Squat (Barbell)
The main lower body strength lift. Bar on your back, sit down between your feet, stand back up.
- Quadriceps
- Barbell
- Weight and reps
What it works
Quadriceps do most of the work, with the glutes and hamstrings contributing heavily out of the bottom. Everything from your abdominals to your upper back works isometrically to keep your torso rigid, which is why a heavy squat is felt everywhere the next day and not just in your legs.
Setup
- Set the rack hooks at about mid chest height. If you have to rise onto your toes to unrack the bar, they are too high.
- Step under the bar so it rests on the shelf of muscle across your upper back, not on the bones at the base of your neck.
- Grip the bar as narrow as your shoulders comfortably allow and pull your elbows down and back. This tightens your upper back and stops the bar rolling.
- Brace, stand the bar out of the hooks, and take one or two steps back. No more than that: walking the bar out is wasted effort before you have done a rep.
- Set your feet a little wider than your hips with your toes turned out slightly. The right stance is whichever one lets you reach depth without your lower back rounding.
The movement
- Take a big breath into your stomach, not your chest, and brace as though you are about to be punched in the gut.
- Sit down and slightly back. Your knees travel forward and your hips travel back at the same time. Keep your whole foot on the floor.
- Descend until the crease of your hip is below the top of your kneecap. If you cannot get there without your lower back rounding, stop just above the point where the rounding starts and work on mobility separately.
- Reverse the movement out of the bottom, driving your whole foot into the floor and keeping your chest and hips rising at the same rate.
- Stand fully upright, breathe out, take a fresh breath and brace again for the next rep.
Common mistakes
- Knees collapsing inward: usually a control problem rather than a weakness. Think about screwing your feet into the floor and pushing the ground apart as you stand up.
- Losing depth as the weight climbs: almost everyone squats higher than they think. Film a set from the side occasionally rather than judging by feel.
- Hips rising faster than the shoulders: this turns the squat into an awkward good morning. Drop the weight, drive your upper back hard into the bar, and think about keeping your chest up as you leave the bottom.
- Coming up onto the toes: your weight should stay over the middle of your foot throughout. If it drifts forward, check your stance width and whether you are sitting back at all.
- Holding your breath for several reps: brace and breathe once per rep. Stacking three or four reps on one breath is how people get dizzy under a heavy bar.
Use safety bars set just below your bottom position, or a rack you can dump the bar in. If you have neither and you miss a rep, the safest exit is to let the bar roll off your back while you step forward, which is much easier to do if you have practised it with an empty bar first.
Variations and alternatives
The front squat keeps you more upright and shifts the emphasis further onto the quads. The leg press removes the balance and bracing demand entirely, which makes it a useful way to add leg volume without adding much fatigue. The Bulgarian split squat trains one leg at a time and needs far less weight to be hard.
If a movement causes pain rather than ordinary training effort, stop and speak to a qualified professional. Programming context for this lift is in how training programs are built.