The squat is a fundamental movement that helps build lower body strength. Maximizing your squat technique can help decrease the chance of injury and make performing the exercise more enjoyable. In this episode of Back 2 Basics, Ronald Trujillo goes over the squat and provides a few cues you can utilize in your training.
The first tip that Ronald provides is making sure you have good contact with the ground. A common cue you hear being used is “pressing through your heels” and while this might have some use, having your whole foot continuously keep contact with the ground is safer and allows for more force production. What you never want to find yourself doing are squats with your toes off the ground and all of a sudden, you’re off balanced. Maintaining balance throughout the movement is a good sign of progression and especially important as you start to add weight to the movement.
Back 2 Basics is a new series with Time 2 Train Fitness where we breakdown common exercises seen in training programs. The goal of this series is to give people the tools to improve their training programs.