3 Tips to Learn a Proper Squat
At Physiologic - we love getting our clients to squat. Here’s our top reasons why.
BENEFITS OF SQUATTING
1: MUSCLE BUILDING
Excellent leg exercise that works quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, and your core. Easily progressed by adding weight, squatting is a great exercise to boost your lean muscle mass in your lower body! Having a higher percentage of lean muscle mass has been scientifically proven to have positive systemic effects on your boy (lower inflammatory markers, improved cardiovascular function etc.)
2: INJURY PREVENTION
When done correctly, it serves to be an excellent exercise for preventing common lower body injuries like knee pain, and even reduces lower back injuries! By learning how to squat correctly, you’re teaching your body how to function correctly during your day to day activities, reducing the risk of injury.
3: FUNCTIONAL
Many of our activities of daily living require our body to move through some sort of a squatting pattern. Getting on and off the toilet, office chair, and even bending down to pick up your groceries! Squats get you stronger for life.
4: BONE MINERAL DENSITY
Squats are a weight bearing exercise, which have been scientifically proven to be beneficial for maintaining bone mineral density! This is crucial in the population susceptible to Osteoporosis (elderly, menopausal, vitamin/calcium deficiency to name a few).
WHY TECHNIQUE MATTERS
Everyone’s ‘ideal’ squat will look a little different from each other, but there’s definitely some general principles we use to guide our clients toward their perfect squat.
Squatting with good technique will ensure that you
Avoid further potential injury.
Engrain correct movement patterns - your brain remembers movements (muscle memory). Good squat technique = Good quality movement = Efficient movement + Injury Prevention.
Maximise the benefits from doing squats! Muscle strength, muscle mass, bone density etc.
3 TIPS FOR A PROPER SQUAT
These 3 tips are collectively aimed at rectifying the most common faults I see when people show me how they squat.
1: USE A BENCH BEHIND YOU AS AN EXTERNAL CUE
My number one tip when learning to squat is to have a bench behind you, so you can have something to aim for when you squat down. For most who can’t squat properly, they have great difficulty getting their hips going backwards (hip hinging). Having something to aim for immediately makes the task at hand much easier! Nailing the hip hinge in your squat is crucial as it also serves as the fundamental movement for many other lower body exercises.
2: ARMS UP AS YOU SQUAT DOWN
I picked this up from Andrew Lock, a Physiotherapist from Melbourne who’s dedicating his career to getting people out of pain by getting strong and moving well. Read more about his processes here.
Reaching your arms up as you squat down immediately activates the muscles in your back, ensuring your spine stays nice and straight as you descend. This is how we ensure that the squat exercise also works our core to keep the spine stable.
Using a bench behind you to aim for as you squat down, and having arms up as you descend.
3: DON’T BE AFRAID TO LEAN YOUR BODY FORWARDS
Too often people come in wanting to squat with their backs upright, refusing to lean forwards. This is ineffective as it will direct your centre of gravity behind your feet (base of support), causing you to be off balance!
Think about having your body lean forwards so it’s above your knees when you descend. This way, you keep your body weight over your feet, maximising stability, comfort, and later on, how much extra weight you can lift!
Image on the left shows the body being too upright, causing the centre of gravity to fall behind the base of support. (UNSTABLE)
Image on the right shows the body leaning forwards to keep the centre of gravity directly over the base of support. (STABLE)
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
To see how it all looks put together, check out this video I made explaining how I like to teach my clients how to squat.
PUTTING THE SQUAT IN A HOME WORKOUT
A very simple home workout you can do just with squats, is what we call an EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute).
For this example, let’s say you have 10 minutes to spare at home for a workout, and we’ll start off by doing 10 squats every minute. This is called a 10 minute EMOM (10EMOM).
You’ll set your stopwatch for 10 minutes, ideally, if it can break it up into 10 blocks of 1minute intervals.
In your first minute, if it takes you 20 seconds to complete 10 squats, you’ll have 40 seconds to rest before starting your second minute. If it only took you 10 seconds to do 10 squats, you’ll have 50 seconds rest! You get the idea.
With this method, you would’ve done ONE HUNDRED squats in the space of 10 minutes.
Progress by either going to a longer EMOM, OR, trying to do more squats (12,15,20) within that 10EMOM.
WANT MORE?
Squats are just the start to better movement. We offer personal training and rehabilitation, where our Physiotherapist will assess you, and structure an individual exercise program for you. We’ll guide you through proper technique and safe, gradual progressions to achieve your goals, whether it be competitive sports, or your search for healthy ageing. Get in touch with us to learn more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryan Tan is our Clinical Director and Physiotherapist here at Physiologic Hong Kong. His main clinical interests lie in treating spinal conditions and utilising strength training principles in his rehab programs. Looking to bridge the gap between your traditional physio ‘treatment’ and building a strong, injury-proof body? Reach out to us here to see how we can help!
