The Perfect Squat - I'll Show You How

The squat is one of the foundational strength training exercises and performing it correctly is very important. When you perform the squat correctly, you protect your lower back from strain and activate the largest muscle groups in your body (legs). If you are just beginning an exercise program or if you aren't sure how to perform the basic squat, I recommend practicing with only your body weight. Begin by standing with feet shoulder width apart (for some reason when I say this to women, they often stand with their feet about twice as wide as their shoulders, just be cognizant that most women do not have broad shoulders and your stance might be a little to wide).

Once your feet are set, check your posture and make sure your body is in alignment. An easy way to do this is to imagine that a string is connected to the top of your head pulling you gently upward. Your shoulders should be down and slightly back, abdominals should be slightly tightened, knees should be soft, and your chin should be parallel to the ground.

Before you begin the squat, shift the majority of your body weight into your heals and keep it there throughout the entire movement. Engage the abdominal muscles to protect the lower back then lower and lift your body weight by bending at the hip, knee, and ankle joints. Stand with a mirror in front of you and to the side of you and monitor yourself as you perform the movement. As you move up and down, look into the mirror at your side and keep an eye on your knees. Knees should be just over the toes or slightly behind them. If your knees are being forced forward over the toes, it means that your body weight has shifted from heals to toes (doing this can put unnecessary strain on your knee joint)

Often when people first learn the squat, keeping their body weight in the heals for the entire movement causes them to be off balance. As you do it more and more, your stability will improve and you will feel the glute muscles doing most of the work. Another thing to watch for is your knee tracking. What I mean by that is when you look straight into a mirror, your knees should remain in alignment with your toes. If you notice your knees bowing out or buckling inward you should reduce your range of motion to a point where the knee tracking is correct. Once you feel comfortable doing a body weight squat, you can add weight while performing the movement.

You can use dumbbells, cables, resistance tubing, or a smith machine. Dumbbells can be held at your sides or you can rest them on your shoulders. Notice that even though I have made the squat more difficult by adding a weighted barbell, I still maintain the same good form throughout the entire exercise. Before you decide to add weight to your squat, make sure you feel comfortable performing the basic squat with just body weight. You'll know you're doing it right when you feel your glute muscles working throughout the movement and your abdominals are tightened from beginning to end.

Once you're ready to add some resistance to this exercise, begin with a low weight. I recommend starting with a lightweight dumbbell, resistance band, or cables. From there you can move to the smith machine and then a freeweighted barbell. There are a few variations of the basic squat that allow you to focus more on the quadriceps. The movement demonstrated here focuses on strengthening the glutes.

Jessica Dawn is a fitness professional who has been studying health & fitness for over 10 years. In addition to actively participating in fitness, Jessica has a degree in Kinesiology (exercise science) which allows her to understand both the scientific and behavioral aspects of weight loss and fitness.

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