The squat is a basic exercise in bodybuilding which solicits a large number of muscles of the body with mainly the muscles of the thighs and the buttocks. So how to do a squat?
This exercise requires technique but also a good flexibility in particular at the level of the ankles. Even if it is regarded as the "king" exercise of the body-building, it cannot necessarily convert with everyone. Indeed certain morphologies can make the squat dangerous in particular when one has a shift of the pelvis or hernias or discal pinches, it will be then necessary to prefer other exercises and machines which could be quite as effective.
how to perform this exercise?
After adjusting the height of the bar so that it is below shoulder level, stand in front of the squat rack and place yourself under the bar, which should rest on your trapezius muscles, with your hands at shoulder width or slightly wider. The feet should also be spaced wider than shoulder width with the toes pointing slightly outwards, the feet in line with the knees.
Extend your legs, then lift the bar off the rack and move one leg back and then the other to get back to your original position. Bend your knees, keeping your chest straight, and slowly lower yourself down until your thighs are parallel to the ground, keeping your buttocks back as if you were going to sit on a bench. The torso is slightly tilted forward during the descent but should not round off, the heels should remain flat on the ground.
Raise the bar by contracting your gluteal muscles and your quadriceps to the maximum and by tightening your abdominal muscles to keep your balance then without stopping time lower the bar again and so on until the end of your series.
CAUTION: Use a squat cage for safety. Use an empty barbell to learn the technique of the movement and then begin to progressively load the bar as you master the movement. Always ask a partner to belay you, especially when using heavy loads.
Tips
- You should inhale when you bend your legs on the way down and blow out when you go up.
- You can block your breathing slightly when you raise the bar to get more balance.
- Keep your back straight throughout the movement, never round your back.
- Don't a-cut or swing at the bottom of the movement to help you get back up.
- Immediately drop back down to the top of the movement and do not extend your legs in order to keep a continuous tension in your muscles and increase muscle contraction. This does not apply if you are trying to work on strength and increase strength.
Variants
- The quadriceps muscles will be solicited differently depending on the position of the feet and the distance between them. Indeed the interior of the thighs (and also the adductors) will be solicited more by spreading the feet and by directing them towards outside and conversely if the feet are tighter with the feet parallel, that will solicit more the exterior of the thighs (vastus lateralis).
- Other variants of the squat can be used with in particular the squat bar in front of which will request much more the quadriceps but which requires a work of balance more important.
- You can also do a guided barbell squat for more safety but the balance muscles will be much less used.
- When it is not possible to make squat because of certain morphologies or pathologies, one will be able to replace it in particular by the thigh press or the hack squat.
Need to build muscle?
Supplementary article :
