GTFIH and I will teach you how to SQUAT like a CHAMPION (srs)(BTBAM squat thread)

[BTBAM]

I've received tons of PMs regarding how to squat or achieve better flexibility in the squat, so I decided to finally make a thread on some things I personally do to SQUAT like a CHAMPION.....

The vast majority of the population simply has no idea how to squat properly. I feel that this is the main reason no one actually puts any effort into the squat. Squatting should feel natural, not painful as some people would describe it. The back squat is literally one of IF NOT THE MOST NATURAL MOVEMENTS IN THE WEIGHTROOM. Human beings are grown in the full squat position (think of a fetus in the womb). If you look at a young child, when they grab something off the ground they squat down into the full squat position to grab whatever it is. Most of the eastern hemisphere does this as well, people on a cig break at work or having lunch, sit comfortably in the full squat.



Anyways, point is, your body naturally wants to be comfortable in that position. Here in the western world, we sit a lot for whatever reason. Our jobs and lifestyles lead to lots of sitting which inevitably results in tight hip flexors, weak hamstrings and glutes, overexaggerated lordosis of the lower back, and a whole host of additional problems. All these things add up to the end result of very, very poor lower body organization and most of all, a shitty asz squat.

BUT - you can do something about this and fix it with not even 30 minutes a day of effort. You may think "Whatever, what do I care about having good squat form, mine is already decent enough," or something along those lines - but not only is this effecting your squat, it effects everything else you do with your legs. Walking, running, jumping, dancing in the club with some 10/10s on your nuts. Seriously. If your lower body is disorganized, then you can guarantee all those aforementioned things will have problems as well. Coming from someone who had severe lordosis of the lower back, an extreme lack of flexibility (when reaching down to touch toes in classic hamstring stretch, finger tips reached just past knee caps), and other problems from a sedentary lifestyle, I've made great improvements since and feel 1000% better.

For some credibility: Here is the fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily. This is 385 lbs:

***The point of showing you guise this vid to show you that despite being very fatigued, I can maintain good form by following certain cues and sticking to the proper movement. Some (most) people tend to compromise position when tired to make a lift easier, and this is when injuries/ tweaks happen. Don't be those guys.


Anyways, this is what you need to be doing to establish some basic flexibility and get comfortable in that bottom position of the squat. Being comfortable down there in the deep full squat position is maximally important to having great form. Follow this regimen a MINIMUM of once a day (done after your workout) and stay consistent. You will see positive changes in as little as one week depending on where you are at currently.








You can skip through the videos to see the actual movement or stretch they are doing, you don't really need to listen to their whole shpeel unless you really want to. A two minute hold per stretch will net you more immediate changes in positioning, but if you are a pussy try a couple sets of 30 seconds each, although this will not be as effective and will take longer to see more permanent results. Go through the above cycle after your workout or later in the day after you've been moving for a bit. It is crucial that your body is warmed up a bit to get more effective stretching done. Personally, I like to a very hot shower in the morning when waking and do some self-massage in the shower to get blood moving, then some light stretching immediately out of the shower. This gets you in a primed state.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL! You also need to learn how to unrack the barbell properly and set up for a good squat. It may look pretty simple, but there is a lot more going on in elite athletes than what you immediately see with your eyes. You need to make sure your body is in a perfectly organized position when taking a load on its back. A doctor of physical therapy by the name of Kelly Starrett (look him up, he is a genius) has a lot to say on this matter. He calls this "the tunnel". The Tunnel is any movement that you do with your body under load or tension (think, foot swinging forward in a jog, descending into a squat, pressing something overhead). Dr. Starrett postulates that if you don't enter the Tunnel in a proper position, you will never get organized and recover your lost position during the movement. So, if you don't unrack the barbell in the squat properly, the rest of your squat will be in poor position.

These are my personal favorite cues to teach someone how to unrack a barbell in the best position to squat efficiently:
-First, find the spot on your back that you feel most comfortable with the bar
-Grab the bar in your favorite and most comfortable hand position and grip that thing hard
-Walk yourself under the bar and set it on your back in that aforementioned position, but don't take the load yet (keep it racked)
-FLEX your upper back hard by shrugging back and up, pinching your shoulder blades together with solid traps
-Try to set your upper, mid, and lower back together (flex yourself into a solid arched position. Think of a bridge - they are built that way for a reason [to hold heavy loads])
-Pump your chest up big and set yourself into the bar deeper (this is where you start to feel the load of the bar)
-Flex your glutes and externally rotate your femurs. To do this, think you are trying to prevent Big Bubba from sticking his BBC in your angus while your locked up. With your feet planted, you are going to try to point your knees out away from you (this is the external rotation of your femurs). You will feel this deep in your ass. (no homo)
-Lastly, with all the above set and locked (you are in an organized position with your hips directly under your torso and your spine locked and solid), take a deep breath of air into your belly through your nose, apply pressure through the ground with one heel to unrack the barbell, take one step out, then the next. Your feet should be comfortable around shoulder width apart (a tad bit outside hip width). Get yourself set here as you may be a bit shaky if taking a heavy single or 1RM. Breathe short and powerful breaths without losing your set position. Keep this femurs rotated out HARD and your glutes tight, upper back tight, whole back locked, etc.
-Start your descent by pushing the knees OUT and sitting your hips DOWN between your legs. Keep the chest up.
-When you reach your physical bottom, you will know as you feel a bit of a natural rebound or "bounce" out of the deep hole you are in. Explode hard through your heels and keep pushing your knees out, think of thrusting your upperback and head through the bar back behind you and drive your chest up! This will help you stay upright and keep the load on your heels.
-Some may initially have an early hip rise directly out of the hole - this is alright. Once you reach about parallel, though, try to keep your hips down and cue the above to push yourself to a more upright position. If you do it properly, you can almost not even tell that your hips rose early and you still appear to be very upright throughout the squat.
-That's it! You just did a squat the right way. See how easy and natural it feels?!


Some of you may be thinking - yeah "whatever, I'm not reading all that ****. TL;DR, blah blah." Or "There is no way I'm going through all that every time I squat." Well, your loss, bro. I promise you, once you start doing these things it becomes habit and VERY very natural. My body automatically enters the right positions when squatting now even if I am not actively cuing it. Every squat will start to look the same, you will start feeling better, your 1RM will go up, you will feel better walking, running, jumping, and grinding on HB 10/10s at the club, and most of all, you will have an aesthetic looking squat.



CLIFFS: Read it, bitches. If you have any questions just ask or PM.

You didn't mention this in the OP but I think you put it in your log - try to sit in the full squat position for 10 minutes or so everyday.

Forget to mention ^^^ Sit down in the full squat as often as you can throughout the day, try to collect 10 minutes total. Focus on driving your knees out with your elbows while simultaneously driving your chest up with the shoulders back. Drive your hips into your ankles and feel the streeetch!

Key note on stretching - I can't guide you to the exactly correct stretch - you need to search around for your tight areas and loosen them up. Remember, you are training a movement and position, not a muscle.

[KeRiZmA]

For some credibility: Here is the fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily. This is 385 lbs:

Why does everyone always say it's their last set or at the end of a workout and they're super tired.

Seriously, it's essentially lying. Why don't you just record a 1RM attempt rather than a "fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily" attempt.

[Swolebrah69]

sup braaaaahhhhhh

[snizzle77]

2rd

[Getter_done]

Why does everyone always say it's their last set or at the end of a workout and they're super tired.

Seriously, it's essentially lying. Why don't you just record a 1RM attempt rather than a "fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily" attempt.

dude he has a video of him doing a 440 pound squat...

[NIguy]

Why does everyone always say it's their last set or at the end of a workout and they're super tired.

Seriously, it's essentially lying. Why don't you just record a 1RM attempt rather than a "fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily" attempt.

I believe there are videos of him doing heavier...

edit- see above

[Ninjaaaa]

fuk man. so many stretches -_- that shts gonna take like 20 min

[NewbieX2]

OP, I love you, nohomo.

I've been looking for a good stretching routine that will allow me to squat ATG without buttwinking my way to injury. I'll definitely be taking this post to heart. Thanks, brah. Reps!

[Triumphator]

Fuk all that stretching BS i just do a thorough warm-up of pyramid setting from extremely light to extremely heavy and follow up with drop sets.
Strong legs though.

[Troll_Patrol]

intredasting, will read

[jr gong]

BTBAM is the man. My squat:



I follow pretty much all of his principles and do all of the stretches, just nowhere near as strong.

[Da_Jtac_0]

In on epic thread.

My Olympic lifting coach had coached many many amazing athletes and has coached many athletes who are both state and national champions.

He taught me how to squat properly and after learning from him I can honestly say BTBAM knows exactly what he is talking about. Reps for being an epic poster

[plznodemondrop]

fuk man. so many stretches -_- that shts gonna take like 20 min

20 minutes of stretching vs. potentially months and months of being out due to injury.

[vikblaze]

i have bad buttwink, started stretching more : (

[JohnHenryHorton]

I always go ATG, but after trying to sit in the bottomed out position, I realize just how inflexible and weak I am.

will practice and rep if not on recharge.

[jr gong]

You didn't mention this in the OP but I think you put it in your log - try to sit in the full squat position for 10 minutes or so everyday.

[LiveStrongly]

BTBAM is the man. My squat:



I follow pretty much all of his principles and do all of the stretches, just nowhere near as strong.

god....awful form dude...why are your knees like 2 miles over your toes? push with you're dam heels

[OneStepCloser]

Subbed. Thanks for taking the time to make this. It's exactly the info I need srs. Been trying to get comfortable with ATG squats for some time now.

[angryguywalking]

What do I do about my spine/body being shifted to the right while squatting? Im starting to have lower back pain there...

[Jeremyn87]

Why does everyone always say it's their last set or at the end of a workout and they're super tired.

Seriously, it's essentially lying. Why don't you just record a 1RM attempt rather than a "fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily" attempt.

You must be unaware of BTABM

[ceo1kaweek]

did not read.

















































lol

[rmoleman]

so when i was trying to get more hip flexibility i noticed my pelvis was digging into my leg... i presume i cant go further than this?

[BTBAM]

Why does everyone always say it's their last set or at the end of a workout and they're super tired.

Seriously, it's essentially lying. Why don't you just record a 1RM attempt rather than a "fourth heavy single I did today after a long and tiring workout. I am extremely fatigued but I still managed to squat this up fairly easily" attempt.

It was meant to show the form is still reinforced and positions are not lost despite being fatigued (often where problems begin for most people).

[EvanAlmighty]

that was a great read, thanks brah

subbed and repped

[TreyTrey]

Had to stop squatting heavy for awhile cuz of my fukking back but in for when I get that sorted

[BTBAM]

Had to stop squatting heavy for awhile cuz of my fukking back but in for when I get that sorted

This is another thing. And I'm not point fingers at you, but just using this an example for the vast majority of people that have hurt themselves squatting. Your body craves this natural full squat position.

You guys need to get yourselves organized !!! Find your problems and address them. Video yourself squatting and look at the areas you feel you need to spend more time on than others.

I've literally never had an injury keep me from back squatting heavy, because the form I described in the OP is the only form I've ever started known.

[fah92]

read it all, good read will take advice

you inspire me to squat harder brah srs <3

whenever im squatting I think fuuck I want to be as strong as btbam (no homo)

[GetHimABodyBag]

relevant video on bar position and depth..about 485 pounds for a double

[behler]

always end up with my knees out over my toes. any corrections I should be making. really have always had trouble with getting my squat form down.

[jr gong]

relevant video on bar position and depth..about 485 pounds for a double

If the chinese olympic lifters don't inspire you to squat, nothing will.