About squats
The squat is a weight-bearing exercise that is considered essential for building leg and hip strength and size, as well as developing core strength. Personally, squatting is the best training for promoting muscle growth hormone because it involves hundreds of muscles.
The squat is one of the events of the World Powerlifting Championships.
The main key points to determine the effectiveness of the powerlifting squat are:
The athlete faces the front of the platform, with the bar parallel to the line between the shoulders.
The athlete must bend the knee and lower the body so that the proximal end of the hip joint is lower than the anterior end of the knee joint in a sagittal view. (No need to squat to the bottom, as long as the hips are slightly below the knees)
After the athlete completes the movement and returns to the upright position.
Each of the three items is a powerful tool to improve the overall strength and athletic ability of the body.
What’s your squat level?
Let’s take a look at the deadlift records with drug tests:
Anderzej Stanaszek: Weight 52kg; Squat 301kg
Magnus Karlsson: Weight 60kg; Squat 320kg
KEITH CORREA: Weight 67kg; Squat 365kg
Al Caslow: Weight 75kg;
Squat 403kg
Derek Wilcox: Weight 82kg; Squat 424kg
Shawn Frank: Weight 90kg; Squat 479kg
Sam Byrd: Weight 100kg; Squat 499kg
YURY BELKIN: Weight 110kg; Squat 517kg
Jonas Rantanen: Weight 130kg; Squat 575kg
Donnie Thompson: Weight 140kg+; Squat 574kg
It can be seen that the squat performance of excellent athletes can reach about 5 times their own body weight.
The average squat enthusiast level:
Master standard technical movements after at least two years of regular training.
Male: basically reach 1.9 times their own body weight, and excellent can reach 2.4 times their body weight.
Women: Basically reach 1.3 times their own body weight, and excellent can reach 2.1 times their body weight.
Everyone has great potential, but don’t overestimate yourself, step by step, uncontrollable weight will always hurt yourself.
(The above data is for reference only, please train reasonably according to your own goals)
How to do squats?
The most basic squat movement: the back of the neck high bar squat
How deep is the squat?
It is recommended to squat until the thighs are parallel to the ground or slightly lower; the half squat benefits are too low, and the full squat requires high joint flexibility, so for most people, try again. The following panda squat.
Small variation: low bar squat behind the neck, mainly because the position of the bar is on the back of the deltoid or on the spine of the scapula, more like carrying a barbell on your back. Personally, I think it is to shorten the distance between the barbell and the ground, and at the same time, the barbell is closer to the hip joint. From a biomechanical point of view, it will make the movement more efficient, that is, it can squat more weight. Most of the squat records are low. Bar position completed.
Front Neck Squat:
Knowledge point: The main difference from the back squat is that the barbell is placed in the front deltoid position with the elbows pointing to the ground. Squat in front of the neck with arms crossed, elbows facing forward.
Cross-arm squat in front of neck:
Squat Techniques to Avoid Injury
Squats are one of the most injury-prone exercises in the gym. The most common ones are lower back and knee injuries, so pay attention.
1. Butt wink
Butt wink refers to the fact that some people start to tilt their pelvis backwards and turn their tail vertebrae downward during the squat, causing the lumbar spine to arch. Although some senior athletes think that the lumbar arch does not affect health, However, studies have shown that this kind of lumbar arching is indeed related to intervertebral disc injury, especially under heavy load.
The cause of the problem: It may be that the ankle joint is not flexible enough.
Solution:
a Do a stretch for ankle flexibility before squatting
b Simply put a dumbbell plate or an incline table on your heels (hardcore gyms only have them).
c buy a pair of squat shoes, squat shoes will raise the heel
d The distance between the legs is slightly wider.
e Don’t squat too deep. With reference to the above methods, ordinary people can generally squat until their thighs are parallel to the ground.
2. Do not lean forward too much
This usually occurs in the upward process of the movement, and it is necessary to maintain the trajectory of the barbell straight up and down. Some students’ hips rise much faster than their chests, causing the barbell to move forward and the upper body leaning forward too much, which can easily injure the lumbar spine.
Leaning forward can also put a lot of pressure on the knees and cause knee pain.
Cause of the problem: The movement relies too much on the glutes and hamstrings, and the movement pattern is problematic. Foot pressure is transferred to the toes.
Solution:
a Lower the weight or do the exercise with a bare bar.
b 2 second pause at the bottom of the movement and halfway up
c Visualize your chest up, pulling your whole body up from the bottom of the squat.
d The pressure should be distributed over the entire sole of the foot (you can lift the big toe for practice)
3. Squat breathing
Different breathing patterns for squats
a Prepare to take a deep breath and tighten your core, like you’re ready to take a punch in the stomach
b During the squat, tighten your abdomen and hold your breath as if you were squatting in water
c Get up and exhale, return to the initial position and repeat (of course professional athletes will recover and exhale again, but usually it is a trial lift, not a group)
Be careful not to hold your breath all the way.
4. Keep the occipital bone, spine and coccyx in a straight line throughout the movement
Grounding knowledge points: Don’t arch your back, slump your waist, and tighten your stomach. Don’t look in the mirror while doing the movements, which can also make your cervical spine uncomfortable.
5. Tighten the scapula
Grounding knowledge points: Make an inverted U around the shoulders, and then keep it.
6. Knees and toes must be in a straight line
Whether the knee is buckled in or out, it will wear down the cartilage of the knee, causing long-term knee pain.
7. Squat down too fast and squat too much
It is easy to cause muscle and tendonitis around the knee, mainly manifested as pain at the tendon connection points above and below the kneecap.
Solution: squat to control the rate, reduce the training volume, and reduce the training frequency
Should your knees go over your toes in a squat?
This is still related to the flexibility of the individual ankle joint. If you squat deeply, you will definitely pass your toes, because this is in line with biomechanics. Knee pain is not caused by passing your toes. As mentioned in the above knowledge points, you still need to Students reduce the weight to practice the standard squat.
Squat Equipment
1. Belt
A heavy belt is a must.
The function of waist protection belt:
Increase pressure in the abdominal cavity
Reduce the stress on the spine
Important: Don’t wear a belt when training at 50% of your max weight.
Waist support is a fitness aid, which is definitely beneficial, but excessive use will make the lower back and abdomen over-reliant on it, and the support of the core muscle group on the trunk will gradually weaken. Training without wearing a waist support , which can easily cause damage.
Personal recommendation is to wear it when it is more than 1 times the body weight or there is a hidden danger of waist injury.
2. Squat shoes
It is recommended to buy if the ankle joint is not flexible enough, because the shoe itself has its own slope, and the other is that the sole is hard enough, which will provide better stability. If you don’t have the money, a hard-soled Jiefang shoe or a bare foot may be better than a pair of soft-soled running shoes.
3. Knee pads
This depends on the needs, ordinary healthy people are not necessary.
narrow squat
Personal suggestion: For ordinary fitness enthusiasts, the narrow squat can be placed in the last item of leg training, no weight, and many times.