Hey, everybody!
The squat is a major focus of working the lower body and it has the most functional
movement patterns.
But there are some checkpoints, so let me show them to you.
So many people overlook the most important checkpoints when it comes to squatting.
Let’s just briefly, in our head, think about what really goes into a squat.
We know that the elbows are tucked in, the head is going to be up, our chest is out,
our feet are aligned, our toes are going to be slightly pointed out, and our knees are
going to go out as we go down.
That’s how that’s going to look here.
Okay, that feels about right.
So even when you’re doing all those checkpoints right there are still some things that could
be going dramatically wrong.
I want you guys to find a stick.
You can use a dowel.
I literally found this outside the house.
Hopefully there aren’t bugs crawling on it.
We’re going to do some different checkpoints with this.
The first one, we’re going to put the stick on the ground.
To squat properly you should be square.
Feet are square, toes should be slightly pointed out.
Even though they’re pointed out, they’re still squared off with the stick.
When we go down, once again, we want to make sure that the knees are going to go out.
Our head is going to be up, our chest is out, glutes are engaged; all of that is happening.
So that feels about right.
My feet are still squared off.
So, this may feel like you’re doing everything right, but there’s still a major problem.
So, what I’m going to do now is, I’m going to take the stick and put it right at hip
level.
Once I have this at my hips, this should really be square with my feet and my head.
Those are the three checkpoints.
But if I happen to slightly rotate my hips but keep my head and chest and feet – all
of that feels right, expect something isn’t right here.
So, we’re all asymmetrical people.
We develop imbalances and it’s really a common problem.
But we may not even know we’re doing it.
If I took this out of the picture, I probably wouldn’t even feel that my hips were rotating
open.
If it’s my normal stance, how would I recognize that’s what was happening?
So I’m going to take this, I’m going to rotate my hips, but I’m going to try to
keep everything else straight.
This might be a little overexaggerated, but that’s okay.
We just want to see what’s happening here.
To show you what’s really going on.
So, my hips are opening up.
Now, if I’m going to go down into a normal squat, this is what’s going to happen.
My head is forward, my feet are still squared off, my hips have turned and rotated.
So now I’m going to go down, like I should be squatting, and what’s happening here?
Look at that right knee.
So, we’ve got some major valgus of the knee happening, or knee collapse here.
That’s going to be an issue in the future.
Repeated over time, that’s going to cause some damage.
So, what we want to do is make sure we’re squared at all three of these checkpoints
that I was mentioning earlier.
So, a way we can check and make sure our hips aren’t somehow opening, or rotating due
to some kind of muscle imbalance, maybe the way our body is built; the best thing you
can do is take the same stick and tighten your glutes at the top.
Actually, you don’t even have to have this stick.
You can get rid of that for right now.
So, when you’re getting in your stance, or your squat, you’re going to think about
totally tightening your glutes.
We’re going to tighten those up.
I’m going to bring this back in just to make a point.
So, we’re going to tighten those glutes because, what’s that going to do?
It’s going to make everything square off.
So now I really feel like I’m squared off because my glutes are making sure my hips
are straight.
So, before every rep I’m going to think about how I’m going to tighten those glutes
because I know that’s going to make everything square off.
Otherwise, if I’m just going into my normal squat and thinking that everything is just
relaxed, guess what’s going to happen?
That’s going to happen without me even realizing it because the glutes are totally related.
It’s going back in its comfortable position.
Then we go down, and what’s happening?
I don’t realize – that’s my normal squat stance, so I don’t really think about it
until I have knee problems.
And my hip is starting to feel weird.
Why am I starting to have ankle problems?
It’s just going to be injury, after injury going to different parts of your body.
The other thing is, once you’ve completed your squat, once that squat is complete, feet
are squared off, my glutes are tight, making sure my hips are straight.
My head is straight and I’m going down into my squat.
Then I want to make sure I’m fully extending at the top.
A lot of times you’ll see people go here.
It’s like a mindless – you really want to fully extend those hips at the top.
Tighten up.
That’s where you can – once you’ve finished here, down, tighten those glutes at the top.
Really press them in.
That’s what will keep your hips squared off.
And really quickly, another issue you can have, which you may have noticed with me,
my heels want to come off the ground because I don’t have the ankle flexibility, or mobility
in my ankles.
I have some injuries there.
So that makes it tough for me to go into a full squat, keeping all these checkpoints
when I’m really struggling because of my ankles.
It wants to throw me forward.
It’s disengaging the glutes.
It’s making even more of a mess of my squat.
So, what I do is a lot of ankle mobility exercises, but I also slightly elevate my heels.
That will allow me to get into a deeper squat and keep everything more in proper alignment.
So, for me, that’s another checkpoint; what’s happening with my ankles.
Okay, you guys.
I hope these tips were helpful.
Remember those three checkpoints.
Are my feet squared off?
Are my hips squared off?
Is it squared off with my head?
How is everything going?
These are really critical.
This is going to save you any future injuries and it’s going to make your squats so much
more effective for your workout.
Thanks for joining me.
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