Hi. This question has probably been asked before, sorry. I’m trying to correct my squat form. I’ve read all the articles I could find, and there are some things I don’t understand. When someone says the hips should be the first thing to move, push your butt back, sit back not down, or the knees should not be the first thing to move, I don’t understand what they are saying. Some of it is vague and some of it just seems to contradict common sense.
For instance, if I’m not bending my knees first then I just don’t know what to do because forcing my butt back doesn’t make sense. It is back. It’s farther back than anything else on my body. I don’t understand moving the hips. Also, should I be lowering my torso when I squat, like I’m doing a good morning, or should the angle between my torso and the ground remain unchanged throughout the exercise? Thanks.
Sitting back not down. Your knees WILL bend, but you lead with your ass. Force your ass out then down, your knees will of course bend during all of this, your simply not LEADING with them.
Just to chime in - most people when picking stuff up off the ground bend over. They bend the knees slightly first, then drop because it’s less effort and only bend the knees more when they have to. Then straightening up again, they use the back first and then straighten the legs.
What everyone here is trying to get you to do is to sit back so that the hamstrings take most of the strain like they’re supposed to, and then as you naturally squat down, you eventually fold at the hips and not higher up at the lower spine.
If you put your hands on your hips, and your index fingers along the crease in your hips, it’ll move your focus to the hip flexion and off the lower back. Basically you should be sandwiching those fingers while able to keep your upper back relatively arched.
I personally found doing overhead squats made me do things properly. I suddenly felt where the squat was “supposed to go” and I haven’t looked back since.
Oh yeah, for a great picture of great squatting form, check out Chad Waterbury’s latest article on the home page.