5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Squat

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Squat


The squat is a savage, primal move. It has been a measure of strength, mobility and power since the dawn of man. Check out these easy ways you can improve your squat:

  • Improving Your Ankle Mobility
  • Stretching Your Chest
  • Stretching Out Your Adductors
  • Stretching Your Piriformis
  • Improving Your Thoracic Mobility

1. Ankle Mobility

In general, ankle mobility and lower leg flexibility are overlooked when trying to improve one’s squat. We give a lot of attention to improving hip mobility and upper leg flexibility (hamstrings, hip flexors, etc.) which is awesome, since they are typically the first thing you should work on when trying to increase range of motion and lower body mobility. However, only working on your upper legs might not get you the mobility and range of motion in your squat you are looking for. We want you to try something different. Think about this, if your ankles cannot bend forward (knees towards your toes), your body must compensate in other areas in order to balance a heavy load on your back. This means either a rounded back, butt wink, weight on the balls of your feet rather than the heels etc. Though it’s not every piece of the puzzle nor the sole cause of these squat mechanics errors, ankle mobility can certainly help. Check out these simple movements and stretches: 4 Easy Ways to Increase Ankle Mobility

2. Stretching Your Chest

Quick shout out to the chest and arm bros. Bench press rocks, we can’t deny how much we love it. However, one way you can improve your squat is to loosen up your chest with some stretches. Tight chest muscles that have not been balanced out by properly worked upper back and mid back exercises can cause some hunching. The same goes for those that participate in boxing or other martial arts that require punching and guarded positions. Tight chest muscles pull your shoulder forward and can limit your thoracic mobility (#5 on this list). This makes it very hard to hold the barbell in correct position on your back and may force you to bend your back forward, have your wrists turned up instead of inline with your forearms, or a host of other problems. Here are some great stretches you can do to help loosen up that chest:
doorwaystretch

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