Squat Better, Not Perfectly
I want to give you some tips to make your squats easier and, well, better!
And by better, I don't mean perfect!
We don’t need to squat “perfectly” in order to squat well. But I do believe knowing how to squat well is important as it’s a movement pattern that we will go in and out of in everyday life. And, IMO, the more functional movement we can easily have, the better.
I was thinking about this yesterday as I pulled approximately one thousand weeds out of a flower bed. My daughter and I were both in a deep squat position working steadily. I'm not sure how long I was in this position, but it was a while, and I felt thankful to my past self for including so much squat work into my workouts so that being in a position like this for an extended amount of time was no big deal.
We need strength (muscle ability) and mobility (joint range of motion) to do a good squat.
… but what’s a “good” squat?
The Set Up
Everyone’s body is different, so you may need to tweak this, but here’s a starting off point.
Begin standing with your feet slightly wider than your hips.
Most find it comfortable to have the toes ever so slightly rotated out, but not so far that they are facing sideways. If your pubic bone is 12 o'clock, think of your left toes at 11 and your right toes at 1.
Bend at your hips and stick your butt way back as you sit down, almost as if you’re about to sit in a chair. This is where most folks get stuck - they want to just sit straight down, which forces their knees forward, which usually doesn't feel great long term. Don't be afraid to stick your booty out! 😁
Keep your entire foot - toes and heels - on the ground throughout the movement.
Press through your feet and use your leg muscles to stand up.
If you prefer verbal or visual cues, here’s a video of me demonstrating this:
Depth
Some folks will say you must always squat as deep as possible and some say never go past 90 degrees of the knees. I don’t agree with either of these – you know me, I’m not much for rigidity or rules!
I think more range of motion is (usually) a positive, as long as it feels good and you’re not over compensating or creating issues elsewhere.
I also think variety is important so some days do a deeper squat, some days play around with a ¼ or ½ squat position. They all have value.
Breathing
As with most movements, there’s a way to breathe that’s going to be helpful for folks who may be experiencing pelvic floor symptoms or who just want to feel stronger in the movement.
Tweaking the breathing pattern is usually my first go-to when folks are having pelvic floor symptoms as doing an intentional exhale with exertion will help the deep core muscles to do their job better.
So, on the way down, inhale through your nose, then on the way up, exhale out your mouth. Think of doing your exhale as if you were blowing up a balloon or blowing out candles.
I go into more detail about this strategy (and even more ways to breathe) in this blog post.
Of course there are so many more details we could go over to improve your squat but remember, we're not going for perfection here - just progress!
So, what do you think? Have you gotten up and tried a squat yet?! 😜 Let me know how it goes for you!
