How to PROPERLY Squat for Growth (4 Easy Steps)

The squat is the KING...of poorly performed exercises. Get your barbell squat technique wrong and instead of growing nice quads and glutes, you’ll feel aches and pains in your knees, hips, back, and even shoulders. But if you want to learn how to squat properly or how to do a squat, follow these 4 easy steps and I guarantee you’ll get your back squat form perfect.

Step 1: Setup. Your anatomy will determine what your perfect squat form looks like. Let’s start with your foot stance. Hold a light weight at your chest, set your feet hip width apart, and squat down. See how that feels and note how low you could get. Widen it by an inch or two and compare. Keep going till you find what feels best and enables you to squat the lowest. As for your foot angle, most people’s joints will feel better with their toes pointed out slightly, so don’t force yourself to keep them straight. And the wider the stance you use, the more your toes will have to turn out.

Next, it’s time to grab the bar. Set your feet under the bar, half squat to get under it, and then place the bar on your upper back. Right onto the meat of your traps. Next, grip the bar with your hands as narrow as possible without pain in your wrists, shoulders, or elbows. Then, walk it out by extending your legs to lift it out of the rack and then taking three careful steps back. Lastly, to keep you balanced as you squat, spread your weight evenly over your foot by making sure each foot has three solid points of contact with the ground - your big toe, your pinky toe, and your heel.

Step 2: Create whole body tension. You need to first activate several key muscles that will protect your back and keep you strong as you perform your squats. Start with the lower body. Screw your feet into the ground as if you were trying to touch your heels together. Then, level your pelvis with the floor by tilting it back as if it was a bowl of water and you were trying to prevent it from spilling. Lock this in by squeezing your inner thighs, glutes, and quads. For the upper body, pull your elbows forward under the bar and pull the bar down into your meaty upper traps. This helps activate your lats and keeps your upper back stable. Finally, take a deep 360 breath into your waist then brace your core.

Step 3: Descent. Pull yourself down into the squat using your hamstrings. Let your butt drop down between your heels and push your knees out in the same direction as your toes. Keep your upper back tight by pulling the bar down and continue lowering as deep as you comfortably can. Squat down to at least somewhere close to parallel. But if towards the bottom of your squat your upper body falls forward, or your heels come off the ground, or your lower back rounds excessively into “butt wink”, these are all signs you’re not yet ready to go that deep. There are 2 reasons for this. The most common reason is limited ankle mobility. In this case, try elevating your heels onto weight plates and see if that helps with your squat technique. The other reason is a weak core and glutes. In this case, you can try out a more stable exercise like smith machine squats before progressing to the barbell.

But once you can get deep enough, you may notice your knees end up over your toes. As long as your knees don’t cave in or out and instead push out in the same direction as your toes, letting your knees go over your toes is perfectly fine. But, once you reach the bottom position, to maximize growth DO NOT let gravity drop you into that last inch or two. Research suggests this is the most important part of the movement for growth. So force your muscles to work by controlling the weight down and pausing for half a second at the bottom before moving onto the final step...

... but if you've found this tutorial useful so far, then consider joining one of our step by step programs that take care of all the guess for you. We show you what exercises to do, and how to do them based on your body. You can take the quiz below to find the best program for you and your body:

The final step of learning how to squat properly (step 4): ascent. We want the chest and hips to rise at the same rate. To do this, drive up out of the bottom by pushing the floor away and thinking about driving your traps up against the bar. Continue pushing down against the floor and getting tall until your legs are fully extended. But as you come to the top, avoid letting out a big exhale. Instead, maximize the pressure in your abdomen to protect your back by keeping your lips held tighter together as you breathe out, to gradually let air out. Then, take another deep 360 breath in, brace, and repeat another rep.

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[ThatGuy-scrx]

Probably the most detailed and comprehensive instructional videos on the web

[thebaneofyourexistence.]

Genuine question: how do we get you an award for quality content? Your editing, intelligence and delivery are second to none. Thank
You.

[Isaac_]

This honestly just saved me, I was just having knee and hip pain while trying to increase my squats. I bumped down the weight and found my ideal stance and I’m already feeling a lot better

[ankurbhatia]

I’m really impressed with how much the quality of your videos have improved over the years. This is one of the most informative step by step tutorials on YouTube!

[fakehourentertainment]

Here’s my notes:
*Bar up on meaty part of your traps, hands as narrow as possible. Pressure through heel, big toe, and pinky toe.
*Screw feet into the ground as if touching heels.
*Tilt pelvis forward
*Engage glutes to lock this in place and HOLD the entire time
*Engage your core from bracing and HOLD this the entire time.
*Pull the bar down into your lats as if you’re trying to bend it in half.
*Pull your elbows directly underneath the bar.
*Squat down while holding the tension in your glutes and core. Don’t cave your knees.
*Come back up led by your shoulders. No good mornings. Don’t cave your knees.

[ARTrca]

You’re the man Jeremy. Immediately added 40 pounds to my squat and took the strain out of my hips. I actually enjoy doing squats now. Keep up the awesome work, man.

[preston]

I’ve always had pain with the squat. I’ve had multiple personal trainers, my GF is a physical therapist, I’ve watched numerous YouTube videos and somehow I’ve never had even close to this helpful and detailed of a breakdown, and in 5 minutes no less. You’re an absolute master of your craft my man!

[TenshiXI]

I did these form changes during my most recent Leg Day, and the difference was huge. My knees weren't popping, and I felt more stable than ever before. Thank you for this.

[cammieklund]

Wow!🎉 That was THE BEST instruction video on squats I've ever seen!👍 And thanks for revealing that knees over toes isn't an issue! That has always held me back bcs it's almost impossible for me to do squats without that happening and that scared me so much that I avoid squats!

[samarthpawale]

Step #1 - 0:18 - Set Up
Step #2 - 2:13 - Creating Whole Body Tension
Step #3- 3:27 - Descent
Step #4- 6:08 - Ascent

[Awoodfaerie]

62 year old femaie here (okay, honestly closer to 63) THANK YOU for the amazing explanations and graphics. I am slowly expanding my strength training to include using an Olympic bar. You brought up key points that I had questions about and explained them in such an easy way to understand. Very grateful Jeremy!

[beachyvibes]

THANK YOU for addressing the knees over toes concern. I was always told not to do that and didn't understand why people would squat so low. Now I know better - with science-backed info to boot ☺️

[ragnarocking]

this channel is no joke when it comes to demonstrating proper exercise execution. Thank you to you and your team.

[AlmightyWel]

Exactly what I needed before legday today 💪🏻

[silvanasalazar]

Absolutely love this series!! Can you do one on the barbell hip thrust?

[NerdLifts]

It's amazing how much advice has changed in the last ten years. Trainers then told me feet straight, elbows back, no knees over toes, etc... The realization that everyone has a unique physiology and their own perfect squat has done wonders.

[SourPatch]

Your content is unparalleled. Thanks for all the information!

[lafawarz]

Jeremy, I usually am very hesitant when it comes to learning form from random youtubers, but I took down tips from your last deadlift video and boy did it make me so happy. I used to get lower back pain no matter how hard I tried to adjust and change and never could seem to fix my form completely. However, when I hit deadlift this week, I only got back soreness and no back pain, simply because of how awesome your tutorial was. I am so ready to watch this squat video and do the same!!! Thanks for all you do, you are amazing!

[IMMORTALR]

These are the types of videos I was looking for. Thank you so much!
I hope you make more of these with other exercises as well.

[codingfeature]

Super good explanation! I think this will be my main go to squat form video from now on, the way it combines visuals and the voice over makes it so much easier to learn.