Let’s get one thing straight, there is no perfect squat. There is a perfect squat for you though. Taking things into account such as height, shin length, age, mobility etc

So if we’re going to iron out the wrinkles and work towards perfecting your squat, where do we begin? I like to start from the ground up. It does my head in how so many lifters wear running shoes in the gym. When we play any sport, football, cricket, basketball, golf, we wear the correct footwear. Without a doubt those that lift weights are the worst offenders here.

In case you don’t know, you can actually buy correct footwear for lifting weights, primarily squatting. All the serious lifters in my gym have a pair, either the Nikes, Do Wins, Adidas or Zhang Kong. You can get them on the internet in Australia through Iron Edge. If you’re serious about perfecting the squat, get some.

Mobility is the next issue. Some first time squatters can do a full deep ass to grass squat first go, others take weeks. Actually before I discuss depth, I should talk about what I consider the best squat technique. As most of you reading this will use the squat as an exercise, that’s what I’ll stick to.

Start by placing the bar on your traps, it should feel comfortable, keep looking for that sweet spot. No kind of towel or apparatus should be placed between the bar and your traps.  If you place the bar too far down your back you will run into wrist and elbow issues down the track. The bar should be in a spot that allows you to do 20 reps without any discomfort in the wrists or elbows.

Stance. I prefer shoulder width, but if you need to go a little wider its fine, as we all posses different limb and trunk lengths.

So with the bar resting high on the traps, a comfortable grip and shoulder width stance, squat down as far as you can. If you can squat ass to grass, great, if you can’t but you’re still under parallel, great, if you’re doing half squats, were going to need to work on mobility. First port of call is a foam roller, roll your quads, IT band, lower back etc. Next is a proper deep tissue massage. If you’re still restricted and feel something is impeding your ability to squat deeper, a chiropractor or sports physio.

So I’m now going to assume everything is okay and you can squat to full depth without your body being a restriction. I say this because I believe the mind plays a bigger role in lifters missing squats or squatting so high they get nose bleeds. I see it in my gym and competitions. I have lifters who can squat rock bottom with 50% of their one rep max, but once the bar weight approaches 90% of their one rep max, they cut them high. This is a sign of mental weakness. At the recent World Powerlifting Championships, one of my 90kg lifters was successful with 235kg, then 250kg. On a 3rd attempt, 255kg buried him. But the pleasing factor was all 3 attempts were to the same depth. At the same comp I had lifters do the exact opposite, as the bar got heavier their squats got higher.

This is mental weakness. So while most concentrate on the physical aspects of squatting only, I work on the mental side quite a bit. So what’s the best way to address the mind? Simply do every rep the same, from empty bar till your one rep max. Over time you will build the confidence to drop to the same height on every rep. It’s a lack of confidence that stops a lifter going all the way down.

Another factor is technique, which is totally dependent on bar weight. I hate it when some internet expert watches a video of a world record attempt, or a max effort, and comments the form was poor. Here’s a reality check, if your form on a max effort was immaculate, it wasn’t a max effort. I was watching the Crossfit Games yesterday and I was really impressed with the powerclean technique as the competitors were cleaning 140kg. It was unrecognizable as they approached and went past 160kg. That’s what happens when you try. They simply gave it everything they had. An internet expert will watch the lift in isolation and not understand that effort is what separates the average from the good. Don’t be afraid to try.

So while watching a lifter perform sets of 10 reps, his or her technique should be pretty good, if it’s not, it’s going to be horrible with heavy weights. Some problems are leaning forward too far, knees coming in. I’ve noticed the knees coming in on a one rep max to not be a massive issue. This is going to surprise a lot of people. Check out the best strength athletes in the world, Olympic lifters, watch how often their knees come in coming out of the rock bottom position of a maximum clean. All the literature I’ve read from the top Olympic lifting coaches supports this theory. It doesn’t mean I don’t try and correct it, but if a lifter keeps doing this after I’ve tried everything, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

But your knees shouldn’t be coming in on every rep or on light weights. First thing I would do is slightly widen the stance and point the toes out, then have the lifter track their knees over their toes. Reduce the weight on the bar to begin with.

As for the leaning forward, it’s tricky. If the lifter is leaning forward because of weak erectors, simply introduce Good Mornings, hyperextensions, Romanian deadlifts to the program. If its biomechanics, travel back in time and pick better parents. On this note, I believe, to a certain extent, that you can change your levers simply by adding bodyweight. Of all the lifts, the squat improves the most with bodyweight. I have found this with every single lifter I have coached. The lift that gains the least, and sometimes goes backwards, is the deadlift. So if you’re 190cm and 68kg, go eat something if you want your squat to improve.

Ed Coan is possibly the greatest powerlifter ever. Check pics and vids of his squats, he leaned forward a fair way, far from copy book, yet he squatted well over 420kg at only 100kg bodyweight. His technique on deadlifts was flawless, he just had limb and trunk lengths that didn’t allow perfect looking squats.

So if you start with correct footwear, correct bar placement, correct stance width and you’re hitting good depth, you have perfected the squat technique for your body. The guy squatting next to you may look different, it doesn’t mean he’s more effective. I have over 13 clients at PTC who squat between 200-300kg, each and every one of them has a different technique.

One problem I have with coaches that are book learned and have never worked with lots of lifters is they believe there is only one way to do things. That would be correct if all our lifters were 180cm and 100kg, but my range is from 198cm and 160kg to 140cm and 47kg.

Follow the guides I have set, but they are not set in stone, and see if you can squat without great discomfort in your joints for 10 reps with 75% of your one rep max, which is good squatting. If you can, continue with what you’re doing, if not, have another set of eyes watch your technique, it’s normally something small that needs tweaking, that can’t be done over the internet.

For the coaches reading this, some of the tools I have used to help lifters squat better are:

Boxes. These are fantastic, I have the 30cm, 45cm and 60cm boxes. Having a lifter sit back onto a box helps with those whose knees go too far forward over their toes. I’m not one who believes the toes should never go over the toes, but having the knees excessively forward of the toes can lead to knee issues in some.

I use the higher boxes for those with low confidence. We load up 20% more weight than the lifter normally squats and have him sit to the 45cm box. I do the same with the 60cm box, only we use much greater weights.

This helps due to the fact that when the lifter goes back to his regular training weights, the bar actually feels quite light compared to the box squats.

Pause squats are another tool I use to build confidence in the bottom position. Simply have the lifter sit rock bottom for a count of 3. Start with light weights and keep adding weight to the bar each week.

You’ll notice the last two techniques have to do with the mind, tricking the lifter/mind. Most really underestimate the role the mind plays on a lifter reaching his potential in the squat.

Just because I run a successful gym with lots of WR holders, don’t think all my lifters are gems. I have every problem you have, and I need to address each lifter differently. I’m pretty confident we have discussed the most common issues preventing a lifter from perfecting his or her technique.

Individual coaching is beyond the scope of the internet in my opinion.

Markos Markopoulos

www.ptcfrankston.com

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