How is your squat set up?

Your set up is one of the most important parts of a successful lift and maintaining good form, having a solid repeatable set up that you run through each time will save energy increase strength and also lower your chance for any form break down or injuries. These are all important variables to consider when squatting because they will drastically change your squat with even the slightest adjustment in technique or mental cueing.

Remember everyone is built differently and will squat differently, there is no such thing as a "perfect squat" only general guidelines to follow. Everything on that list can be adjusted quite a bit depending on the person, narrow stance/wide stance, high bar/low bar, feet straight/ feet out ect....one is not better than the other, it's more about what's best for each individual athlete!

As a coach it's my job to find what's optimal for each one of my clients depending on things like high/weight, torso/femur length and/or joint mobility restrictions. The first main goal is getting them squatting safely and then the next will be getting as close to optimal technique as possible for their own personal mechanics. Come down to @thebarvancouver to get an assessment done by ether myself or anyone of our other trainers to see how well you move!

530lb Deadlift Pr from the CPL powerlifting meet at the Vancouver Pro Show

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How Deep should you squat?

Walk into any commercial gym and 90% of the time people are doing quarter squats, I have even had people come up to me and say I'm squatting to deep because if I go below 90 it's bad for the knees........😐 

Now depending on the individual and joint mobility, the majority of people should be able to get the hip crease below the knee without any issues. I'm not saying you have to hit ass to grass but breaking just past 90 should be your main goal to work towards when squatting, doing anything above 90 is not a squat in my opinion. Now this doesn't just affect strength, aesthetics are affected as well as you can see from the photo where the most activation occurs during the movement. Learn how to squat correctly and get a coach that knows how to find your optimal squat for the goals your trying to achieve, remember there is no one way to squat everyone is different so you need an Individualized approach 💪🏼 "

There are a few studies showing no correlation between deep squatting and injury risk. In fact, there is some evidence that those who perform deep squats have increased stability of the knee joint. In a study using a knee ligament arthrometer to test nine measures knee stability they found that male powerlifters, many of them elite class, demonstrated significantly tighter joint capsules on anterior drawer tests compared to controls. Moreover, both the powerlifters as well as a group of competitive weight lifters were significantly tighter on the quadriceps active drawer tests at 90 degrees of knee flexion than control subjects. 

ACL and PCL forces have been shown to diminish at higher degrees of knee flexion. Peak ACL forces occur between 15 – 30 degrees of flexion, decreasing significantly at 60 degrees and leveling off thereafter at higher flexion angles. PCL forces rise consistently with every flexion angle beyond 30 degrees of knee flexion, peaking at approximately 90 degrees, and declining significantly thereafter (10). Beyond 120 degrees, PCL forces are minimal"