The Squat and You: A Breakdown of Basic Mechanics

[BreezerD]

This is an article I wrote when I was 17. Just found it so thought I'd share.

The barbell back squat is often touted as the king of strength exercises, the most manly movement the human body is capable of, the cure for cancer, etc. As such, it would be a shame to not understand the mechanics of such an exercise. I hope that I might be able to shed some light on the subject for newer lifters. This is by no means a comprehensive guide to the squat, merely a brief overview of some aspects of it that may help people understand various form considerations.

High Bar Squat vs Low Bar Squat

The main thing I've noticed on these forums is that people don't seem to understand the role of bar position in the squat. To help you out, I have drawn a diagram in MS paint.



In order to remain balanced during a squat, the bar needs to be over the centre of gravity of the body, which can be estimated by drawing an imaginary line through the middle of the foot (obviously people have different sized feet, so this is a rough guide, though it will still be accurate to within about an inch).

As such, the bar placement on the back determines a few things. It determines back angle and knee position. These are the two things that change to keep the bar over midfoot. As shown in the diagram, a higher bar position leads to a more upright back and knees further out over the toes.

As such, there are going to be differences in muscle recruitment between these different styles of squat.

The more acute the hip angle, the more work for the hip extensors (posterior chain - glutes, hamstrings). The more acute the knee angle, the more work for the knee extensors (quadriceps). That is to say, the lower the bar position, the less emphasis on the quads and more on the glutes and hamstrings.

Stance width and toe angle

Stance width and toe angle ultimately determine how wide your knees will be at the bottom of the squat. Correct toe angle will be determined by the external/internal rotation of your hips, which is partially structural and partially determined by the flexibility of the hip musculature - abductors, adductors, glutes, hip flexors, etc. Stance width will also play a role in determining knee width in the bottom position of the squat. Knee width in the bottom of the squat affects adductor (the groin musculature) contribution - wider = more contribution. This is because the adductors lengthen more the wider the knees are, allowing them to shorten more on the way up to contribute to the movement. Note that if you do not keep your knees actively "shoved out" on the way up, the adductors will shorten without contributing anything to the lifting of the weight, therefore not performing their job.

So how do I know what style of squat is right for me?

To be perfectly honest, the differences in development will not be immense, though they will probably be somewhat noticeable. Olympic weightlifters use high bar squats because the back angle allows them to mimic the recovery position of the Clean. Powerlifters typically use lower bar positions, as the glutes are the largest and strongest muscle group in the human body, and therefore allow them to lift the most weight.

Most athletes will benefit more from a lower bar position, as the posterior chain plays a very important role in almost all sports. There are, however, anthropometrical reasons for using different types of squats. I'll talk about my own squat because I know more about it than anyone else's. I have long femurs, which means that my centre of gravity is thrown backwards in the squat because my hips are further behind my feet. There are a few ways that I can compensate for this:



The first picture is what would happen if I tried to squat with a low bar position, no knee drift, and knees not shoved out. Hip angle is far too acute and I would essentially be doing a "good morning" with the weight, which is very inefficient.

The second picture is what would happen if I tried to compensate by letting my knees drift far over my toes (which I can't actually do due to poor ankle mobility). The hip angle is much more obtuse, meaning less contribution from the glutes, and a lot more stress on the knees which may (though not always) cause injury in the long- or even short-term.

The third picture (very poorly drawn, my bad...) is what would happen if I shoved my knees out to almost 180 degrees (not possible, a dramatisation to emphasise my point. I'd get a lot less glute AND quad contribution, putting most of the work on the adductors. The adductors are a very strong muscle group... but not quite THAT strong.

The fourth one is what I actually do.



- a happy medium between the second and third pictures. My toe angle is wide and my knees are shoved out over the line of my toes. My knees go forward slightly over my toes. This means that my hips are further forward, which means a slightly more obtuse back angle, and a more even squat overall.

Shoes

A heeled weightlifting or powerlifting shoe may be beneficial to those with long femurs, poor ankle mobility, poor general flexibility, or those who are performing high bar squats and front squats. Raising the heel means that the ankle is slightly extended when standing upright, which means the foot is less dorsiflexed at the bottom of a squat. This will allow your knees to drift further over your toes to accomodate your own anthropometry.

You'll need to apply the information given here to work out how to make your squat work for you - hopefully I've explained it well enough, but if there is anything else I can help with, or you can think of something I should add, feel free to PM me or post in this thread. Hope this helps.

[LegosInMyEgos]

Lol, it looks like you're compensating in the third picture by making your femurs smaller.

[BreezerD]

Lol, it looks like you're compensating in the third picture by making your femurs smaller.

Ha, guess I need to find a way to compensate for my poor MS Paint skills.

[Shinjan]

yea the third picture looked pretty odd till I read your description. Good article though and nice squat.

[BreezerD]

yea the third picture looked pretty odd till I read your description. Good article though and nice squat.

Thanks. Updated the video to a PB which was a technically better squat.

[BreezerD]

bump

[fatdorklol]

bump

was the guy in the video doing a high bar or low bar squat?

[BreezerD]

was the guy in the video doing a high bar or low bar squat?

Low bar. Sorry, should have clarified that.

[fatdorklol]

Low bar. Sorry, should have clarified that.

nice this should be sticked, also for the other video of this post in the teen section was that a high bar squat or low bar?

[BreezerD]

nice this should be sticked, also for the other video of this post in the teen section was that a high bar squat or low bar?

Also low bar but I changed the video there to the same one as in the OP of this thread. Here's the original video if anyone was interested:

[Muscle Mania Matt]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/tya4.htm
http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch...-olympic-squat

FYI: top article we have had for a while, then we made the video this year. I'll be doing some technique video articles on squats, bench presses, and sumo deadlifts. No thread hijack, just thought you might be interested in relative content.

[BreezerD]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/tya4.htm
http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch...-olympic-squat

FYI: top article we have had for a while, then we made the video this year. I'll be doing some technique video articles on squats, bench presses, and sumo deadlifts. No thread hijack, just thought you might be interested in relative content.

Ah yep, interesting. A few questions about the article though, not sure if you wrote it, but:

Why is the "power squat" is so shallow in that article? Seems like that "power squat" form is the type that multi-ply geared powerlifters use, and the article is a bit biased into trying to convince people to perform high bar squats.

Why in the video does it say to try and keep the toes pointed straight forward? The wide stance will externally rotate the femur so in order to have feet pointing forward you need to massively internally rotate the tibia/fibia, therefore creating a lot of torsion in the knee. Sounds pretty unsafe to be recommending to novice athletes.

Also the "olympic" squats look quite high by traditional standards. I'm guessing it's just because of ankle/hip mobility issues in the model performing the squats?

Why do you recommend that beginners learning the olympic squat start with the goblet squat?

Nice to compare peoples' thoughts on the squat though.

[Esc8p2NeverLand]

Comprehensive. I like it. Great job in describing what most people fail to understand. I squat low bar so I have a much more acute hip angle than most people "squatting" at the gym. Those same people give me flack for leaning forward when I squat, but they also do quarter squats themselves.
Anyway, repped!

[BIGbird61]

if you let your knees drift too far apart, you will develop a more ovular shaped head opposed to the standard circle like the second figure

good thread

[BreezerD]

Glad people are finding the article helpful!

[entropy1]

i lol@ mspaint

[Sharksinurmouth]

Thought you left us for teh rugby bro. Come down to proraw in melbourne on aust day.

[hmotb555]

Good article! Thanks!

So when squatting with the bar low do I need to widen my hands?

[Kratos89]

Good article! Thanks!

So when squatting with the bar low do I need to widen my hands?

Hand position is largely a matter of personal preference, though keeping your hands in as close as possible may help maintain/increase upper back tightness.

[goldluderay]

interesting

[Muscle Mania Matt]

Ah yep, interesting. A few questions about the article though, not sure if you wrote it, but:

Why is the "power squat" is so shallow in that article? Seems like that "power squat" form is the type that multi-ply geared powerlifters use, and the article is a bit biased into trying to convince people to perform high bar squats.

Why in the video does it say to try and keep the toes pointed straight forward? The wide stance will externally rotate the femur so in order to have feet pointing forward you need to massively internally rotate the tibia/fibia, therefore creating a lot of torsion in the knee. Sounds pretty unsafe to be recommending to novice athletes.

Also the "olympic" squats look quite high by traditional standards. I'm guessing it's just because of ankle/hip mobility issues in the model performing the squats?

Why do you recommend that beginners learning the olympic squat start with the goblet squat?

Nice to compare peoples' thoughts on the squat though.

you pretty much called it all. I didn't do the first article. As for the toe position, I usually tell athletes to keep toes as forward as is comfortable or flexibility allows. lighter guys pull it off with no problem; it's just what I was always taught but what you said makes sense and is something i will experiment with.
Additionally, with the depth of his squats, you see the problem I always run into. I do all the exercise database videos and a lot of the trainers for the site, and we constantly run into the problem of the "model" not having the ability to nail a movement we want to film, as was the case was here. I just shot a world champion powerlifter, and after reviewing footage, I didn't like his box squat. ugh.
I love goblet squats. It's something I picked up from Dan John. Very few people can take a bar and properly position themselves in the bottom of a front squat or high bar squat. However, almost everyone can perform a goblet squat correctly the first time. I usually have the guys on my crew (big, muscle bound fellas) do them as a warm up to open up their hips, using it as an active stretch. It's great for learning the proper position, just as it's really easy to teach a power squat to someone by using a box.

[BreezerD]

you pretty much called it all. I didn't do the first article. As for the toe position, I usually tell athletes to keep toes as forward as is comfortable or flexibility allows. lighter guys pull it off with no problem; it's just what I was always taught but what you said makes sense and is something i will experiment with.
Additionally, with the depth of his squats, you see the problem I always run into. I do all the exercise database videos and a lot of the trainers for the site, and we constantly run into the problem of the "model" not having the ability to nail a movement we want to film, as was the case was here. I just shot a world champion powerlifter, and after reviewing footage, I didn't like his box squat. ugh.
I love goblet squats. It's something I picked up from Dan John. Very few people can take a bar and properly position themselves in the bottom of a front squat or high bar squat. However, almost everyone can perform a goblet squat correctly the first time. I usually have the guys on my crew (big, muscle bound fellas) do them as a warm up to open up their hips, using it as an active stretch. It's great for learning the proper position, just as it's really easy to teach a power squat to someone by using a box.

Well yeah, but isn't the fact that the barbell squat is difficult to do the reason that we're getting people to do it?

[Kennybaby]

interesting stuff. How about photographing some of your gym buddies of various dimensions, to illustrate the positions. rgds ken

[BreezerD]

interesting stuff. How about photographing some of your gym buddies of various dimensions, to illustrate the positions. rgds ken

Interesting idea! I don't actually train with the PLers at my gym that much anymore but I'll see what I can do.

[austin.j.taylor]

Good article! Thanks!

So when squatting with the bar low do I need to widen my hands?

I am actually almost touching my shoulders. Its a matter of comfort and i like to keep my elbows as under the bar as possible.

[CatFoodbrah]

those icefrogs are jacked as fuark, interesting will read.
some mechanics of the squat i know nothing of.