When it comes to building strength and
adding muscle mass, not many exercises can compete with a well-executed barbell
back squat. However, despite the many benefits you can achieve from back
squatting, there is a significant degree of technical proficiency one must have
in order to perform a back squat both safely and effectively. Perhaps the most
common issue we see amongst trainees is sacrificing the depth of the squat in
order to handle more weight on the bar; while partial range of motion squats
have been practiced by many of the world’s top athletes (including elite track
and field), for the average lifter looking to increase strength and build
muscle, deeper squats are the more appropriate option.
Herein lies the question of what an
acceptable depth is. By many powerlifting federation standards, depth is
considered acceptable when the crease of the hip is at, or slightly below, the
top of the knee. For the sake of this article, I will consider our goal depth
to be the crease of the hip in line with the top of the knee.
While there are many factors that may
limit squat depth amongst lifters, some of the most common we see can be boiled
down to a few things: ego (i.e. sacrificing depth for weight on the bar), setup
position, and for some, boney anatomy. Fortunately for most, we can improve
depth by addressing the first two issues; however, for some lifters, boney
anatomy of the pelvic region may fall under the “things we can’t really change
through training” category. Lifters who experience femoral acetabular
impingement (FAI) will often complain of “pinching” in the front of the hip in
the bottom position of a squat. While improving set up position and getting the
right muscles to turn on when they need to will often alleviate any pinching,
it is possible for lifters to have boney overgrowths that will block hip motion
as they descend into a squat (see below).
As you can see from the picture above, cam
lesions (a boney overgrowth on the femur) and pincer lesions (a boney
overgrowth on the acetabulum) can essentially “get in the way” of a hip joint
that is trying its best to descend into a squat. For certain people
experiencing FAI, surgical interventions may be warranted; however, there are
still techniques we can implement to optimize starting position that will give
these lifters as much of a “home field advantage” as they can get when it comes
to squatting (side note: if squatting to depth bugs your hips even after using some
of the techniques I’ll discuss, understand that there are other training
modalities you can use. Don’t force a ROM that you don’t have.)
Now that we have some background out of
the way, let’s get into the ways we can improve squat depth!
HACK
#1: IMPROVE POSITION OF THE PELVIS AND RIB CAGE
The
normal human spine has a few alternating curves in it. Starting in the cervical
region, we see a lordosis, followed by a thoracic kyphosis, followed by a
lumbar lordosis, followed by a sacral kyphosis (see the picture below on the
left.)
In many athletes and lifters, one of the
common posture traits we see is an accentuated lumbar lordosis (see the picture
above on the right), which coincides with an anterior tilt of the pelvis (note
the angle of the belt line). As the pelvis rolls forward into anterior tilt,
there is a concomitant elevation of the lower part of the rib cage. In this
position, the hip joint becomes more “closed off” to the acetabulum moving over
the femur, and may lead to pinching in the front of the hips in the bottom
position of the squat. From a muscle perspective, we have a whole lot that will
lose optimal leverage for force production from being excessively lengthened
(most notably the hamstrings, internal/external obliques, and transverse
abdominis.)
Now just because someone presents in
this pattern, it doesn’t mean that this is fatal. In fact, there are a ton of
really simple exercises we can use to help restore position of the lumbopelvic
region so the muscles have optimal leverage to help us squat deeper.
My go-to exercise to reposition the
pelvis is called the 90-90 Hip Lift, which is adopted from the Postural
Restoration Institute. This exercise forces the hamstrings to create a
posterior tilt on the pelvis, which will help restore optimal position in an
already anteriorly rotated pelvis. In addition to the hamstring activity, you
can also see we are very dialed in on the breathing during this exercise.
Forcefully exhaling will lead to the rib cage getting pulled down, in, and
back, which will restore position of the rib cage.
Now that we have the pelvis and rib cage
anchored down, let’s move on to how we control that position!
HACK
#2: FOCUS ON BRACING, NOT ON ARCHING
Since
the dawn of time, many lifters have been cued to arch their backs hard during
squats, which exaggerates the lumbar lordosis. While this may be a strategy
that a powerlifter could use to handle maximal weights, for the lifter who is
struggling with hip depth, this is probably the last thing we want to be doing.
If you consider our previous discussion on pelvic position and its influence on
squatting, then you know that as the lumbar spine extends (as it does in
arching), the pelvis dumps forward into anterior tilt. In this scenario I have
two options as I descend into a squat: option one is to have my femur jam up
against my forwardly rotated pelvis, causing impingement; option two is to have
my pelvis roll backwards to create space for me to move (i.e. the infamous
“butt-wink”). In either case, my hips and spine are in a compromised position
to safely move.
Adopting a bracing strategy involves
creating a relatively neutral spine position, then using active muscle force to
maintain this position. In the video below, I outline the key concepts in how
to brace for a squat.
As you can see from the video, having a good starting
position is important; however, it doesn’t do you much good if you revert back
to faulty stability patterns.
HACK
#3: PERFORM ANTERIORLY LOADED SQUAT VARIATIONS
Last
November I was fortunate enough to see world-class track and field coach, Boo
Schexnayder, present at the
Physical Preparation Summit in Indianapolis. Out of all the great knowledge
bombs shared that day, one of the one-liners that really stood out to me was
his take on adding variety to his training of athletes to keep them healthy:
“Diversity is the mother of injury prevention.” In other words, if we keep
overloading the same patterns over and over again, our chances of getting beat
up in the long run are high; on the flip side, when we add in more variety in
our training, our chances of dealing with overuse injuries plummet.
To
tie this into squatting, now: even if you reposition the pelvis and learn how
to brace, repetitively overloading a squat to a high depth will likely put
excessive strain on your system. So if you’re a lifter who is still
experiencing issues getting to an appropriate depth in the back squat, should you
just give up and go leg press instead? Not before your experiment with some
anteriorly loaded squat variations!
In
the video below I discuss two different anteriorly loaded squat variations: the
goblet squat and the front squat. By placing the load in the front side of the
body, the lifter will have an easier time turning on the anterior core thus
keeping the neutral spine and pelvis position we want to squat deeper.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
While there are about a million ways
to help lifters squat deeper, these three are techniques that have worked the
best for me. Another thing to consider is that the techniques a lifter uses in
training to improve depth may not necessarily be the same used in competition
to lift maximal weights. At the end of the day, I am in favor for anything that
will help someone move better and build capacity in a safe and effective manner.
All that being said, try these three techniques out and you’ll be squatting
deeper in no time!
Conor
McNally, MS, CSCS, BCCC
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