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>>Dave: Squats.
Three important components of the squat:
posture, your stance,
and keeping in mind the knees.
Posture:
everybody knows and has seen images of the spine,
it's got a couple of curves in it.
You want to maintain those natural curves
in order to keep that stability within our core
especially while loaded axially,
meaning from the top of the spine down to your feet.
Breathing while squatting is important as well.
Take in that first initial deep breath,
hold, squat all the way down,
and exhale when you get to the top.
[pause]
How deep should you squat?
From the side, we can see pretty easily the relationship of the hip and knee
as she gets to the bottom of the squat.
We want to take our squats as low as possible
while maintaining that neutral spine posture we spoke of earlier.
We don't want to sacrifice the depth of squat
for a "turtle back" type posture where we round the back
or the much talked about "butt-wink"
where the rear end tucks underneath
at the bottom of the squat.
The second component for the proper squat is our stance.
How wide should our feet be?
Somewhere between hip and shoulder-width is appropriate for most folks.
The other component is whether we toe out or not.
From the side position in this video,
you can see as this athlete descends in the squat
the relationship of the hips and knees.
We want to get our depth as deep as we can
while maintaining that neutral spine.
The knee is a hinge joint.
It does not rotate.
The rotation that happens as we descend into the squat occurs from the hip.
In order to maintain the proper "hinge" relationship at the knees,
we need to point our toes outward
to what's comfortable per individual.
In this picture,
the feet are pointed out
possibly in a proper position for this athlete
but she's starting to rotate and twist
the knees come in.
Not very good for the health of the knees.
We want to maintain that alignment
and that hinge.
As the toes are pointed straight ahead in this image,
the knees end up "rotating" outward.
Again, we want to maintain that "hinge" relationship,
not a rotation,
at the knees.
See here this line of force where the knees are flexing,
it's right between
the big toe and the second toe.
As the squatting down and back up,
those knees are hinging right on that line.
Do the knees pass the toes?
In the deep squat position
if we're able to maintain a neutral spine,
and that dotted line in this still image
shows that load going straight down to the platform
in the middle of her foot.
Yes, the knees will go past the toes.
All together now,
deep breath in,
down, knees hinging,
rotation happening at the hip,
feet are flat on the floor.