When it comes to squats, there are lots of tips used to help you perform the lift better, more safely and with more weight. The problem is, improper posture gets you to focus on something that you don’t have much control over, and can set you off down the path of compromising elsewhere in the lift and getting hurt.

Firstly, nothing is more important than the setup of the squat. If your body is out of alignment and the bar is not braced in the appropriate place for you then you are going to struggle on the lift no matter what else you do. The same can be said about your hips. Your hips need to be squared off when initiating the lift in order to ensure symmetrical loading of the legs during the descent. This is where the extra pyramidal system kicks in!

The key to any good squat tip is that it works immediately (on the first time you try it), with minimal focus on the details that are hard to control once the weight is added to the bar. Sometimes these tips are very vague and hard to put correctly into practice.

First, on the descent, we are told to sit back. This is a tough concept to visualize and feel without some form of objective feedback that ensures you are doing it correctly and enough.

This is where looking at the center of gravity is a must! Using a box can be very helpful here. The box squat provides you with biofeedback. You now have a target to sit back towards, while at the same time having a physical cue when you have reached the appropriate depth.

Well, once you get to the bottom of the squat (the hardest portion of the lift) the key is knowing how to get out of it explosively and with maximum stability. Any stability loss here or compromise of your tightened core will lead to a loss of strength and potentially you missing the lift. So, people will tell you to keep a tight core throughout. Once again however, what does that really mean? Are you supposed to just bear down, contract the abs, lean forward?

Instead, if you focus on simply initiating the upward movement of the bar by moving your hips and chest at the exact same time you will systematically nail this. Because the core connects the hips and chest together, movement of the two simultaneously demands that the core contracts and braces to keep the two in sync. Problem fixed. Ambiguity gone. Squat improved.

If you want to lift more weight, get stronger and perform better on every lift you do then you have to start focusing on doing the things that help you to improve at every opportunity. If you are looking to train like an athlete and get more out of every workout you do, head to 👉https://bit.ly/posturepro-california

If you have round shoulders, give yourself a head start in resolving the problem by changing the way your brain communicates to your muscles. Corrective exercise and soft tissue treatment is sometimes necessary for those with extreme alignment problems, but Posturology is the fastest and most effective way of squaring round shoulders.