Tips on squats?

Squat down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor
If you don’t go down that far, you’re cheating yourself and doing a fake squat. Go way down, and you’ll feel it in every muscle in your leg. This will give you a really strong core along with strong legs and a strong back.
Try not to extend your knees past your toes. If you’re doing the squats right, you should be sitting back with your *kitten* out and back straight, Don’t arch your back. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, and point your toes slightly outward.

It not really a "feel the burn" type of exercise

Put some weight on your back

This. When you're not pregnant, obviously.

Squat down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor
If you don’t go down that far, you’re cheating yourself and doing a fake squat. Go way down, and you’ll feel it in every muscle in your leg. This will give you a really strong core along with strong legs and a strong back.
Try not to extend your knees past your toes. If you’re doing the squats right, you should be sitting back with your *kitten* out and back straight, Don’t arch your back. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, and point your toes slightly outward.

DO arch your back
DON'T worry about knees extending past toes during the squat

keep your back tight, chest up, hind end out, and weight on your heels

I feel the burn when I put my weight on my heels, enough to wiggle my toes for the duration of the squat.

I'll make this a little more clear:

- Feet shoulder width apart
- Bar should rest on your traps, not on the base of your neck
- When at the top of squat, do not lock legs out or throw hips forward
- When lowering into squat, keep your butt back as if you are sitting down into a chair (practice without weight first)
- Bottom of squat should be hamstrings parallel to floor or as far as you can go safely until you get the hang of proper form
- Throughout entire motion, keep chest up and shoulders back (back will be slightly arched if you're keep chest up, shoulders back, and back strong)
- Push through your heels on the way back up, stay on your heels throughout, not on toes or balls of feet.

Hope this helps.

My trainer has me use the bench, stand over the end with your feet shoulder width apart (as though you are goint to sit on the end) and squat till your *kitten* touches the bench. Make sure your weight is on your heels, not on your toes. Squat and stand.

Just to (re)state the obvious, I don't think starting out barbell back squats for the very first time while pregnant is a very good idea. Body weight squats maybe.

But after the baby is born, i would highly, highly recommend them!

Thanks all - my profile pic is decieving I guess - it was a year ago, not prego anymore.

So the legs parallel to the floor, but what if I'm going to fall over when I get that low - any tips to get strong enough to be able to go that low in the first place?

Start small, go as low as you can and aim lower each time.

Thanks all - my profile pic is decieving I guess - it was a year ago, not prego anymore.

So the legs parallel to the floor, but what if I'm going to fall over when I get that low - any tips to get strong enough to be able to go that low in the first place?

Ah, good. And congrats!

If you feel like you're going to fall over backward, you are not leaning far enough forward. The bar should be centered over your feet the whole time.

Watch videos from Rip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ
And the So You Think You Can Squat series (linked above)
And this http://stronglifts.com/free-video-how-to-squat-with-proper-form/

And practice, practice, practice.

bump

Never do this

That is insane!

http://train.elitefts.com/instructional/so-you-think-you-can-squat-parts-1-5/

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks all - my profile pic is decieving I guess - it was a year ago, not prego anymore.

So the legs parallel to the floor, but what if I'm going to fall over when I get that low - any tips to get strong enough to be able to go that low in the first place?

Go as far as you're comfortable with. If you feel you can't get low enough, practice with an empty bar for a few sets to get the form right and see what it should feel like when you get as low as you can. Once your comfortable with that, add on some weight. One thing I try to keep in mind is to put my weight into my heels as I'm squatting down. If you focus on that, it helps your form stay on point, butt out-knees behind the toes.