Help with Squats

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  • Cath_Taylor
    Cath_Taylor Posts: 104 Member
    Let us know how you get on. My H showed me how to do this tonight and how we didn't end up in A&E (ER) I will never know! Was hilarious! Kinda regretting getting rid of my gym ball now :smile:
  • MacCaulin
    MacCaulin Posts: 1
    Squats are one of the best exercises you can do for your mid and lower body. They work so many muscles and there are a ton of variants. However, they're also one of the more dangerous exercises, probably because they utilize so many muscles some of which are core muscles.

    It's for those two reasons that when I was learning weightlifting in my teens, my instructor emphasized squats but also taught an eased approach to them. What he taught me was:
    1. Don't jump right into doing squats or you're going to get hurt. Instead, ease into them by starting with a weightless bar.

    2. Learn the form before adding weight. In other words, make it muscle memory. As others have already mentioned, the form generally taught is a general form. It teaches you how your form should generally be but you have to adjust it to fit your own body. You do that by using a weightless bar and taking it slow.

    3. Small increments. You can mess up your knees and back pretty easily with squats so always increment your weight in small intervals. Personally, I've always done increments of 10lbs. 5lb per side. Additionally, when you add weight, don't feel you need to go down all the way right away. Only squat as far as you feel comfortable with until you can get all the way down. Especially with bad knees and back injuries, you want to make sure you're strengthening your joints, not exacerbating injuries.

    4. Always wear a lifting belt. My instructor always told me it was to prevent hernias. I've read some studies in the past couple of years that cast doubt on whether they actually provide any protection against hernias but I can say from experience that the belt provides an extra sense of stability. If your belt is tight enough, you can feel your abs pressing against belt. It also helps keep your back straighter which is important.

    Full disclosure: To my knowledge, my instructor had no formal training, scientific background, or any such thing (nor do I for that matter). He wasn't even a teacher. He just owned a small gym in my hometown. However, he was in his 60's and squatting around 450lbs 2x a week. His son would come work out with him and squatted around 650lbs. As a scrawny little 15 year old that could barely squat his weight, I didn't question him. Following his methodology I got myself up to a max squat of 350lb's at my peak (not even close to that anymore) so I've never felt the need to question his methodology.

    One last thing from personally experience, SrJoben is spot on with everything except going all the way down from the get go. Partial movements may be harder on the knees, I don't know one way or the other on that but if you go all the way down without getting your body used to be able to stand back up from that, you aren't getting back up without breaking out of the squat. That's just frustrating and discouraging. That goes for every time you add weight as well.

    Hopefully that helps!
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    its a fitness myth that your knees shouldnt go over your toes, whoever gave you that misinformation, dont listen to that person anymore. I squat competitively BTW and have squated over 400lbs, so I know what I am talking about.

    check out this video
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBHc323QwFE

    Huge thanks for that!!!

    Agreed

    And no squats aren't bad for your knees...I squat 165lbs and no knee issues.

    As for that myth I know that I saw a gif of a child (probably 18months old) squatting and the caption was "This is how you do it"...

    Forgetting of course that babies bones aren't totally hardened.

    How you squat is defined on how you build.

    I squat with a wider than normal stance as it's most comfortable, I have a stool behind me to make sure I get ATG (*kitten* to grass) and I keep my girls up and neutral spine...
    And the fact that babies have a totally different leg:torso ratio.

    Squatting has to work with your own proportions.

    You can also hold on to something for balance until you get used to the movement.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    4. Always wear a lifting belt. My instructor always told me it was to prevent hernias.
    Not sure how that would prevent an inguinal hernia, which is the most common type, since that is well below where the belt sits. (Plus it allows you to create more pressure on the areas that are not covered by the belt.)

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