July 10, 2019

7 ways to improve your squat performance

7 Wege, Deine Leistungen bei Kniebeugen zu steigern

Squats are a crucial exercise for building lower body muscle and lower body strength, as well as improving core stability, but are also an exercise that is harder to increase consistently. This article will help you with that.

Squats are one of the hardest and most rewarding exercises you can perform. When performed regularly and correctly, squats can quickly transform your legs and glutes and build substantial core and lower back strength.

While many - or perhaps even most - neglect squats, a minority know the vital importance of this exercise and train it hard every week. And based on the many emails I receive, many of these people eventually reach plateaus and aren't sure how to break through them despite good training planning and nutrition.

In this article, I want to share with you 7 effective ways to increase your squat performance. By using one or more of these methods, you should be able to consistently perform more reps every week or two and then increase the weight.

Tip #1 for increasing your squat performance: Control your form

Just as with deadlifts and bench presses, incorrect form on squats will not only stall your progress but also open the door for injury. On the other hand, perfecting the form of the exercise execution will enable you to make continuous progress.

So let's take a closer look at correct exercise execution form, as this covers a whole range of factors in squats.

The setup:

There are two ways to place the barbell bar on the shoulders in classic squats:

The so-called "high bar" position
The so-called "low bar" position

In the "high bar" position, the bar rests directly on the upper trapezius. In the low-bar position, the bar rests on the body between the upper part of the trapezius and the rear shoulder muscles. In the "high bar" position, your body will remain more upright during the exercise than when using the "low bar" position.

Both forms are correct, but many exercisers will be stronger when using the low bar position as it is more hip dominant, whereas the high bar position is more knee dominant. Other people find the low-bar position very uncomfortable and therefore prefer the high-bar position. Many exercisers use a bar position that is somewhere between the 'high bar' position and the 'low bar' position.

Ultimately, you should experiment with the position of the bar to find the position that works best for you. It's also smart to switch between different bar positions from time to time, as improvements in your squat performance in one position will tend to help improve your performance in the other position.

Once you have found the correct position of the bar, you are ready to lift the weight from the rack. Make sure that your feet are directly under the bar so that you can push the weight out of the rack with a squat motion and also make sure that you push your chest forward and pull your shoulder blades together.

After you have pushed the weight out of the rack, take a few steps backwards, place your feet about shoulder-width apart and place your feet 15 to 20 degrees outwards. Keep your head in a neutral position, elbows down and chest up and take a deep breath.

Now you are ready for the downward movement.

The downward movement

Start the downward movement by simultaneously pushing your hips back and bending your knees (don't consciously do either of these first). You should feel some backward movement in your hips and feel like you want to sit on your heels.

Keep your knees in line with and behind your toes (don't let them bend inwards or outwards) and continue the downward movement. Your torso will automatically lean forward during the downward movement, but don't overdo it - try not to exceed a 45 degree lean.

Move down until your thighs are parallel to the floor or slightly lower. Once you have reached this position, you are ready for the upward movement.

The upward movement

The key to starting a good upward movement is to move your body upwards by pushing from your heels and the center of your feet, making sure that your shoulders move upwards at the same speed as your hips. As you continue the upward movement, consciously tighten your gluteus until you reach the top position of the movement.

Tip #2 to increase your squat performance: Perform heavy squats

The topic of the ideal repetition range for squats is quite complex, which is why I won't go into more detail in this article, but will keep it short and sweet:

If you're just starting to train with weights (you've been training for less than a year), then you should perform all your squat training in a repetition range of 4 to 6 reps if you're a man and use a repetition range of 8 to 10 reps if you're a woman.

This means that you use a weight with which you can perform at least 4 but no more than 6 repetitions and increase the weight in the next set as soon as you have reached 6 repetitions.

If you are an experienced exerciser, you may benefit from training in different repetition ranges or periodizing your workouts. Here is a simple approach to periodization for squats:

Week 1: 2 sets of 2 to 3 reps (~90% of 1RM weight) + 1 set of 4 to 6 reps (~80% of 1 RM) + 1 set of 8 to 10 reps (~70% of 1RM weight)
Week 2: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 2 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions + 1 set of 8 to 10 repetitions
Week 3: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 3 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions + 1 set of 8 to 10 repetitions
Week 4: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 3 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions + 1 set of 8 to 10 repetitions
Week 5: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 2 sets with the 1RM weight

As you can see, in the above program you will train squats once a week (or every 5 to 7 days). The program includes training in the 2 to 3 repetition range, which provides maximum overload, the 4 to 6 repetition range, which is the optimal range for myofibrillar growth, and the 8 to 10 repetition range to stimulate growth via metabolic stress and cellular exhaustion.

After you have completed the 5 week cycle, you should plan to take an off-load week (or not train with weights at all for a week) and then start back at week 1.

Tip #3 to increase your squat performance: Perform deep squats - even if it means reducing the weight

This point has already been touched on in the first point, which dealt with exercise form, but it deserves its own section. The fact is that you are cheating yourself of your progress if you don't at least reach the position with your thighs parallel to the floor when doing squats. This is almost common knowledge and is also supported by numerous scientific studies that show the following:

The further down you go when doing squats, the more your legs will improve in terms of strength and muscle mass (1).
The further down you go during squats, the more your gluteus will be activated (2).
The further down you go during squats, the more weight your hips take off your knees (3).
The further down you go during squats, the more your lower back is strengthened (4).
The further down you go when doing squats, the more power you will be able to generate with your legs (which is especially important for athletes) (5).

I could go on, but the above is already a fairly comprehensive list of reasons why you should go low when doing squats. How low? Although full range of motion squats - where your glutes (almost) touch your feet - have their benefits, they require a lot of flexibility and mobility, which I'll talk about next. I would recommend starting with squats where you go down until your thighs are parallel to the floor and build up your strength before incorporating full range of motion squats into your training.

Tip #4 to increase your squat performance: Improve the mobility of your lower body

While many people don't realize the importance of proper exercise form and sufficiently deep squats, many couldn't even perform this exercise correctly if they wanted to. They simply lack flexibility and mobility.

The most common problem is stiff hips and hamstrings, but ankles and calves are also common problems. Fortunately, there are a number of simple exercises you can do to warm up and enable you to perform proper squats with ease.

Tip #5 to improve your squat performance: Use the right shoes

Believe it or not, the wrong shoes can make squats significantly harder. A good weightlifting shoe has a few things going for it:

It provides a stable surface to help you maintain balance and support heavy weights. This is particularly important for exercises such as deadlifts, squats and overhead presses.
It encloses your feet like a glove and leaves them no unnecessary room to move. Under no circumstances should your feet move back and forth in your shoes while you are exercising.
It provides good traction so that your feet cannot slip during the exercise.

The right weightlifting shoes not only improve your performance in exercises such as squats and deadlifts (6), but also reduce the risk of injury.

Tip #6 for improving your squat performance: perform repetitions with breaks in the movement

The part of the squat movement that causes most people the most problems is the first part of the upward movement from the bottom position. This requires a tremendous amount of strength and coordination between many muscles of the body. However, this part doesn't have to haunt us because we can focus on it in our training and turn this weak point into a strength. We do this by performing repetitions with pauses during the movement.

These are easy to perform: You perform squats as normal, but when you reach the lowest point of the movement, you hold that position for 5 to 7 seconds, take full, deep breaths and then stand up.

Not only is this a great way to work the gluteus, hamstrings and hip muscles responsible for the upward movement from the lowest position, but it also increases core strength and stability immensely.

To get the most out of these reps, I recommend you start with around 60% of your 1RM weight - which is the weight you would normally perform 10 to 12 reps with - and work your way up to 75% to 80% of your 1RM weight - which is the weight you would normally perform 6 to 8 reps with.

When it comes to incorporating these reps into a training session, I prefer to do them after my normal heavy sets. So I don't replace my heavy sets with sets of holding the deepest position, but add a few of these sets to my existing squat workout.

Tip #7 to increase your squat performance: Push yourself up for your workout

If you're an experienced exerciser, then you know how important it is to be mentally prepared for heavy exercises. This mental preparation can make the difference between success and failure on a heavy single repetition. You've no doubt seen powerlifters go through what looked like a ridiculous satanic ritual before performing a heavy exercise, but did you know that it's been scientifically proven that such a mental push actually works?

A study conducted by scientists at AUT University on elite rugby players found that athletes' bench press power production increased by 8% when they had previously pushed themselves up (7). The researchers also found that distraction significantly reduced force production - there was a 12% difference in force production between the hyped-up and distracted athletes.

The message here is that you should push yourself for heavy exercises and focus on each repetition as you perform them - no small talk, no listening and no mental wandering.

I, for one, have found that the right workout music dramatically helps me mentally prepare for my set and before I grab the bar, I take 10 to 15 seconds to focus on the exercise I'm about to perform and visually picture myself successfully performing that exercise. Sounds silly? Well, scientific research has shown that visualizing a successful exercise execution before the actual exercise execution can increase strength (8).

References:

Source: https://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-increase-squat/

By Michael Matthews

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