To a trainer, the squat is our bread-and-butter.
I’ve always believed that if a trainer doesn’t know how to squat or teach the right way to squat, he doesn’t know how to train. Why? Because it’s the most basic thing. It’s like a chef that can’t make eggs. Or a writer who switches “you’re” with “your.”
Yet I was fucking it up for years. And fucking myself and my clients in the process. (Which isn’t an easy thing to say.)
In the past, I cued the squat like this:
“Feet about shoulder-width apart.”
“Toes slightly out.”
“Chest up.”
“Sit back.”
“Keep your lower back arched.”
“Spread the ground.”
“Open your knees.”
Etc.
Sounds good, right? Well, except for one: keeping your lower back arched. When I or my clients started rounding their back in the squat, I asked them to arch and arch harder. In other words, once I saw their backs round, I told them to do the opposite. And on the surface, it made sense until I discovered there something different at play.
It’s not about arching your back. It’s about setting your pelvis and ribcage and maintaining that as you squat.
For those that have no idea what I’m talking about, try this simple exercise: take a deep breath from your belly and exhale as hard as you can. You’ll feel your ribcage come down and your pelvis go up as if your body did a mini-crunch. Now, hold that position as you squat.
It was incredible: I never felt my core work so hard during a squat before. Nor my quads scream at me while doing front squats. I wasn’t working so hard with my lower back, and suddenly, my low back pain disappeared.
It was great, but saddening at the same time. Because I’ve been teaching countless clients the wrong way for so long. Who knows what damage I was doing?
And I guess that’s the real message here: you’re never too “good” or “experienced” to stop learning. (Not that I was any of those things.) We need to constantly explore and challenge what we know to become better and share that with others. For me, I attended seminars and summits, watched DVDs, listened to podcasts, and read dozens of books and still didn’t discover this until a few months ago.
I wonder what else I’m missing…
That’s interesting (and good to know). How do you go about keeping that position when doing an actual squat.Simply start with that breathe out “tightness” from the top and try to hold it all the way through the rep?
Yes, that’s exactly right. Just a recap: before you squat, take a deep breath that fills your belly (not your chest) with air, then exhale as hard as you can to set your ribcage and pelvis. As you lower yourself, try to keep your pelvis in that same position. You should feel like your torso is way more upright as a result.
Thanks for the comment, Sunil.