Simple tips to squat deeper

Pyrros Dimas

One question I get all the time is, “My back tucks under when I squat – is this ok?  And how can I fix it?”

To answer the first question, no, it’s not ok.  This tucking, buttwinking, or whatever you want to call it puts the spine under repetitive flexion.  Do it long enough and heavy enough and you run the risk of low back and hip injuries.

To answer the second question, well, that’s a little bit more involved.  In fact, it’s a lot more involved than one blog post, but here are some simple things you can do to start improving your squat today.

1 – Improve your mobility.

Bottom line – if your mobility sucks, chances are your squat will suck.  If you want to squat deep with ideal form you need to have good mobility in the ankles and hips.  Eric and I discussed this at length in our Magnificent Mobility DVD.  Couple this with soft-tissue methods, static stretching and the like, and you’ll be squatting deeper in no time.

2 – Get your low back bigger/stronger.

One of the primary reasons that people lose their lumbar arch when squatting is because there’s a stiffness imbalance between their low back and the hips.  Think of it as relative flexibility – when one segment of the chain is bigger/stiffer than the other, it’s not going to move!  Instead, it’s going to force the adjacent areas to move.  This is why instead of continuing to see hip flexion, that hip flexion turns into lumbar flexion.

So how do we increase the stiffness of the low back?  One way is simple – make it bigger!  The more cross sectional area a muscle has, the stiffer it becomes.

3 – Train in your “functional range.”

Your functional range is the range of motion you can perform with ideal technique.  Some can only squat a couple of inches without losing their arch, others can squat ass to calves.  Train within your functional range, and slowly work your way down over time.

I hope this helps you squat deeper in the future.  Good luck and good squatting!

MR


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