What is a squat?
The squat involves moving from a standing upright position with feet shoulder-width apart and core engaged to slowly lower your hips until the thighs are parallel to the ground, almost mimicking a sitting position. From this position, you then stand to the original upright posture.
Why squats?
Squats are a brilliant exercise that can have a big impact on your health as they can help to improve your strength in many areas such as the legs, glutes, lower back and core.
One of the big positives about squats is that there are so many ways they can be performed such as body weight, barbell and goblet and they do not require much equipment.
So what exercises can a beginner do to improve their squat?
Box Squat
One of the first exercises that can be used to help improve your squat and to help learn the technique is to use a box squat.
The exercise is performed similarly to a squat however you lower your weight onto a box, a chair or a bed that is positioned behind you.
This is a great exercise to begin with as you can alter the height, initially starting higher if you need some assistance and then lowering as you improve.
Glute Bridge
The glute muscles are an important factor in squatting as they help to extend (straighten) the hips from the bottom of the squat. A great bodyweight exercise for this is the Glute Bridge, which helps to activate and strengthen the glute muscles to allow you to get from the bottom position of the squat more easily.
Action: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor, hip-width apart.
Squeeze your buttocks together to lift your pelvis off the ground until your hips are in line with your thighs and torso with your spine neutral (do not arch your back).
Slowly lower your body and repeat.
Dead Bug
it is important that you have good core stability to help keep the torso upright during a squat and stop too much arching of the lower back. the dead bug is great in helping creating core stability and strength needed for the squat.
Action: Lie on your back with knees and hips bent to 90° and both arms vertical overhead. Activate the abdominals lightly to prevent any spinal movement and maintain a steady abdominal breathing.
Lower one leg and the opposite arm toward the floor and return to the starting position under control. Repeat with the other leg and opposite arm.
Ankle Mobility
Some people have difficulty getting low enough into the squat position and this is often due to their ankle not having enough movement and will often cause them to lift their heels.
One way to help improve the range of movement is to pop your foot onto a step or box and then repeatedly push your knees over your toes trying to keep your heel one the ground. After repeating 10 times you hold the final rep for 15 seconds to really get a good stretch.
Hip mobility
Hip range of movement can also be an area that people have issues with during squats which will stop you from getting your big muscles in that area from working effectively.
A fantastic movement to help improve this is the kneeling lunge stretch. For this you want to be in a ½ kneeling position, keeping the hips level and staying nice and tall. You should feel a stretch in the front of the hip that has the knee on the floor.
A number of our physiotherapists are trained in strength and conditioning and will be able to give you individualised advice on improving your squat technique, therefore if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on 01223 914140 or e-mail us on enquiries@vineryroadstudios.co.uk
