The Do’s and Don’ts of Proper Squat Form
Lauren Stenseng, an ACE certified personal trainer who’s working on CrossFit Level 1 Certification and blogs at KansanKettlebelle.com recently blogged for us about common CrossFit myths. Now she’s back to share the dos and don’ts of proper squat form!
If Your Squats AIN’T Doing Squat Follow These Tips on Proper Squat Form
The air squat is a seemingly simple movement and when executed correctly can produce major gains … especially in your booty region! So, let’s talk form.
Start with your feet a little over shoulder width apart with toes pointing forward. Activate your core muscles before sending your hips back and down, trying to keep your knees over your toes. Once your hip crease reaches below parallel, use your glutes and hamstrings to explode to a fully extended standing position before starting another squat.
DON’T: Let your knees collapse inward.
DO: With your toes still pointing forward, focus on rotating your knees outward and use the torque it creates to support the movement.
DON’T: Round out your back.
DO: Tighten your core by pulling your belly button into your spine and keep your chest high throughout the entire squat. You can also put your arms out in front of you and try to keep them above eye level to encourage a high chest.
DON’T: Let your heels or toes come up.
DO: Lean back further than you think you need to, so that your weight is mostly back on your heels. If this is difficult, you may want to work on your ankle mobility to increase your range of motion.
DON’T: Go down too shallow.
DO: Bring your hip crease below parallel with the floor by imagining a pencil trapped in your hip and you are trying to break it. This will help get you to that extra distance and activate all of those muscles you are trying to work.
DON’T: Let your feet turn too far out or in.
DO: Keep your feet facing directly forward to prevent any lower limb injury caused by the extreme angles created during a “duck foot” squat.
Now that you’ve got some tips under your belt, go squat with awesome form and get that booty! —Lauren Stenseng
Comments
Very helpful!
http://www.lesleyandeve.com
Great article with tips regarding the correct and efficient way to do squats. Also you can use some dumbbells or free weights to get the maximum results. Eser Marketing offers range of exercise equipment suits for all age groups. Visit Eser website for more information
Glad I decided to read this post because I’m always looking for resources to refer personal training clients that helps them to exercise correctly.
nice post!
really informative. thanks for sharing with us. keep this blog update
I read your fitness blog’s few post and they really fantastic. I have little back pain for that everyday I tried something new to do and I liked your tips and will use them. Thanks for the sharing your thought.
Thanks for an awesome post! I really appreciated the do’s and don’t approach, it made it really simple to visualize. I also thought it was a great idea to highlight the common mistakes that we make while squatting!
Very nice post! Really helpful!:D
Great post! Thanks!
How To Get Fit With Bad Knees
When your knees hurt, you don’t feel like exercising, but not exercising makes your knees hurt even more. The key is to get fit doing exercises that don’t put stress on your knees. Keep away from running and calisthenics, instead focus on gentle exercises like swimming and walking. Making sure you keep fit has big benefits in the way your knees feel. By strengthening the muscles surrounding your knees, you can actually reduce your knee pain. Incorporate these exercises into your fitness routine.http://myworldnext.blogspot.com/2016/06/how-to-get-fit-with-bad-knees.html
These are great Dos and Don’ts. I think that everyone that wants to improve their squats should follow these Dos and Don’ts. Great article!
Comments are closed.