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This is Daniel Masters from Masters Personal Training and today I'm going to be discussing
the safest and most effective way of performing the squat technique to you.
Whenever you do a squat that is by yourself. Meaning you have no spotter or you are unattended,
you always want to use a safety cage for your own protection. This allows you to lift a
heavier weight without putting yourself at risk. So, if the danger of not being able
to lower the weight or get out of the way in time, you can effectively and safely lower
the weight onto the support bars and then get out in a safe manner.
Today, because I'll be using a very light load, we won't need those in place so I'm
going to perform the squat movement for you and then re-rack.
The first thing you have to do when you perform the squat is position yourself mid-line to
the bar. This is usually very easy because the bar, with most Olympic bars they have
some kind of grain at the centre point of the bar. You want to make sure that your neck
is in position with this. However, when you take a bar on the back of the shoulders, you
must ensure that the bar is resting on the shoulder blades and not the top of the neck
or the cervical spine as this can cause impression or pain, or serious injury later on. Address
the bar, rest the bar on the shoulder blades and take a nice supportive grip of the barbell
first. When you are ready, disengage the bar from the rack, step away, and adopt a stance
which feels comfortable. Many people say your grip and your stance should be shoulder grip,
but in truth your foot position is all personal preference. You may find that it is better
to have a wider stance position. You may find that a wider stance is better for you. When
you are ready, slight bend on the knees, lift the chest up, draw the abdominals in, slowly
bend the legs down and then drive up through the heels.
Again, slowly bend the knees down keeping the back straight and push up through the
heels. At no point should the heels come off the ground. I'll repeat that again. Down slow,
back straight, drive up. Down slow, back straight, drive up. When you have finished with the
squat, slowly re-rack, ensure the bar is in the rack properly before releasing and stepping
away.