How To: Barbell Squat | 3 GOLDEN RULES! (MADE BETTER!)

I bet the first time you all try GOLDEN RULE #1, it will change your squat life forever! All about them simple and helpful tips! Now show me your gains Nation! What exercise would you like to see next?

*READ FULL ARTICLE WITH PHOTOS*

Today we’re going to go over the 3 golden rules for the barbell back squat. I also have a bonus rule at the end, so make sure you read the entire article!

Golden Rule #1: Always Go Ass To Grass! (ATG)
We’ve all seen the quarter squats in the gym, where someone loads up the bar with about 7 plates on each side, and they proceed to squat down about 1 inch. That is doing NOTHING. Then there are some of you who may only be going down halfway (to parallel) and coming back up, and believe it or not that’s actually placing more tension in your knees by stopping and then having to get things going at halfway, compared to going all the way down.

If you want to avoid acute or chronic pain in your knees, you need to teach your body full range of motion (ROM). Full ROM is going all the way down, keeping your chest up, ass to grass, and then coming all the way back up to the top on every single repetition. If you’re not able to go full ROM yet, obviously you might have some flexibility issues, but I do have another ARTICLE that can help with that.

When I first started going true ass to grass squatting (all the way down, all the way up), I had to SIGNIFICANTLY lower my weight in order to be able to do that. Something you can do right now to see what it feels like to go all the way down, is put some weight on the bar (about 95lbs or 135lbs depending on how strong you are). Then go down into the bottom position, and try to move your feet around and see what feels the most comfortable to stay in that position, because your form is going to change when you go ass to grass. For me, I used to squat with my feet a little too close, and that was preventing me from going all the way down. So what I had to do was try different foot stances, and go all the way down, and adjust my body in the bottom position to get used to that to perform my reps.

Golden Rule #2: Push Through Heels / NOT TOES!
Again, proper ROM is ass to grass, but when you push up, you push through your heels, so that your feet stay flat the entire time. What often happens when people squat (usually in the beginning due to people having tight ankles or poor ankle flexibility), is that as they go down, the heels start to come off the ground, then they push through their toes to get back to the starting position. If you have poor ankle flexibility, you should probably address that before you start squatting heavy.

What can also happen is that maybe your ankle flexibility is good now, but because you were squatting wrong for so long and pushing through your toes, you’ve developed a faulty recruitment pattern where your body is used to recruiting certain muscles more during a squat. You should be recruiting a lot more glutes and hamstrings, but because you’re pushing through your toes, you’re recruiting a lot more quads and that might be pushing your knees in, causing valgus knee collapse, which can lead to a meniscus tear in your knee, and a lot of other injuries. You definitely don’t want that to happen, especially as you start squatting heavier and heavier weight. If anything, when you squat, you should be focusing on pushing your knees out, and then keeping your knees pushed out as you perform the movement to avoid valgus knee collapse altogether.

So how can you correct this issue if you’re starting to do it? The easiest way would be to get a pair of lifting shoes, because those are going to elevate your heels a little bit off the ground. If you don’t have lifting shoes, you can get a pair of 5lb plates (I wouldn’t go to 10lb plates, just stick to 2.5lb or 5lb plates), and you can put your heels on the plates.

*CONTINUE READING HERE*

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[ScottHermanFitness]

I bet the first time you all try GOLDEN RULE #1, it will change your squat life forever! All about them simple and helpful tips! Now show me your gains Nation! What exercise would you like to see next?

[TheProverbialHater]

I'm here to learn how to do the bah-bell squat properly!

[beluga]

1) ass to grass. Squat deep
2) push through your heels
3) hold your breath keep your core tight while squatting
Bonus rule:- warump your shoulder

[Franklinjohn]

This man has changed my life. Until I discovered this channel, I was doing EVERYTHING all wrong. Thanks Scott!

[sophocles]

Bahhhbell ... ahhhss to the grahhhss - there - summarised it for you.

[kumquatmanager]

I always go ass to grass. It's just that my grass has never been mowed. Lol

[shayanp]

One of the oldest fitness channel on youtube. I remeber these guy used to train in empty gyms at night few years backlool he is really under rated to be fair. Keep up the good work.

[lolzmcfree]

Plz change the name of the video to bahbell squat, this was clickbait

[mohanadelnokali]

Dude these pants give the illusion that you peed your pants lol

[Stinbeng]

Very informative. I recently lowered my squat about 30lbs. I used to be able to do 5x5 but every rep was like dropping real fast and bouncing out of the squat, not breathing, knees caving in. So I dropped the weight about 30 lbs now I do a 5x5 clean strict form my knees don’t cave in, I breathe properly. Best change I ever made

[jaxminxo]

I’m 130lbs && was struggling to go heavier on my squats. I started implementing holding my breath when I squat and I’m doing a good 185lbs for 7 reps! Thanks Scotty 😎

[skipplet]

Scott, I’ve stuck with training longer and made more gains than I ever have in my life because of your videos. Thanks for all the motivation and great instruction!

[alexsisk]

I will be trying this! A lot of the video tutorials for women say....no knees over toes, pull glutes back into heels and rarely ever ass to grass....that, for me, makes squats more difficult and unenjoyable so I avoid them. I always thought that was the right way. Now I am excited to try it your way! Thank you!

[meganwalmsley]

This helps so much! I never realized all the mistakes I’ve been making while doing bar bell squats, specially with breathing. Thank you!

[mrwaqy]

Looking good Scott! When I started I was doing half reps then I learnt ATG. I stayed at about 50kg built up to 12 reps 5 sets full motion. Now my highest is 85kg full motion (2-3 reps) after about 7 months. Building up slowly is the most important. Also I've learned so much from your vids since I began weight lifting. Thank you.

[jross]

Do I need to wear those cute spandex to keep my junk secure?

[TaraHower]

I love your true Boston accent so beautiful. I’ll try this when the new local gym opens. It’s so cute how you say stahting and then say starting. Keep your accent it’s unique and part of who you are 🙂 I guarantee it’s super cool!

[VanishMe]

I used to have shoulder mobility issues aswell when squatting and it started to hurt. Started to warm them up exactly like that a while ago. It really does help.

[Joecool_]

“Lucky for me it’s 135”

Bro I’m starting at 75 and its a little heavy

[sofeasumalee]

Ive been doing quarter squats till i watch this video. Thanks for changing my life