The squat is arguably the best full body exercise there is. It should be in every person’s workout, whether you’re a novice or an elite athlete. Squatting will develop your…
- butt
- quadriceps
- core (abs)
- hamstrings
Whether you’re a man or a woman, squatting should be the staple of your weight training program.
Download a (shorter) squat video to your iPod (Right click, then select “Save Link as”)
About the Squat
Proper Squat Form
- Get underneath the bar and place the bar across the top of your posterior deltoids. Your arms should be out and gripping the bar about 5-7 inches outside your shoulder. The bar should be trapped between your hands and your delts. Your wrists should not be underneath the bar supporting the weight.
- Unrack the bar from the power rack and take a step back (always unrack and step backward, never unrack the bar and walk forward). Some readers have noted that they think our picture is telling people to unrack the bar and then spin their body 180 degrees. This is not what we are recommending. Its very dangerous to try and spin with a bar on your shoulder (our pics are setup like this to provide the best pics for you)
- Start with your feet about shoulder width apart and angled out about 30-45 degrees
- Your butt should be slightly out, your eyes should be facing forward. Squat down, making sure to not round your back or bend over too far at the waist. For a full squat your hip crease (where your legs attach to your hip) should drop below the top of your knees.
- Make sure your knees track your toes. This means your knees should be on the same path as the toes (not bending in, or bending way outside)
- When you get to the bottom, you're going to want to drive back up with your hips. This is very important! The hip drive is where all of your power will come from. A great tip I picked up from Mark Rippetoe is to think of someone pushing on the lower part of your spine. When someone is pushing on this part, your goal should be to push that hand up by driving your hips upward.
- Continue to drive up and return to the standing position with your body fully erect.
Common Barbell Squat Mistakes
- Knees not tracking the toes - Make sure that your knees follow the same alignment that your toes are positioned in. Don't bend your knees to the inside.
- Leaning over at the waist - Many people perform their squats like a "Good Morning". Do not bend over at the waist and allow your back to absorb all the weight. This is very dangerous and can lead to a serious injury. Keep your back tight and straight with your chest out and shoulders back.
- Putting your weight on your toes - The squat should be performed with most of your weight balanced and towards the heels. Putting weight on your toes, will put added stress on your knees which can lead to injury.
Where do I start if I'm a beginner? (weights, reps, sets)
The squat is not an easy exercise to learn, but it is WELL worth it once you do. To start out we want to just focus on getting your form down. Don't rush in trying to add weight to the bar until you have good form with bodyweight squats and barbell squats. To start begin by practicing squats with just your bodyweight (no barbell). Work on keeping your chest out, your back straight and getting good depth on your squat. Perform the following...
- 3 sets
- 20 reps
- 3 sets
- 12 reps
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dude toes are out to much
This squat is wrong. There shoud be very little bend in the back. This picture shows that he has bad hip mobility. Start very light get you exercise right. In the long run you will lift heavier and much better form.
Jake
Nz
Gilberto,
Your toes should be between 30-45 degrees, exactly how they are in the video.
-Vic
I assume that the guy on the picture turned 180 degrees after unracking and stepping back. I assume he turned around for the sake of making more informative video/pictures.
I think readers should be told about this and should be warned not to turn around with heavy weight on their shoulder. because
@ andras You’re absolutely right. We debated for a while how to take pictures of this since if we had him unrack and step backward all the pics would have to be from behind due to the wall being in the way.
Thanks for bringing this up, Ill try to explain it better in the post.
-Vic
I really appreciate the clear and concise explanation you have provided. Keep up the great work.
Hey, would it work to do this practice and the squat in a smith machine?, my gym only got one of these bars so its always a huge line to use them.
and great vids btw
Mathias, stay away from the Smith machine at all costs!
I wrote a good article, about machines vs freeweights here it will explain why you should use freeweights. http://www.gymjunkies.com/rage-against-the-machines-why-you-should-be-using-freeweights/
No doubt about it. Squats and Deads are king.
I don’t fully understand this deep squat hype. I’ve heard that deep squat is more harmful to your knees than a half squat(knees at 90 degree angle). I’ve also heard that half squat is better for sprinters, because it’s more of a sprinting like move than a deep squat. My friend told me: “Think of sprinters… do they ever get into a deep position during running in a way that their knees are at 90 degrees or less?” This is at least true if you think of the degrees during touches on the ground.
You should always squat to parallel (or lower) if you don’t have any injury that prevents it.
Doing half/partial squats put your kneee in a bad position and is much harder on your knee than going too deep.
You could ask this question to any top coach or trainer and they would tell you the same thing. Squat DEEP!
Paul is right: Your explanation is clear and concise. No ambiguity.
Recently, in some gym I won’t mention, I asked the instructor monitoring the weight room to look if I had it right.
He told me not to put the weight on heels, rather on the toes. I had doubts, but I remembered your site which I bookmarked.
Too bad they’re appointing people with incomplete knowledge sometimes.
To Borje: Sprinting is running and squatting is weight training. One is primarily strength exercise and the other is primarily cardiovascular exercise. You really can not compare the “movements” of one to the other. That would be like trying to compare Beatles to Stones- they are both good even thought they are different. Your sprinting speed can only improve, as will the strength and condition of your entire body, when you do full, strict, progressive resistance barbell squats. If you insist on performing only half-range partial squats then you will have to use more weight which will strain your knees eventually and rob you of the full motion and benefit of real full – range normal squats, not to mention that your gluteus will get almost zero work since your hips must dip below your knee level to activate the hip muscles. Forgive me, but stop making excuses and just start squatting the right way, man! You will be glad you did.
I just started with squats for the first this week after finding this fine website (I was doing single joint stuff before….). I try very hard to have the proper form but I have a question. I think when going down my lower back bends a little bit outwards — so my back is not 100% straight. Is this OK? Should I tilt my upper body more forward to avoid this?
Thanks for these great instructions!
Nice video. My only comment it that you aren’t going deep enough in the squat. Your hip crease isn’t below the knee.
Great video and great site. The gym that I am a member of does not have a squat rack. All they have are Smith machines. I would love to change gyms but this gym is inexpensive. I know I shouldn’t do squats on a Smith machine but I have no other choice. I would hate to cut squats out of my routine. Any suggestions?
Sometimes you have to chose the lesser of two evils. No squats or squats with a Smith machine? I’d chose squats with a Smith machine. I’ve actually been in this predicament once before in a hotel fitness room. And I’ll confess, I used the Smith machine.
It’s not ideal. But if it’s all you have, go for it.
I would avoid the Smith Machine at all costs!
Once you are used to bodyweight squats, hold a plate or dumbbells. Once that is easy start working towards single leg squats!
I agree completely. The Smith Machine is crap.
Vic,
After I’ve been doing sqauts for some time, I begin getting sore in the lower back, just above the waist.
I know I’ve got some disc copmression issues there but generally I’m not sore in the lower back until I get into sqauts for a week or two.
Am I doing too much weight or could something else be wrong?
The description your giving does not sound good. I would stay off of squats until the pain subsides. And of course, getting a doctor’s opinion would be a good idea. Then, if you want to return to squats I would try loading from a different position and see if you still have pain. Try front squats with a barbell or even kettlebells and see how that treats you. Train hard, but train safe.
Sup,
Man I just want to thank you for all the useful vidoes. Man AJ had some very good points. I use my toes way to much due to the leg press. Sticking the toe up is a sweet key. THANKS AGAIN!
No doubt, AJ knows what the hell he’s talking about. You don’t squat over 1,000 lbs. without knowing a thing or two.
Vic,
I must say u r doing gr8 job..keep dat going..
I m really taking lots of inspiration form ur videos and try to improvise on my techniques..
Thnx a ton..
Hey!
I just want to point out another common mistake that I recently found out I was making:
Be sure to have your feet aligned correctly, my work out buddy pointed out that my left foot was a bit further back than my right one, causing me to “twist” on my way up. It didn’t feel like I was but when I corrected myself I noticed a big improvement.
Thanks for the videos Vic, they’re really helpful!
Great tip. Thanks!
so i am a fat arse and need to get in shape. I like your slow approach as I need the lift as much as the physical. However, I am a 36 yo male, 6′2″, 257lbs. i had a discectomy 5 years ago between l5 and s1 in my back. are squats completely out? if so, and I am assume yes, what else can I do? all I have is dumbells and a bench. I also have a stationary bike. i get dissuaded easily because there is just so damn much information out there it seems like most people are guessing.