How To Do Barbell Squats? Building muscles is an art and if you are looking into it, you need to do squats, that too with a proper technique. Squats are always recommended by expert physical trainers and bodybuilders, as they are a quick way to gain muscles. You may know that squats are one of the many exercises that specifically target the regions of the legs, hips, thighs, and buttocks in our body. Moreover, it is not a complex exercise instead it is easy to learn. There are many types of squats and the first step to doing these squats you need to know them in detail before you master them.
In this article, we will show you a clear picture of how to do barbell squats
Barbell Squats Technique
Knowing the proper technique is the primary target as loads of any exercise without the right technique can harm your muscles and cause injuries. When you begin, the shoulders must be in a wide stance and your toes pointing outside. There should be coherence in your whole physique, as the thighs and feet should be parallel to each other. The butt must be sticking out a bit, giving your back an angle at which it stays during the exercise. When you go down, the legs should be at an angle of 80 degrees while your butt should be afloat in the air. Ultimately, the legs and hips would produce all the force and be the target of squats. Similarly, the hips and legs should produce the force to lift your body into a standing position instead of other body parts such as the chest.
Doing It with a Weight
Low bar squat is one of the ways to do it. In which, you hold a bar on your shoulders, behind your neck, and execute the up and down movement. The most important factor is to keep your back at a straight angle while you move upwards with the thrust of hips and buttocks meanwhile your legs should act as a support. The up and down movement in squats targets the hamstring, buttocks, and knee muscles specifically and strengthens your legs besides giving you flexibility and elasticity.
Consequences
Doing squats with the wrong technique can hurt your back and injure your knee joints tremendously. The very important thing is to never do an incomplete squat and do not forget to keep your knees out and forward while your hips are hanging in air lower than the joints of the knee. Then follow it up by using all the force that your legs have gathered and lifting yourself up from the position of the squat. Squats require an inch-perfect technique to avoid jolts that your back and shoulders can endure if you go wrong in technique. It may also affect your knees.
Alternatively, the right technique would build the muscles around your knees and thighs enhancing the overall strength of your legs. You will be able to know the right and wrong technique as your body would indicate it to you.
It has been proven that; the effects of barbell squat outweigh other exercises as it builds the muscles faster. Barbell squats affect the whole body in a positive way targeting the chest, arms, and shoulder muscles in addition to legs and thighs. Ultimately, barbell squats provide a full-body exercise. The only consideration is to perform squats properly and the results should follow.
Tips to Improve Your Barbell Squats
- Set your hands on the bar at the same place, as you would place while doing the bench press. Do not go too wide as it can hurt your back. Do not go too close on the grip as it can turn your wrists stressing them too much.
- Position the grip at the location of the dip in between posterior and media deltoid regions. This will assist you in the stabilization and keep the bar in a steady state.
- Do squats in front of a mirror and make sure that your chest is flat all the time. The chest should be in the same posture as it is normally when you are standing.
- You should also have a side mirror, to analyze the position of thighs, as they should be parallel to the floor.
- Try to have a stance at a shoulder wide distance or a bit closer. It would divide the total weight off of your spinal erectors and sequester the quad muscles.
- Breathing appropriately is extremely important while doing squats. When you do the reps, you should inhale all the air and hold it before going down. At the bottom of your rep, the lungs must be full and still holding maximum air. Then, start going up and hold your breath until you are a few inches before reaching the top. At that point, which is 5 inches before reaching the top, release all the air out. This way of breathing will prevent you from back injuries, as it stabilizes the spine.
- Barbell squats require flexibility, so in order to perform them correctly, your calves should be flexible. The stiff calves would recline you onto your toes while going down in a rep, ultimately damaging your back. So, before starting squats, try to gain flexibility in calves.
- You should avoid putting too much weight on the arch of your foot by propelling upwards with your heels. Your shoes should also support the arch of your feet, as it would help manage heavyweights.
- While doing barbell squats with heavy weights, you should wear a belt. Belt assists in tightening your whole abdomen together with the stabilization of the spine. Try to wear the belt low and tight at your waist position.
Barbell squats are an extremely arduous exercise requiring a correct technique to perform. This exercise mostly goes unnoticed for its benefits and importance. Talking about its arduousness, an old saying “form first” can be attributed to it. That is why, you should master the right technique first and get the form, before putting on any weights. If you will try to satisfy your ego in a quest to impress spectators by putting heavyweights to barbell squats, the consequences would be a damaged back, knees, and distortion of ligaments. So be careful and have fun doing work out!
