Do You Know How To Squat? Do You Know What You Are Squatting For?

Many of us in the gym squat.  Be it front squats, high bar squats, low bar squats, or whatever other concoction someone comes up with, the motion of the squat is essentially the same: we put weight up on our shoulder region somewhere and bend our legs…this is truly the simple explanation.

A recent paper (2/09) by Matthew Dritz, MSc, John Cronin, PhD, and Patria Hume, PhD, entitled The Bodyweight Squat: A Movement Screen for the Squat Pattern, evaluated the research on the squat and devised the ‘proper’ position for this exercise. They looked at Baechle’s, Bloomfield’s, and Kinakin’s work on the subject to devise their methodology.  I, for one, really embrace this paper.  As a sports rehabilitation specialist, I very much appreciate the concern for proper form and certainly for a neutral spine.

So, what do we do a two-legged squat for?  It is to train our back?  Do we squat to affect our gluteus maximus (butt)?  Does squatting train our hamstrings?  Well, the truth of the matter is that when we perform a two-legged squat, we are primarily activating the quadriceps musculature…Research by Stuart McGill, PhD has shown this and he writes about this in his studies/books.  Although we might use many muscles in the squat as we have to be stable, the primary movers are the quads.  So, this begs the question of why so many ‘train’ other muscles when they squat?

For example, many bend at the waist when they squat (either during the initial phase of the squat or when coming back up).  Many stick their butts out when they squat.  Many look ‘up’ when they squat? Are these positions part of the proper squat?  The answer is a resounding ‘NO’.

There are some basic rules of squatting and if you follow them, you’ll greatly reduce your risk for injury.  If you don’t follow them, injury will occur.  It is usually not a question of ‘if’ so much as it is a question of ‘when’.  Simply put, you cannot load your body with weight in a fashion that the body is not able to handle such a load.

The basic rules are as follows:
1.  The back stays straight…period…if you stick your butt out while you squat, you shouldn’t be squatting…there is no way around this.  We do not want to compress our facet joints with extension while we have weight on our shoulders.  This is very dangerous.  Our spinal erectors are already facilitated…no need to facilitate them more! Straight back means straight back…it doesn’t mean we cannot bend at the hips a little to get a comfortable squat position.  Bending at the hips is regarded as being safe.  Bending the spine is dangerous!
2.  We look forward.  Looking up will force us to compensate and go into extension.  Very bad!
3.  The knees stay aligned over the feet.  If our knees move in or out when we squat, we are enforcing faulty tracking knee patterns and this could lead to significant knee damage. We bend the hips and knees to squat.  We don’t want the knees to go in front of the feet as this will injure the patellar ligament.
4.  The feet are positioned about shoulder-width apart.  They do NOT come off the floor.

When we go into the downward phase of the squat, we keep our position.  If we are tempted to stick our butt out, lean forward, look up, move our feet, etc…, this is a good time to evaluate if we are mechanically sound to perform a squat.

How do we know if we can squat or not? According to McGill, there are a few assessments to perform before squatting.  McGill recommends starting with something called a Potty Squat.  This teaches our body the form of the squat.  We then progress to the ‘Short Stop’ squat (unassisted squat), which takes away the support we get from the Potty Squat and creates a free-form exercise.  From this training position, we can start to move a standard squat with weight.  The key is to develop the proper stability so the squat motion will train the muscles it’s supposed to train, not create injury.

Along the way, we have to be certain that we have proper biomechanical integrity.  If we lack proper hip internal rotation, if we have iliotibial tract syndrome, if we have a lack of ankle dorsiflexion due to a history of ankle sprains (without needed rehabilition following), we might need these issues corrected by a chiropractor (with sports training) or a sports physical therapist.

Without proper joint function, many times we cannot achieve the movement we’d like. Stretching will increase range of motion but it will NOT reduce stiffness (McGill)…in other words, it won’t improve joint function.  Joint dysfunction inhibits adjacent muscular activity (this is one of the favorite sayings of Kevin Hearon, D.C.).  Think of it this way…if a joint is fixated, or not moving properly, the muscles will work harder to get the joint to move in its ‘normal’ ranges of motion.  Being the muscles cannot reset the circuitry of the joint, muscle injury will occur as the muscles work harder and harder.  I won’t get into articular neurology here, but we need a different type of neurological stimulus to get joints to work better.

So, there you have it.  Do you know how to squat and do you know what you are squatting for?  Now you should have some answers.  Please feel free to ask away on this topic as it is a great one for an open discussion.