Tip of the Week : Addressing Squat Weaknesses – Bending at the Knees First

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via X (Formerly `Twitter`), the blog; and the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.

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When it comes to the squat, Powerlifter Rick Walker clearly knows what he’s talking about. If you’ve ever tackled this wonderful exercise yourself and felt that your form just didn’t feel quite right, check out his article Addressing Weaknesses in The Squat. To give you an idea of what it’s all about, here’s how he corrects one of the more common problems found in squat technique – the simple act of Bending at the Knees First. Over to Rick.

This is a common problem among many beginning squatters as the lifter is usually afraid of falling backwards with the weight. Instead of sitting back first, the lifter will bend at the knees to go down. This causes the knees to go forward well over the toes and often times causes the lifter to go up onto their toes in the hole. This is not only dangerous, but you are limiting how much you can squat. The pressure on the patellar tendons in this position is tremendous and leads to big time problems down the road. Yes, some lifters, especially Olympic lifters, can adapt to these kinds of stresses from having their knees that far forward. However, the goal here is to improve the squat and move more weight, and that will be accomplished by sitting back into the squat.

How to fix it

The lifter must learn to sit back and not down. This can take a long time to get them to do, and even longer to get them to do it under maximum loads. I start all newbie squatters on a box. I use a very high box and a very light load, usually the empty bar with some light JumpStretch© bands attached for tension. The basic commands I give are for the lifter to sit back like he is searching for a chair that is behind him. Once the lifter can get down to the high box by sitting back, I lower it an inch and start all over. Eventually the lifter will be able to sit back to a parallel box and the movement will become second nature. Another possible reason for the lifter’s inability to sit back is hamstring strength. If the lifter has weak hamstrings, he won’t be able to sit back into a squat without falling. It gets much worse as the weight increases. To address this, get the lifter on the glute-ham machine pronto! This is the best way to bring up lagging hamstrings and prepare the lifter for handling more weight in the squat correctly. I have also found Romanian Deadlifts and reverse hypers to be effective for improving the sit back portion of the squat.

And yes, I can assure you that it works. Cheers, Rick.

Unlock Your Hips, Unlock Your Squat

I get a lot of questions regarding the impact of ‘unlocking your hips‘ on heavy squatting. Rick Kaselj goes into it in plenty of detail in the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program; and I’ve also posted a brief video below which demonstrates/explains some of the exercises.
Both (working with Ryan, and Rick’s program) are highly recommended. And as always, we love hearing your feedback – if you sample any of the above exercises or the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program, we’d love to hear about it.

Exercise Of The Week : Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

Former US Olympic Weightlifting coach Jim Schmitz talks about the origins of the Romanian Deadlift (RDL) – at least by that name.
          Dragomir Cioroslan (a Romanian weightlifting coach at the time) described the exercise as follows :

1. Start in the completed deadlift position.
2. Bend the knees slightly.
3. Lower the bar by pushing the hips back.
4. Lower the bar below the knees but not to the platform. Tension must remain on the muscles . Stand on blocks if you want to get lower.
5. The position should be, “SHINS VERTICAL, HIPS BACK, and BACK STRAIGHT”.
6. The movement should not be fast but steady and under control all the way.
7. The back must remain straight. The movement is from the hips. The arms remain straight throughout.
8. Breathing: Take a deep breath at the start of the movement and keep the chest up throughout. Hold your breath as you lower and exhale as you complete the movement.
9. Start light to develop the technique and “feel” of the movement.

Pictured demonstrating the exercise is Nicu Vlad, once coached by Cioroslan.

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Incidentally, if you’d like to get in touch regarding this or any other aspect of strength, you can contact me here. Look forward to hearing from you.

Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Bootcamp for Memory’ (by Derren Brown)

It’ll come as no surprise that we discuss a lot of fitness-related books, courses & podcasts; on this site as well as the various networks noted in the sidebar. Many years ago I compiled a list of the ‘books I’d buy again if I ever lost them all‘, and Derren Brown’s ‘Tricks of The Mind’ was certainly on the list – notably for the information on memory. His offering ‘Derren Brown’s Bootcamp for Memory’ is actually far more comprehensive in this area, and well worth diving in to. Truly wonderful. Incidentally, I’m always looking to add to the ‘books to read‘ list. If you’ve come across something which you’d love everyone else to check out, drop me a line. There’s also a list of our all-time fitness suggestions over there. Dive on in.