What I like to do, especially if you're at a gym and it's a smith machine
That'll make it a lot easier for you to figure this out, but you can do it without one too
What you're gonna do is put your feet kind of where you think they should be when you squat to be comfortable, right?
once you find that position
you're gonna squat down and then you're gonna go in the bottom position like this and if you start to feel uneasy
Or that you're about to fall over
Kind of go up and down and move your heels around and move your toes around
Until that position feels super comfortable and then return back to the starting position like this
and then look down and memorize this is where your feet needs to be when you squat in order to be comfortable and
then continue to do a
Set of twelve to fifteen repetitions with the light weight to let your body start to remember this, you know
We're building up that mind muscle connection
We're gonna make our body remember what this feels like and I even recommend doing a few warm-up sets like this first
Before going into your working sets just so that when you start lifting the heavy weight
Your body remembers where it needs to be
another thing that holds a lot of people back is
Flexibility in the ankles. So now we've figured out foot position. We figured out barbell position, but we're still having a hard time
Really reaching that depth as we get down to here
Now what happens as we go down our knees go forward our shins track forward like this
So basically what's happening is we're going into dorsiflexion of the ankle
There's plantar flexion
and dorsiflexion a lot of people have a hard time
Flexibility wise is doing this which is what's happening at the bottom of the squat. So if you don't have much flexibility as
You go down
You're not going to be able to go like this
You're gonna get stuck about here
If you get stuck here that's gonna force you to go backwards like that and throw off your squat
So it might be very beneficial to those of you who have a hard time with flexibility
to take some time before and even in between your sets go over to the rack and
Then just kind of help stretch out that area apply pressure forward like this
Hold that stretch for 15 to 20 seconds switch to the other side
fifteen to twenty seconds and
Then even though your flexibility might be really good
Still do it the other way as well
hold that stretch 15 20 seconds and then hold the other side and
The very last thing that might be holding you back from your squatting is actually your shoulder
Flexibility and a lot of people overlook shoulder flexibility, but think about it, right
When you have this barbell going across your back
Your hands are way back here if you stand up right now and try to do this
There's no way
That my hands are in a position where this bar would go across my back if anything would be going across my chest
So we're forcing our hands back further
Then we can move them normally without holding on to a barbell
So if you start to get shoulder pain or if you can't dip your elbow down
It's because your shoulders a wicked tight
And we need to adjust that grab a band and just two set of shoulder breakers guys all the way up all the way down
All the way up all the way down. I actually have a video that's you know, all shoulder mobility exercises
I'll link you guys to that video just in case this isn't enough to loosen you up
Maybe you have some built-up scar tissue and you need a little bit more work, but for the average person
shoulder breakers like this
ten to twelve repetitions
Do your set and then do it in between your sets as the muscles start to warm up
You're gonna feel like a whole new person
So a few quick things before we wrap up this video number one
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So a really quick tip that I almost forgot to put in that's why this clip might look a little out of place
Sorry about that
After you applied all the tips you've learned in this video. The last thing you need to do is make sure
That you're bracing your core as you
Squat, okay and all that means is as soon as you're at the top part of the squat you're in your starting position breathe in
through your nose and
Then flex and tighten up your core and keep your core tight as you go down and as you go up
Most people fail to squat even if they get everything else, correct
Because they do not brace their core and then what ends up happening is the weight of the barbell
causes you to go into spinal flexion and because your core is not tight you bend at the waist and then it throws off the
entire squat so brace that core guys
Now the final thing we need to talk about is your foot position for low bar squatting now low bar squatting is a little different
It's probably a lot harder to use a pad when low bar squatting just because of the bar placement
So, I'm sure most of you are high bar squatting with the pad
but when you low bar squat
Everything changes instead of being here
You're actually getting the bar more across the mid-back like this and your hands are acting as a bit of a shelf
Also, what happens is because the bar is lower you're changing the center of gravity of where the weights gonna be in relation to your lower
Body, so you're actually gonna bend over a lot more
To keep that barbell in line with your hips and then for the majority of you your feet
Your foot position is gonna be a lot wider than if you were to be high bar squatting for me
My foot position is more like this
So almost double the width
And as I go down I push my knees out and I'm sitting in between my legs as I come back to the starting position
so for low bar squatting
Everything else stays the same
Except that your foot position is going to be wider and the bar is a bit lower
So I hope this video helps you guys out
Hope you guys can now go to the gym and do some insane squatting and if it did help you
Take some video of your form and then tag me on Instagram
ScottHerrmanFitness and I'll check it out
And if you're still having a hard time
do the same thing and tag me
I promise you I'll watch the video and I'll do my best to give some tips to help you perfect your squat
You guys enjoyed the video be sure to smash that like button and as always more good stuff coming soon
See you guys. Did you guys enjoy that video? Well, I actually have another really great video on
Deadlifts that if you haven't seen it yet
All you do is click the link over here, or you can download my app muscular strength link below
Go to the article section and type in deadlift and you not only get the video but a ton of amazing
Photos to really help you understand and grasp the concepts that I'm trying to teach in my video