How and Why to Do Barbell Squats
Squats are one of the best leg exercises, and almost everyone who lifts heavy weights regularly squats in one form or another. But you may have heard that squats are bad for your knees or that you need to do squats in a certain way to avoid injury. Let’s go into the details so you know what advice to follow and be sure you’re doing the squat correctly.
What muscles do squats work?
Technically, you already squat every day.
Every time you get up from a seated position, you squat effectively. You can probably feel how your quads – the muscles in the front of your thighs – bear the brunt of the work. The gluteus muscles – aka the muscles of the buttocks – help extend the hips while the quads extend the knees. In addition to several other muscles in your legs and hips, back squats target your core and back muscles, helping to improve your posture.
Benefits of squats
While strong legs look great in shorts and help us do our daily routines with ease, you’ll appreciate them even more in later years, as noted by Greg Knuckles , writer and strength coach. We sat down with him to talk about squats, and he notes:
Especially strong legs and hips are critical for healthy aging. You can live on your own longer, go about your daily activities without much stress, and muscle and strength are strong predictors of longevity.
We all know that it becomes more difficult to get out of a chair, toilet, or bed as we age, but it’s never too late to start reaping the benefits of building lower body strength or strength training in general . A relatively recent study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning found that heavy (supervised) squats can help postmenopausal women with osteopenia or osteoporosis improve bone mineral density in the spine and neck, and increase bone strength.
Are knee squats safe?
If someone tells you to avoid squats because “it’s bad for your knees,” that person probably doesn’t know (sorry for the pun) about squats.
Don’t take my word for it: Areview article in Sports Medicine determined that squatting loads of varying depths, even very low ones, do not reach the point where they can harm the ligaments in your knees (they are so strong after all). In fact, the authors have noticed that the more you squat (with good form), the more your cartilage tissue can adapt and strengthen to support the weight, just like your muscles. A word of caution: If you’ve already had knee problems, squatting can exacerbate your injury.
Otherwise, if you have good form and healthy knees, squats can make your knees stronger and more resistant to injury, as evidenced by a studypublished in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise .
So, squats themselves don’t hurt your knees; the way you squat is likely to hurt your knees.
How to squat correctly
When doing back squats, the weight should be concentrated over your foot and stay in that position while your hips and knees bend. If you feel pressure mostly in the forefoot or mostly in your heels, you probably don’t have a bar on your most effective up and down path.
You may have heard the advice that the knees should not protrude from the toes, but this is no longer the unanimous opinion of coaches. Nuckols explains why:
Usually people do not pay attention to how far forward their knees are going; they tend to balance the squatting forces fairly evenly between the knees and hips. However, when you tell people not to let their knees move forward, or if you artificially restrict forward movement of the knees, most of the load is transferred to the back and hips, away from the quads, making this movement less balanced. for the general development of the lower body.
Most of the knees should touch the first or second toe. If they track the hue further in or out, it’s not the end of the world, but excessive knee valgus [knee deflection] should be avoided, especially if accompanied by pain.
Here’s an example of a good squat technique :
Basically, all great back squats have a few things in common: they push your hips back as if you were sitting in a chair; They keep the chest up and facing forward to prevent the spine from bending (otherwise you increase the risk of intervertebral disc injuries); and the knees do not bend inward .
A good signal is to move your knees out to the sides during the downward portion of the movement (although a slight upward movement inward, as shown here , is usually okay, as long as it doesn’t hurt, says Knuckles). Keep your feet, especially your heels, on the ground and keep your core tense ( here’s a video to teach you how to “strengthen ” your core muscles) throughout the exercise.
Where to start if you’ve never squatted with a barbell
The aforementioned video from YouTuber Omar Isuf is helpful for getting familiar with squatting techniques, but you may not add any weight until you learn how to do bodyweight squats. “I believe everyone should be able to comfortably hold a deep bodyweight squat,” says Cody Lefever , professional powerlifter and the person behind the popular training structure called GZCL .
After all, bodyweight squats are a fantastic starting point for training your nervous system to learn to follow the squat pattern and get used to the movements. Keep in mind, however, that a beautiful bodyweight squat does not mean that you can automatically reproduce the ideal form when there is a lot of weight on your back. This also takes practice.
In addition, Lefever offers:
Train this movement [squat] with goblet squats and work on mobility and strength by working on one leg. Things like back lunges and Bulgarian split squats are great as they also affect balance and coordination.
People often find it difficult to keep their balance, but after a few weeks of working on goblet squats and supine lunges, they usually get better. If you’re uncomfortable reaching depth with just the bar, focus on your warm-up routine.
On the other hand, if traditional back squats are painful or uncomfortable for you, there are several squat options that can be just as effective for leg building, such asfront squats, gobletsquats, and lunges. This article in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that chest squats are just as effective at targeting target muscle groups as back squats, although keep in mind that chest squats have their own learning curve.
Either way, you will need to put in the time and effort to make these squatting exercises easier.
Are Deep Squats Safe?
There is a lot of debate on the Internet about how deep to squat, but the bottom line is that deep squats (or the butt-to-the-grass squat, as some fondly call it) are not for everyone. We’ve got a guide to answer the question of how deep you should squat based on your gym goals.
Deep oblique squats have several other clear benefits. The deeper you squat, the more efficiently you work the muscles involved and the more strength increases, as thisstudy from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Researchexplains . And as we noted earlier from theknee analysis study , deeper squats also do not increase the risk of knee injury.
But just because deeper squats are safe and clearly more effective for building leg strength, not everyone can (or should) squat against the grass. Whether you do this or not will depend a lot on your injury history, how your body is built, and your training goals, as different squats can work for different things. For example, partial squats (dropping slightly) can be good for gaining some serious strength with the jump, or for helping more advanced lifters work through tricky squats. “The only people who need to squat [very] deep with weights are Olympic-level weightlifters,” says Lefever.
If you want to squat deeper, the good news is that you can learn to do this with practice. One way is the goblet squat , which makes it easier for most people to “get to depth” because the weight is in the front of the body and changes mechanics slightly. Once you’re comfortable with them, you can move on to the morechallenging chest squats . “By prioritizing range of motion and lift control over bar loading until [they] master the movement, most people can squat deep if they are willing to put in the time and effort,” Knuckols said.
How to Ensure Great Squat Workout
To be able to do squats comfortably and effectively, you first need decent flexibility in your hips, ankles, and upper back to help you get into a squat position with a barbell on your back (or in front of you if you’re squatting on your chest). Other than that, there are some other important tips to keep in mind:
- Squat first: You want to avoid squatting fatigue or you may increase your risk of injury and / or get an unproductive squat workout. If your day workout requires heavy squats, you should probably do them first. The only athletes who regularly break this trend are Olympic-style weightlifters who practice competitive exercises while still fresh and then squat.
- Always be careful: If you squat alone, make sure you can jump out of a bad lift when you need to . One way to help you do this is to set the safety bars (adjustable bars that run perpendicular to the boom on either side of you) at a suitable height, just above the lowest point of the boom. So, if you’re having trouble moving backwards, you can tilt your back slightly and roll the barbell onto the safety bars instead. (Inthis video, Omar Isuf will teach yousome “salvation” techniques. )
- Reinforce the body: The sturdy body helps you stay stable and lift more weight safely. While some people claim that squats are great core exercises,they are not enough. Basic exercises such ascaninedogs ,pall presses, orpot stirring should be done separately and in addition to squats.
- Keep your torso tense: Before starting the squat, make sure your torso or core is engaged. “When I squat, I just think about strengthening my abs and trunk as much as possible,” Lefever said. This is where a weightlifting belt can be useful to create abdominal pressure for your core to “push” into heavy squats, to protect your spine, and so you can lift a little more weight. There is no evidence that wearing a belt weakens your core. For more information, Nuckols has agreat article on this.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together: Imagine squeezing your shoulder blades together to keep your upper back and traps stable. This helps keep the elbows down and towards the buttocks, rather than just pointing them back.
- Avoid Foam: Some people like to have a foam pad between the bar and their traps, but the pad prevents you from properly positioning the bar in the place where you feel most comfortable.
- Focus on moving fast: speed is essential. It keeps your movements smooth and helps to overcome problem points. If you find yourself struggling, keep your chest high and pretend you are ruthlessly driving over your heels and pushing traps into the bar.
- Adjust your grip: Most people would love to keep the bar wider, but feel free to play around a bit. It is much more important to keep your wrists in a neutral position.
- Try shoes for heavy athletics: Shoes for weightlifting provides foot and ankle stability during sit-ups, and also helps to squat deeper because of the raised heel. Shoes are an expensive investment, though, so make sure you really enjoy squatting a lot.
- There is no single way to back squat; we will all squat differently because of the way each of our bodies works. These differences in anatomy will mean that a comfortable and safe squat may look different to you than it does to me, including how deep you squat, how wide your stance is, where your arms are, or how far you lean forward.
Like the deadlift, squats are very technical and highly personalized. Of course, the most important thing to remember is avoiding a heavy load that you cannot handle. And don’t worry if you can’t squat to a certain depth – just stay mobile and keep working on it. It took me a long time to get used to the squats and I finally shattered 200 (90 kg) myself after almost a year!
This post was originally published in February 2016 and was updated on June 11, 2021 by Beth Squarecki to update the links and information to bring them in line with the current Lifehacker style.