what is the right way to do squats?

Hands on your hips and look up while doing them.

Do not bend your knees further than your toes. Pretend you are going to sit down, but decide not to. Do them slow. It doesn't help to do 1000 if you are doing them wrong. Try to keep your back straight rather than bending forward. Sqeeze your butt on the way up. Have fun.

Yep!! Mishkanac has it dead on!!! This is the correct way to do them. I worked out with a PT a week or two ago and he showed me the "correct" way to do them. I had a tendancy of leaning forward for some unknown reason:laugh: .

Are you doing squats with or without weights, by weights I mean a bar bell that you put across your shoulders.

With out weights (or with lite hand weights) when I do squats I either keep my hands on my hips or extend my arms in front of me when I'm going down then lower them when coming up. The important part of doing squats is to put your weight on your heels when pushing up and also squeezing your butt really hard. Also remember to keep your abs tight.

I like to put the back of my foot (heels) on a thick hard back book about 1" thick. Legs slightly wider than shoulder length apart, use a broom handle and position it parallel with your collar bone under the traps and on the rear delts is a good place. Your head should be tilted back slightly and your eye is positioned upward. And start slowly to achieve a really nice form. Concentrate on dropping your hips, as if you were going to sit in a chair. Go down far enough so that your butt is even with your knees. Keep your knees directly over your feet. Concentrate on exploding upward, this is where the muscles and power development come from, each rep should be one smooth and fluent motion. The mistake that beginner weightlifters do is load too much weight on and stop about half way down. Since you would be working without weight to develop the proper form, this should not be a factor. Great routine for developing lower back strength. I hope this helps. Once you develop the proper technique, you can then remove the book and begin with very light weight and start again on your technique, using what you have learned. Remember be patient and don't get discouraged, it takes time to develop proper technique. A mirror is helpful when performing this activity so you can see what your doing. As you develop more strength and endurance, you can begin increasing weight. I like to side on the "quality not quantity" when it comes to weights. You will not have injury if proper mechanics are used when working out. Start out with the wrong technique and you are headed in the wrong direction. I'd recommend performing some searches for "Squats" or "power lifting" or both also, do a little research, everyone's opinion will differ, find what will work for you. Good luck to you on your latest endeavor, and good on you for learning and adding a new exercise to your workout routine. That in itself is huge. Congratulations

The Squat is one of those exercises you hate to love. However, this exercise is one of the top three for an overall body workout. It will work wonders for your Quads and Glutes and is phenomenal for core strength. Rockymtnguy is dead on with his advice!! Take it slow and find the proper form. If you choose to use weights, increase your weight slowly and carefully. Listen to your body, it will let you know if something is not right.

one thing to remember when doing squats is to keep your chin up, if you do that it'll pretty much keep your back straight and help you to keep good form