Building Lower Body Strength with Barbell Squats
Revised by Stephanie Zaban (Registered Kinesiologist & Masters of Kinesiology)Table Of Content
What Is a Barbell Squat
The Barbell Back Squat is one of the greatest exercises for developing strength, power and muscle growth in the lower body. The potential for overloading the body with a heavyweight in the Barbell Back Squat is unrivaled to any other exercise, this will lead to massive lower body gains.
The squat is a common human movement and when it is performed with a load, strength gains can be carried over to all aspects of life. This includes picking up an object from the ground to increasing your vertical jump height.
How to Barbell Squat
Start with the bar in the rack around the mid-chest. Grip the bar with your chosen width and place your feet under the bar in the position you would normally squat in. Push your head under the bar and secure the bar in the chosen position on your back.
Take a breath deep into the diaphragm (do not breathe into the upper ribs as this will create instability in the core) and brace the core to stand tall with the weight, making sure to squeeze the glutes.
Take 2-3 small steps back just far enough from the rack so as not to hit it during the movement. Take one last big breath into the diaphragm and then brace the core hard, as if bracing for a punch.
To start the descent, push the hips back and let the knees travel forward until the lower spine almost begins to round but not to the point of rounding. Remember to keep the core braced and glutes tight as you lower the body.
Often the setup for the squat will be tight and as soon as the decent occurs the brace will be lost and the glutes will no longer have tension, which is a recipe for injury. Another common fault is excessive rounding of the lower back in the bottom of a squat, this is called butt wink and should be avoided. Make sure that as the knees travel forward the feet stay balanced and rooted into the ground at all times. Coming up on the toes or placing all the weight in the heels may lead to injury.
To reverse the movement, press the feet into the ground, stand tall and squeeze the Quadriceps and the Glutes. Exhale on the ascent.
The Valsalva Technique: To lift the most amount of weight there is a breath holding technique called the Valsalva technique. Although to squat the Valsalva is not needed, it is beneficial for maintaining a braced core under heavy load. To perform the Valsalva, take a big breath into the diaphragm, then hold the breath as you brace the core. Hold the breath during the entire descent of the lift and exhale only after the mid-way point of the accession. Because the pressure in the body increases during this maneuver, it is not advised to perform this technique if you have heart disease or high blood pressure.
Barbell Squat Muscles Worked
The Barbell Back Squat will engage the following muscles
Adductors of the leg
Barbell Squat Benefits
The Barbell Back Squat is one of the best exercises for leg and lower body development because of its ability to overload the squat movement. People have been able to move monstrous amounts of weight with this exercise and become insanely strong doing so. The Barbell Back Squat will make you extremely powerful from the ribs down and will have great transferability to all lower-body movements.
Studies show that the Barbell Back Squat can improve your sprinting speed, jumping height, deadlift strength and more. Additionally, in recent studies, the Barbell Back Squat has displayed greater increases in glute muscle strength than Hip Thrusts.
In every well-designed training program, there will always be some sort of squat variation. However, this does not mean that everybody should perform Barbell Back Squats all the time. The Barbell Back Squat, when programmed correctly is one of the best exercise options for lower body development and will produce amazing muscular strength when performed correctly.
Barbell Squat Variations
In the Barbell Back Squat, the barbell can be held on the back in two ways, the high bar and the low bar position. The high bar position will allow for a more upright torso angle and therefore will take some strain away from the muscles around the hips and put it into the muscles around the knee. The low bar position will allow for more hip musculature to be used, and more weight to be lifted however, the torso will not stay as vertical.
Both variations will demand a proper braced core or injury may occur. However, the more vertical the spine is (as in the high bar position) the less tension will be placed on the muscles that keep the spine straight. This means the high bar position could offer some low back or hip pain relief if the low bar position is too challenging at the moment. If the knees experience too much strain during squats, consider a low bar position as this will place more tension onto the hips.
Barbell Squat (High Bar Position)
Place the bar on the Trapezius muscles. If the Trapezius muscles are not developed the bar may dig into the cervical spine and cause pain. To avoid pain, remember to retract and depress the shoulder blades, in other words, put your shoulders into your back pockets. With the hands, try to bend the bar around your back, this will keep everything tight and allow for more energy transference during the Barbell Back Squat.
Barbell Squat (Low Bar Position)
Place the bar under the bulge of the Trapezius and on top of the Posterior Deltoids. The bar may roll down the back if the Posterior Deltoids are not developed. Just as in the high bar position, retract and depress the shoulder blades and pull the bar around the body with the arms to create stability during the Barbell Back Squat.
Barbell Squat Hand Placement
Hand placement will be dependent on the bar position and your shoulder and upper back mobility. Ideally, the perfect hand width is as close as possible without shoulder or wrist discomfort. The closer the hands are to the body, the more stable the movement will be.
Play around with how close you can get your hands while still being able to retract and depress the shoulder blades. If the shoulders or elbows feel discomfort, a thumbless grip can also be used to alleviate some pain. There are many shoulder mobility drills such as wall angles that should be done as a warm-up before squatting to reduce the risk of injury.
Barbell Squat Foot Placement
Foot position in the Barbell Back Squat is dependent on your mobility and personal anatomy. As a general rule, have the feet turned out slightly (not excessively) and somewhere around shoulder-width apart. If the ankles are immobile (often found in sedentary people and women who wear a lot of high heels) the feet and knees may have to turn out to achieve squat depth.
Although a deep squat will be achieved in this wide knee, feet out turned position, this will not lead to optimal strength gains and therefore improvement in mobility should be an on-going practice. A moderate squat stance is optimal for most people.