Overview

This is the lower body compound movement of squatting.

You’re probably coming at this from one of two places.

If you’re still starting out in your first two or three years of intentional lifting, the major movement patterns should be your bread and butter. The standout exercises listed here should be the core part of your programming, rotating every so often (we’re talking months, not weeks). At a certain point we will likely get diminishing returns with specialising in one or two exercises, but if it’s your first few years in of serious lifting, you are assuredly far, far away from that point.

If you’re an experienced intermediate to advanced lifter, chances are you’re viewing your through a 12 muscle groups lens or multiple movement slots within each muscle group. Even so, it’s still worth periodically checking your programs aren’t going so far as to neglect all the compounds, and occasionally cycling some of these exercises back in.

For everyone in between, take the middle point between those two parameters.

Description

We’re looking for a compound exercise that targets the quadriceps and glutes, as well as working the spinal erectors, hips and calves.

Think of this as maximal hip extension with maximal knee extension, as opposed to a hinge with maximal hip extension and minimal hip extension.

Either with the exercise selection or exercise form, we generally want all the key muscle groups to get as close to failure as possible.

In this sense we have the opposite aim when dissecting things from a ‘muscle group’ perspective, where we generally want to isolate a certain muscle.

There are many specific exercises that can work here; there are potentially dozens (depending on how nitpicky you want to be with classifying a different exercise) of exercises that is a squatting motion.

There’s not going to much value add in just listing endless options, instead we’ll stick to some key foundational recommendations that are time-tested and categorically work, hence the two options below.

Again, to repeat – if you’re around your second or third year into intentional lifting, your focus should be precisely here. If you’re advanced, you’ll be well aware there are endless variations and these may simply serve as a checkpoint to ensure you don’t have a gap in your training.

Standout exercises

Barbell Squat

This is our all-rounder squat. We’re looking to spread the load across our quads, glutes, hips and spinal erectors.

The goal is to generate full body tension and teach our body to work as one unit.

Externally, there may not seem to be a huge difference between this and the quad dominant squat, but internally there should be a very different sensation. This will generally increase with training experience.

How does squatting for general training compare with powerlifting? It’s probably fair to say it’s moderately different; less similar than the deadlift but more so than the bench.

A couple of common powerlifting notes:

• You have to squat parallel from hips to knees. In powerlifting this is simply the competition rule, so you have to do it. If we forget about that, there’s nothing magical about the parallel mark. Instead base it on where you feel you can still tension across the body. If you’re one inch from parallel but after that point all you feel is your spinal erectors working overtime, then stop one inch before parallel.
• Maximally wide stance. This is often suggested to limit the range of motion to win in a competition. We don’t want to limit range of motion, so stick to a comfortable medium stance.

Other than that, squatting does end up looking fairly similar to a powerlifting style.

Form cues:

• Start with the toes slightly pointed out (at roughly 11 and 1)
• Brace your core, squeeze your glutes, and descend
• Squat back up, driving down with your feet (imagine doing a leg press but standing)

SSB Squat

This is our quad-dominant squat, though the glutes, hips and back will still be worked. We’re slightly breaking our rules here, in that we’re not looking to fully distribute the load across the body. This is still very much a compound exercise; the lower body can simply take a hefty stimulus hence why it’s necessary.

If you don’t have easy access to a safety squat bar, a barbell is of course still a great option. If possible though the different bar placement probably has some fractional benefits long-term, especially when you alternate between this and the barbell squat over the months and years.

Form is particularly important here:

• Toes angled only slightly (either 12 o’clock or 11:30 and 12:30 angle)
• As you descend, let the knees travel forward while keeping pressure on your entire foot (ball and heel)
• To be more precise, marginally shift the load from your heel to the ball of your big toe as you go down (but maintain all-round foot pressure)
• Let your torso stay relatively upright with a neutral spine

Squat down to however deep your quadriceps allow you to go. As this is a quadriceps-dominant movement, the aim is to feel a deep stretch in the quads.

You’ll find that you will reach an end point with your quadriceps; and from here you could lower the bar further by rounding your back. Don’t do this.

Keep a neutral spine the entire way and purely focus on the quad movement.