When most people think of the gym, they envision a jacked dude with 500 lbs on his back getting ready to give the bar a ride. As cool as that is, that thought process is warranted. The back squat offers a great bang for your buck experience. It activates a ton of muscle mass and can get you seriously strong.
If this King of exercise is so great…what are the issues?
At JDFit, we seldom back squat anyone. Especially our athletes…but that is another article altogether. When you put a bar on someone’s back for the first time, it looks uncomfortable and the initial squat pattern looks forced.
There are a ton of reasons why your squat pattern may be off but what we do not want to do is force ourselves to squat more without addressing any underlying mechanical issues. Being able to squat while under load is difficult and takes a lot of requisite practice.
We use a lot of squat variations to drive home a similar training effect as a back squat and to ensure safety. So…I want to use this post to go over some of our exercises/techniques to help people out in the short term.
1. Get The Heels Elevated
If you have ankle restrictions or need a quick way to reposition someone’s center of gravity, getting the heels on a lift or a couple of plates will do the trick. Some will call this lazy coaching as you are having people squat with shoddy ankles but…you can still elevate, squat and work on the ankles all at the same time.
2. Box Squats
We load box squats several ways. Axially (on your back) and from the front. Either in a goblet or front rack with a bar. The cool thing about box squats is that you do not need the same mobility requirements to perform them.
For older clients that may lack the strength to squat correctly, this is great because we are not doing weird partials so our hips stay healthy and that box will provide the client the safety/buy in to perform the exercise correctly.
If you are loading these heavy, you will build of more of your posterior chain-glutes, hamstrings and the infamous adductor magnus.
3. Load Single Leg Variants
For those who have been clients of ours, we love single leg work. Whether it is a skater squat, single leg squat, or a Bulgarian squat, we can load these all kinds of ways. These variants are great for our athletes because we can put minimal stress on their developing spines and the unilateral nature means you have to do twice the amount of work.
Lastly, you can perform these both supported and unsupported as well.
4. Goblet Squats
We start most people off with these. Putting the counter weight in front of someone will allow them to sit into a squat more comfortably and most importantly, safer. This will build confidence while squatting and once this is mastered, progressing to something more challenging can be done.
5. Bodyweight Single Leg Work
Biggest hang up when back squatting is rounding your lower back under load. With single leg squat variants, you can stick to just body weight and work on depth without the hassle of snapping your spine in half.
The best course of action is to hire someone who can assess you and then put together a program that matches your ability levels!
Fortunately for you, that is our specialty!
Make sure you schedule your free consultation with us and we would love to get you started!
Schedule your free consultation here!
