FLAT-FOOTED GOAL
It’s important to remember that your best squat occurs when you remain flat-footed. No matter the depth, a squat in which your heels rise and the weight rests on the balls of your feet is a very weak position and potentially dangerous. You want your feet to be as flat as possible. It’s also imperative that the deeper you go the more emphasis is placed upon your lower-back protection. For that reason, keep your back as straight as possible during the squat and avoid leaning too far forward during the descent.
In fact, you need to overemphasize the arch in your lower back and maintain it throughout the entire set. In other words, “stay big” even while deep in the hole. One more important point: Try to press through the floor with your feet, driving through your legs. This will help ensure that your hips don’t rise faster than your upper body. When that happens, the upper body tends to draw forward, placing a lot of wear and tear on your lower back. If you drive upward powerfully out of the low squat, your chest and upper body will lead and your hips will follow, helping protect your spine.
BREATHE RIGHT = DON’T BREATHE
Speaking of protecting your spine, we don’t talk about it much but you have to breathe correctly when deep squatting. And in some cases, breathing right means not breathing at all. That’s right, you don’t want to inhale during the descent and exhale during the ascent. But rather, take a deep breath before you go down and hold it as you complete the rep. (Read that again: Hold it during the up phase.) Don’t exhale until you are close to the apex. Filling your lungs with air increases the pressure inside your chest and abdominal cavity, supporting your spine, so don’t breathe out.
Keeping your head in the right position is imperative to a deep, strong squat. Your focus should be directly forward — looking up too high can cause you to lose your balance, and dropping your gaze too low may lead you to round your lower back, placing excessive force on your lumbar area. So stay neutral with your eyes looking right back at yourself in the mirror, and your head position will remain in perfect alignment. Finally, it might be a wise idea to practice this new version of the squat in the safe confines of the power rack. Not only will this provide a necessary level of safety, but you’ll also gain mental confidence in the process. There’s no shame in having safety bars at your disposal. The last problem you need is to get caught in the bottom of the squat without a rack.
And if you’re just starting out with this kind of squat, focus less on reps and more on form. As you’ll see in the sample workout, going for a higher rep count is perfectly fine. Once you’ve adapted in flexibility, know-how and confidence, you can modify the weight to focus on specific goals like strength, power or endurance. But for starters, master the move so that it becomes second nature like the other leg moves you’ve grown to incorporate each week.
Low Points to Remember
The deep squat will enhance power and strength of the hamstrings and glutes.
You need enhanced ankle and hip flexibility, so practice sitting deep with an unloaded bar each workout.
Make sure your low back is over-arched even in the bottom of the squat. This will enhance your mechanical advantage and protect your low back.
Concentrate on pressing through the floor, forcing your upper body to rise faster than your hips.
Hold your breath for intra-abdominal stability and strength.
Practice and perform your deep squats inside a power rack.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Here’s a sample leg workout that incorporates squats of different depths. After your deep squatting, you can increase the weight and perform parallel as well as partial squats (only the top part of the range of motion) within the rack. At the end of this workout, your quads will have been trained throughout the entire range of motion they were intended to work within.
DEEP SQUATS-----4 sets of 12-15 reps
PARALLEL SQUATS-------3 sets of 10 reps
PARTIAL SQUAT--------3 sets of 6-8 reps
ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS----------3 sets of 10-12
LEG EXT----------------4 sets of 8-12 reps
*All three squat variations should be performed within a power rack for safety. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets.
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