rmkicks
05-19-2014, 10:37 AM
Loading up your squat is dangerous unless your form is spot on. Find out if your body-weight squat is up to par first.
After doing squats with a giant barbell in your hands, squatting sans weight may seem like a cinch. That doesn't mean you can slack on your form, however. "If you perform a body-weight squat with poor technique, chances are you'll use the same method when you've got a weight in your hands," says Pat Flynn, owner of Dragon Gym in Exton, Pennsylvania, and author of Paleo Workouts For Dummies. "Bad form not only restricts how much weight you can lift, but it puts you on the fast track to pain and injury, too." Here are four ways to fix up your body-weight squat so you can move more weight later.
The Mistake: Your knees cave in.
Are your knees always trying to meet in the middle? When your knees cave in during a squat, you can't fully activate your glutes, which are the most powerful collection of muscles in your body, explains Flynn. This decreases your strength, and transfers some of the force to your knee joints and ligaments.
The Fix: Place a loop band around the top of your shins, recommends Flynn. "Your natural inclination will be to push against the pressure of the band so your knees stay positioned over your feet," he says. This instantly activates your glutes, allowing you to tap into your full strength. Do this often enough, and you'll begin to push your knees out even when you don't use a band.
The Mistake: Your heels come off the floor.
The better your base of support, the more weight you can lift, says Flynn. But if your heels lift of the ground each rep, your foundation suddenly becomes unstable. This can also cause your pelvis to tilt forward, and compromise the neutral alignment of your spine.
The Fix: Find a counterbalance. Holding a light weight at arms' length in front of you will help transfer some of your bodyweight to your heels and keep you from tipping over backward, says Flynn.
However, if your heels are still lifting off the floor, it might be a sign of poor ankle mobility. Try placing a weight plate under your heels. This should help you go lower in a squat while still maintaining a straight spine. (If ankle mobility is your problem, correct the issue over time with drills like this one.)
The Mistake: Your back rounds.
If you want to make a trainer cringe, round your back during a squat. "When your lower back is flexed or 'rounded,' it's more susceptible to injuries like bulged discs—a risk that skyrockets when you add weight to the move," says Flynn.
The Fix: Have a trainer watch you perform the move to make sure you're maintaining your spine's natural shape, with a slight arch in your lower back. If they see your back round at any point, stop, and return to the starting position.
Still rounding your back every rep? It might be a larger mobility issue in your hips. Try this technique instead: Get down on your hands and knees with your palms flat on the floor. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart and your knees should be hip-width apart. Keeping your back straight the entire time, rock backward until your glutes touch your heels.
"The point where your glutes touch your heels mimics the bottom position of a squat," says Flynn. It teaches your body to lower without the use of your back. While it might feel silly, it improves your hip joint mobility so you can effectively lower down into a squat when standing.
The Mistake: You bounce.
When you lower your body during the squat, your muscles build up elastic energy. But as you get tired, you can rely on this elasticity to pull you down and rebound back to the starting position. "It reduces the amount of work your muscles have to do, and can actually cause hip and knee issues if you're doing a high number of reps," says Flynn.
The Fix: Slow things down. Take three to five seconds to lower and lift, pausing at the bottom, recommends Flynn. This will eliminate the elastic energy of the muscle, and force your body to recruit more muscle fibers to get you moving again. "I cue my clients to tense their muscles as they descend, and imagine pulling themselves down toward the floor instead of just dropping," he says.
Men's Health
After doing squats with a giant barbell in your hands, squatting sans weight may seem like a cinch. That doesn't mean you can slack on your form, however. "If you perform a body-weight squat with poor technique, chances are you'll use the same method when you've got a weight in your hands," says Pat Flynn, owner of Dragon Gym in Exton, Pennsylvania, and author of Paleo Workouts For Dummies. "Bad form not only restricts how much weight you can lift, but it puts you on the fast track to pain and injury, too." Here are four ways to fix up your body-weight squat so you can move more weight later.
The Mistake: Your knees cave in.
Are your knees always trying to meet in the middle? When your knees cave in during a squat, you can't fully activate your glutes, which are the most powerful collection of muscles in your body, explains Flynn. This decreases your strength, and transfers some of the force to your knee joints and ligaments.
The Fix: Place a loop band around the top of your shins, recommends Flynn. "Your natural inclination will be to push against the pressure of the band so your knees stay positioned over your feet," he says. This instantly activates your glutes, allowing you to tap into your full strength. Do this often enough, and you'll begin to push your knees out even when you don't use a band.
The Mistake: Your heels come off the floor.
The better your base of support, the more weight you can lift, says Flynn. But if your heels lift of the ground each rep, your foundation suddenly becomes unstable. This can also cause your pelvis to tilt forward, and compromise the neutral alignment of your spine.
The Fix: Find a counterbalance. Holding a light weight at arms' length in front of you will help transfer some of your bodyweight to your heels and keep you from tipping over backward, says Flynn.
However, if your heels are still lifting off the floor, it might be a sign of poor ankle mobility. Try placing a weight plate under your heels. This should help you go lower in a squat while still maintaining a straight spine. (If ankle mobility is your problem, correct the issue over time with drills like this one.)
The Mistake: Your back rounds.
If you want to make a trainer cringe, round your back during a squat. "When your lower back is flexed or 'rounded,' it's more susceptible to injuries like bulged discs—a risk that skyrockets when you add weight to the move," says Flynn.
The Fix: Have a trainer watch you perform the move to make sure you're maintaining your spine's natural shape, with a slight arch in your lower back. If they see your back round at any point, stop, and return to the starting position.
Still rounding your back every rep? It might be a larger mobility issue in your hips. Try this technique instead: Get down on your hands and knees with your palms flat on the floor. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart and your knees should be hip-width apart. Keeping your back straight the entire time, rock backward until your glutes touch your heels.
"The point where your glutes touch your heels mimics the bottom position of a squat," says Flynn. It teaches your body to lower without the use of your back. While it might feel silly, it improves your hip joint mobility so you can effectively lower down into a squat when standing.
The Mistake: You bounce.
When you lower your body during the squat, your muscles build up elastic energy. But as you get tired, you can rely on this elasticity to pull you down and rebound back to the starting position. "It reduces the amount of work your muscles have to do, and can actually cause hip and knee issues if you're doing a high number of reps," says Flynn.
The Fix: Slow things down. Take three to five seconds to lower and lift, pausing at the bottom, recommends Flynn. This will eliminate the elastic energy of the muscle, and force your body to recruit more muscle fibers to get you moving again. "I cue my clients to tense their muscles as they descend, and imagine pulling themselves down toward the floor instead of just dropping," he says.
Men's Health