The squat is king in the weight-room.
It doesn't care whether you're a girl or a guy.
It doesn't care whether you think you're old or young.
All it wants to do is build insane amounts of muscle that will help you in your pursuit of health.
But, if you don't have proper form, like any exercise, you will get hurt.
So lets get the form down, and then you can start building some serious muscle.
Proper Way to Squat: Position the bar across the top of the posterior deltoids.
Your wrists should be as straight as possible, with elbows up, and hands should be around the bar just outside of the shoulder.
Your feet should be shoulder width apart, pointing out somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees.
Keep the toes slightly up so the weight is on your heels.
You're almost there.
Keep your chest up, butt slightly out, and eyes a few feet in-front of you.
DO NOT LOOK UP.
This totally screws the form of the squat up, and puts you at risk for a cervical injury.
Your back should be arched, which will help with the chest up factor.
DO NOT ROUND YOUR BACK.
You're going to start lowering yourself; tighten the abdomen, keep all the form in correct order, remember eyes straight, toes slightly up, chest up, back arched, and DO NOT BEND OVER TOO MUCH.
This is a FULL SQUAT.
What that means is where your legs attach to your hips will drop just below the top of the knees.
If this isn't happening, you're increasing your risk for injury.
Make sure your knees are following your toes, meaning the knees should be in the same pathway as the toes, not bending in or out.
So now you're in the bottom position of the squat.
Almost done! You're going to DRIVE UP WITH THE HIPS! This is the where the power comes from.
Strength expert Mark Rippetoe has a tip for this drive, which is to imagine someone is pushing on the lower part of your spine, and you're going to push that hand up with the hip drive.
For more information, check out his book, "Starting Strength".
As usual, don't be stupid.
That means don't load the bar up to impress people.
Blowing a knee, breaking a bone, tearing a muscle, any injury actually, doesn't impress people.
It sucks.
It sucks a lot.
Because any injury will likely take you out of the weight room for weeks, or restrict you heavily in what you can do.
Just be smart and do it right.
So that is a full HEALTHY squat.
I'd recommend you start without a bar, and just do air squats until you get the form down.
Then move up to the bar, and then onto adding weight.
You do this and you will be building muscle in no time.
Muscles worked: quadriceps, hamstrings, core musculature, calves, gluts, also depends on variation of squat Key message today is: FORM IS EVERYTHING.
It doesn't care whether you're a girl or a guy.
It doesn't care whether you think you're old or young.
All it wants to do is build insane amounts of muscle that will help you in your pursuit of health.
But, if you don't have proper form, like any exercise, you will get hurt.
So lets get the form down, and then you can start building some serious muscle.
Proper Way to Squat: Position the bar across the top of the posterior deltoids.
Your wrists should be as straight as possible, with elbows up, and hands should be around the bar just outside of the shoulder.
Your feet should be shoulder width apart, pointing out somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees.
Keep the toes slightly up so the weight is on your heels.
You're almost there.
Keep your chest up, butt slightly out, and eyes a few feet in-front of you.
DO NOT LOOK UP.
This totally screws the form of the squat up, and puts you at risk for a cervical injury.
Your back should be arched, which will help with the chest up factor.
DO NOT ROUND YOUR BACK.
You're going to start lowering yourself; tighten the abdomen, keep all the form in correct order, remember eyes straight, toes slightly up, chest up, back arched, and DO NOT BEND OVER TOO MUCH.
This is a FULL SQUAT.
What that means is where your legs attach to your hips will drop just below the top of the knees.
If this isn't happening, you're increasing your risk for injury.
Make sure your knees are following your toes, meaning the knees should be in the same pathway as the toes, not bending in or out.
So now you're in the bottom position of the squat.
Almost done! You're going to DRIVE UP WITH THE HIPS! This is the where the power comes from.
Strength expert Mark Rippetoe has a tip for this drive, which is to imagine someone is pushing on the lower part of your spine, and you're going to push that hand up with the hip drive.
For more information, check out his book, "Starting Strength".
As usual, don't be stupid.
That means don't load the bar up to impress people.
Blowing a knee, breaking a bone, tearing a muscle, any injury actually, doesn't impress people.
It sucks.
It sucks a lot.
Because any injury will likely take you out of the weight room for weeks, or restrict you heavily in what you can do.
Just be smart and do it right.
So that is a full HEALTHY squat.
I'd recommend you start without a bar, and just do air squats until you get the form down.
Then move up to the bar, and then onto adding weight.
You do this and you will be building muscle in no time.
Muscles worked: quadriceps, hamstrings, core musculature, calves, gluts, also depends on variation of squat Key message today is: FORM IS EVERYTHING.
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