squat technique – Tony Gentilcore

You’re Not Broken If You’re Asymmetrical. You’re Normal.

One of the more flagrant “mic drops” I toss down whenever I speak to a group of fitness professionals (remember when we used to be able to do that in person?) is that forcing people to adopt a symmetrical stance while performing basic lifts such as deadlifts or squats is more likely hurting people rather than helping them.

In fact, I’ll go a step further and tell them symmetry in the human body doesn’t exist and then yell something like “UNICORNS ARE REAL!” and walk away.

You know, to keep people on their toes.

You’re Not Broken If You’re Asymmetrical. You’re Normal

We need to stop thinking we’re broken if we display any degree of asymmetry.

It’s 100% normal, actually.

The human body is designed asymmetrically. If it were so deleterious I think natural selection would have fixed it by now don’t ya think?

Admittedly, I appreciate it’s a tough nugget to swallow…the whole “symmetry is a myth” thing.

I had a hard time tackling it myself. For years all I read was how we should strive for perfect balance and symmetry both statically (posture) and dynamically (think: maintaining a symmetrical stance during a set of squats).

However, the more I worked with people – with varying backgrounds, injury histories, and body-types – and the more I coached, the more I realized it was all B.S. Holding everyone to the same standard didn’t make sense.

The tipping point for me was my introduction to PRI (Postural Restoration Institute ®) a number of years back. Neil Rampe stopped by Cressey Sports Performance and did a 1-day workshop and opened my eyes to just how UN-symmetrical the body really is.

As noted above, it’s designed that way, in fact.

It helps us.

This was pretty much reaction

via GIPHY

Not long after Michael Mullin stopped by CSP several times and took the entire staff through a number of in-services which further slapped me in the face with the whole Morpheus “blue pill/rep pill, we’re asymmetrical creatures, open your eyes” schtick.

More currently, guys like Dean Somerset, Dr. Ryan DeBell, Dr. John Rusin, Dr. Stuart McGill, and Papa Smurf agree: The human body is all sorts of effed up.

But in a good way.

In some facets of life symmetry is the goal.

A ballet dancer needs to elicit “symmetry” when performing, as does a figure athlete or competitive bodybuilder when strutting their stuff on stage. No one ever won Ms. Olympia or Mr. East Lansing Stud Muffin with a yoked up right quadricep and a teeny tiny left.

But those examples aren’t necessarily the same thing as what I’m referring to in this post. Aesthetically, symmetry is visually pleasing.

90’s Mariah = pleasing

Crazy Eyes from Mr. Deeds = not pleasing

However, for performance or function, symmetry shouldn’t necessarily be the default goal or expectation.

It’s a hefty statement to make, and whenever I say something so seemingly egregious it often invokes a little push-back.

“Well, what about cars?” someone may blurt out. “If we don’t maintain alignment (symmetry) the car will start veering to one side or the other, causing additional wear and tear on the tires, and run the risk of further damage.”

To this point, I agree. Cars are designed by engineers and manufactured by computers and machines with precise precision to be replicated over and over and over again to (hopefully) ensure a quality product and return business from consumers.

The human body is not a Volvo.

This isn’t to insinuate the human form is any less fantastical, beautiful, intricate, or complex of a design. But, you know, we’re not some Clone Army to be replicated en mass.

Dare I say: This is a rare moment where “we are, indeed, all special snowflakes.”

During our Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint (dates are in the works for a return in early 2022!), Dean Somerset and I try to reiterate to attendees that asymmetries are normal and that, often, we’re doing a disservice to our clients and athletes by forcing them all into a standard, one-size-fits-all way of doing things.

It’s important to recognize everyone has variances in bony structure.

Using the hips as an example we know:

Pelvic structures differ person to person.
Femoral angles vary person to person.
Hip socket depth can vary (Scottish hip)
People have two hips (surprise!) and either side can have retroverted or anteverted acetabulums, as well as retroverted or anteverted femoral heads. All of which affects someone’s ability to flex, extend, abduct, adduct, externally and internally rotate the joint.

To that end, when coaching someone up on the squat why not use those variances to better set up your clients and athletes for success?

Much like what an optometrist does when fitting someone for a new pair of glasses, sitting someone down in front of that thingamabobber (<— I believe that’s the technical term) and flipping back and forth between lenses to see which looks and feels better – is this better, or is this? – why is the parallel approach all of a sudden wrong when trying to figure out the best squat stance for someone?

Shouldn’t it be our goal to figure out what stance feels more stable, powerful, and balanced? I’d make the case we’re trying to fit square pegs into round holes much of the time when we force people to use a symmetrical stance.

Why?

Especially when we know there’s a multitude of structural anatomical variance from person to person.

via GIPHY

But, How Do We Tell?

If you’ve somehow developed a mutant power of X-ray vision:

1) That’ll help

2) Can we hang out?

Performing a thorough assessment – something both Dean and I cover in depth HERE (hint, hint) – will provide a ton of feedback and help peel back the onion of what will be the right approach for someone.

You could also watch Dr. McGill take someone through a hip scour here:

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encouraged someone to use a staggered stance when squatting, or maybe to externally rotate one foot more than the other, and then they perform a few repetitions and they look up and say “holy shit-balls that feels so much better.”

And we hug.

Why would I disregard that?

We’re not causing irreparable harm by accepting asymmetry.

We’re just accepting people’s differences.

October 15, 2021 Tony

A Tale of Two Squat Patterns: An Assessment Case Study

I know, I know.

What a dry, bland, title for a blog post.

But if I would have titled it what I wanted to title it:

“That Time I “Fixed” Someone’s Squat In Five Minutes, BOO-YAH, God Damn I’m Good. And While I’m Here Bragging About Myself: Did I Ever Tell You About That Time I Almost Single Handedly Won the Sectional Championship For My High School Baseball Team Back in 1995? Oh, And I Made Out With a Girl Once.”

…that would have been over the top.

Kudos to you for clicking on the link anyway.

You’re cool.

A Tale of Two Squat Patterns (But Seriously, Though: I Did Fix It In About Five Minutes

Last week I had a gentleman come to CORE for his initial assessment. After some initial back-and-forth and pleasantries we got into the topic of his training and injury history. He had noted that he had never really participated in strength training before and after digging a bit further he also noted that he’d had a history of chronic lower back pain (L3-L4).

Most people can commiserate.

A vast majority reading these words right now have likely experienced some form of low-back pain in their lifetime.

(raises hand)

It’s never fun and can leave most people in a seemingly never-ending state of frustration and despair. In dealing with many people in the same predicament throughout my career as a coach & personal trainer my goal during their initial session isn’t to spend it telling them how much of a walking ball of dysfunction they are.

via GIPHY

Rather, my objective is to take them through a few rudimentary screens, watch them move, see if anything exacerbates their symptoms, and if so, modify things to see if we can reduce them.

Low back pain is very common and has myriad of root causes:

✅ Tight this
✅ Overactive that
✅ Inactivity
✅ Aberrant movement patterns
✅ Losing a street fight to Jason Bourne
✅ It’s Tuesday

Whatever.

It’s rarely ONE thing, which makes it altogether impossible to look someone in the eyes and say, definitively, “x is why your back hurts.”¹

Which is why I prefer to get people moving during their assessment.

It’s easier for me to ascertain and glean a larger picture of things when I can watch someone show me their movement strategies through a variety of tasks.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ll perform several screens on an assessment table: Thomas Test, Craig’s Test, Slump Test, active vs. passive ROM, etc.

However, I also believe it’s important (if not crucial) to get them off the table and have them demonstrate to me how they choose to move.

It’s simply more information.

Without any prompting from me (I didn’t want to coach him on how to perform the “test”) here’s what my client’s squat pattern looked like:

Before

Notice how he immediately “falls” into an aggressive anterior pelvic tilt as a descends toward the floor? Likewise, notice the speed or lack of control as he lowers to the ground?

Furthermore, notice anything as he finishes at the top and “locks out” his hips?

He hyperextends his lower back.

I.e., he finishes with LUMBAR extension rather than HIP extension.

I had him watch the same video above and then broke down in more detail everything I explained here (and that my suspicions were that those may be the culprit of his low-back woes).

I then spent a few minutes breaking down some simple “squat technique tenets” I like to pass along when breaking down the movement with clients.

✅ We talked about foot pressure and corkscrewing his feet into the ground (to help ramp up torque in the hips).
✅ We also discussed the abdominal brace.
✅ I broke down the canister position and how that’s ideal (rib cage down and stacked over the hips)
✅ I reiterated that the squat is equal parts breaking with the hips & knees simultaneously so the net result is squatting DOWN, not BACK.²
✅ I wanted him to think about “pulling” himself down toward the floor rather than falling.
✅ Lastly, I encouraged him to “finish tall” at top; to squeeze his glutes (lightly) rather than ramming his hips forward.

Five minutes later this happened:

After

By no means was it a perfect squat (does that even exist?), but that wasn’t what I was after.

I was seeking PROGRESS.

And I think we achieved that.

Here’s a top (before)/down (after) comparison:

The bigger indicator, though, was that he had zero pain while squatting after these minor tweaks to his technique were made. And it didn’t take me giving him a laundry list of “corrective exercises” in order to “fix” it.

Sure, I could have told him to foam roll for 37 minutes and stretch his hip flexors, followed by an abyss of varying glute medius exercises…

…and he likely would have felt better as well.

However, we wouldn’t have really addressed anything.

In short: Help people find their trainable menu. COACH them. Show them what they CAN do, rather than barking at them what they can’t.

August 3, 2021 Tony

Assessment Corrective Exercise personal training

How to Address a Hip Shift During Your Squat

Do you exhibit a hip/weight shift (swaying to the left or right) when you perform a squat? It’s one of the more annoying things that can happen in the weight-room.

It ranks somewhere in between people who don’t re-rack their weights and kipping pull-ups.

Admittedly, it’s rather common and almost always a benign occurrence; most people never even notice it unless they’re routinely filming their squat sessions.

And when that is the case, I can understand someone’s “itch” to want to solve the conundrum. I mean, things could go awry down the road and manifest into pesky hip or knees issues.

A Case Study: How to Address a Hip Shift During the Squat

I received the following email earlier this week:

“I was looking to see if I might be able to send you some videos for a squat assessment. I have been having issues leaning to my right for some time and cannot for the life of me figure out what is causing the issue. I’ve followed you for years and trust your judgement!”

How could I say no?¹

I responded back with a “sure, I can take a quick look,” and in swift fashion I got this in return:

“Some initial feedback would be great.

Some things to note before watching:

Though subtle, I find my left hip lower than my right on both the descent and ascent of the squat (as you can probably see).

My right hip flexor/quad tends to be tighter than my left usually.

My left glute has always been tighter than my right

History of SI joint hypermobility (in the past) but has not caused me issues for over a year. I used to have issues with my sacrum shifting around and causing misaligned hips which was quite painful.

I do not have any pain barbell squatting or semi sumo deadlifting but I do feel the unevenness when I squat especially.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OGaW1JmADw

For Starters

That’s a pretty good lookin squat if you ask me.

After reading her “heads up” commentary before watching the video I was half expecting a dumpster fire when I pressed play.

Au contraire – all things considered, that’s a very passable squat.

However, given her past injury history, her own words of feeling the “unevenness,” not to mention you can see a subtle weight shift to the right with each repetition, I had some thoughts.

It’s funny, I perused my blog archives to see whether or not I had written on this topic in the past, and as it happens I did!

Back in 2015 I wrote THIS post where I discussed the idea “feeding the dysfunction,” a concept taken straight from renowned physical therapists (and creators of the Functional Movement Screen), Gray Cook and Lee Burton.

The gist goes like this:

You see a weight shift, say, to the right. In this scenario you grab a band and wrap it around the individual’s waist and as he or she squats, you pull the band in the direction of the shift, essentially “feeding the dysfunction.” The idea is that reactive neuromuscular training (RNT) trains the nervous system to recognize a faulty movement and to encourage body to correct course.

In the broader consciousness of health/fitness it’s an okay approach. It 100% works. In the years since writing that blog post, however, I’ve gone out of my way to reduce my use of the word “dysfunction” with clients. I don’t like the connotation the word breeds; that the individual is in some way broken or needs fixing.

Some people hear or see the word dysfunction and they’re ordering an exorcism.

Myself?

I hear or see dysfunction and I think “well, outside of extenuating circumstances (past/current injury history, whether or not there’s pain present), it’s fairly normal.”

Everyone is a bit different and moves in different ways. What’s more, there are, what, seven billion people on this planet currently? Is the expectation that everyone, everywhere, in the history of ever, is going to squat (or move) the same exact way?

(calls my inner Commodus)

via GIPHY

Okay, Tony, We Get It, Personal Growth, Blah Blah, Blah…WTF Did You Tell Lisa To Do?

This, I said this:

“I totally see what you’re saying when you say your left side is lower than your right. I don’t think we need to get too far into the weeds as to whether or not that “needs” to be corrected (or even if it’s bad).

While slight, the hip shift IS there, and I think there are one of two things you can try”

1) Lean Into the Asymmetry

(NOTE: I actually wrote my thoughts on asymmetry HERE a few years ago).

I asked her to externally rotate (open up) her right foot more and to take note whether or not that improved her weight shift?

If so, there’s her answer.

People are built differently and what this would suggest is that her right hip socket is likely more retroverted compared to her left and that that side requires a bit more ER.

For many, using a “symmetrical” stance is akin to attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole. We don’t live in textbooks, so we shouldn’t train like it either.

She tried it and (no surprise to me) saw an improvement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcKlqEkC8EI

But Tony, Won’t Having Her Squat With An Asymmetrical Stance Lead to More Issues Later? What’s Next: Telling Her to Club a Baby Seal? No, Wait, To Go Keto?

Relax.

I truly don’t feel having someone perform a handful of sets with an asymmetrical stance is going to cause irreparable harm. I mean, I’d make the case that forcing symmetry is leading to more issues. Besides, if a certain stance feels better, feels more secure, stable, and powerful…why wouldn’t we want to lean into that?

Furthermore, the human body is a bit more resilient than that. If it can survive plagues, saber-toothed tigers, and Michael Bay Transformer movies, it can withstand a few sets of asymmetrical squats.

Further furthermore, this is why we use things such as single leg work to help fill in the gaps. There’s a reason why we write well-rounded training PROGRAMS. You know, to address stuff.

So anyway, moving her foot out a bit seemed to have solved the issue. This strategy will work for most people, but what happens when it doesn’t?

2) Listen to Katie St. Claire

This scenario reminded me of something my colleague, Katie St. Claire, discussed last year. She showed a video of one of her clients who also had a hip shift to the right on her squat.

Katie recommended the woman perform 15 hip bridges (off the wall) on her LEFT side only.

Now, why the LEFT side only in order to fix a RIGHT sided issue?

via GIPHY

In Katie’s Words:

“To allow more posterior rotation and nutation on the left side so she can load the right side correctly.”

In non-Elvish, as you squat down into deeper hip flexion (most often in Stage 2: 60-120 degrees of hip flexion), the inability for the LEFT side to internally rotate and compress essentially “pushes” you to the right.

I don’t know, maybe that still sounds confusing.

Try this: Whatever side you shift to, perform a boat-load of bridges on the OPPOSITE side. Chances are you will see an improvement.

Cool?

Cool.

Give both options a try and see if one of them solves the issue.

I bet they will…;O)

July 16, 2021 Tony

coaching

Will Squatting Make You Tight?

Short Answer = No.

Long(er) Answer = Read more below.

Will Squatting Make You Tight?

I can’t believe we still have to have this “debate” in 2020.

While it’s not nearly as prevalent of a thought process as a decade or two ago, there are still people out there under the impression that lifting appreciable weight – and therefore, by extension, squatting – will result in big, bulky, and stiff muscles.

Merely looking at a barbell will make you tighter than a crowbar.

I don’t even think that makes sense, but whatever…you get the idea.

The same people who fall prey to this mind-trap are the ones who likely still believe lactate acid causes muscle soreness, creatine is a steroid, starvation mode exists, and that Tom Selleck doesn’t have the sexiest and manliest mustache of all-time.

I could opine judiciously on why I feel the argument that lifting heavy/squatting makes you tight is a tepid and weak one at best, but I’m not going to because 1) this is blog post and 2) it’s not a dissertation (and my 3-year old is going to wake up from his nap any minute now).

Too, I can respect and appreciate that people are at the mercy of their milieu and can often succumb to the atmosphere, anecdotal experiences, and the echo chambers that feed into their biases.

I get it: You watch one too many Tom Brady documentaries and the idea of touching a barbell (or a tomato) makes you sick to your stomach.

Nevertheless, I do feel it’s a silly stance to take.

To steal a line (and photo op) from Chris Duffin:

“Squatting doesn’t make you tight. Squatting like shit does.”

I’m stuck

Make no mistake: There are many nuances to consider with regards to squat technique and what variation, setup, and execution will be best suited given an individual’s injury history, goals, ability level, genetics, and anthropometry.

I don’t think there’s any ONE best way to execute or coach the squat, and I lose a lot of respect for coaches and trainers who play all hoity-toity and think THEIR way of coaching it is the only way to do so.

Again, and this can’t be reiterated enough:

Injury/health history
Goal(s)
Ability level
Genetics
Favorite He-Man character
Anthropometry/leverages…

…all need to be taken into consideration when coaching up the squat.

The internet likes to argue semantics on bar position, hand position, depth, stance, what day of the week it is, barometric pressure, and a myriad of other things that may or may not matter when it comes to enhancing squat technique and performance.

For me, so long as the feet, ankles, knees, and hips are appropriately positioned and loaded (using all the info above as guidance), “neutral” spine is maintained, and we’re doing all we can to prevent any destroying back of pants…

…we’re (probably) accomplishing some good things.

Moreover, if you think about what’s required to pull off a decent looking squat:

Active ankle dorsiflexion, knee and hip flexion.
Active femoral abduction (opening the hips).
Maintenance of “neutral” spine.¹

We could make the case that everything listed above is a splendid way to “offset” sitting at a desk all day, particularly when you consider a loaded squat will nudge or force people to adopt a little more thoracic extension, which is rarely a bad idea for that population.

By contrast, squatting (and by proxy, lifting appreciable weight) correctly can be viewed as the opposite of making someone tight.

NOTE: For some more insights on how I address squat technique check THIS and THIS and THIS out. Oh, and if your favorite He-Man character isn’t He-Man you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself.²

April 16, 2020 Tony

Corrective Exercise

Stop Corrective Exercising People to Death

There’s a prevailing thought in the fitness industry – particularly amongst personal trainers and coaches – that everyone we come across is somehow broken or dysfunctional, and that in order to make things “right” we have to resort to an onslaught of endless corrective exercise protocols before a barbell is even looked at.

You know:

Band thingamajiggies.
Endless mobility drills and stretching.
Other stuff that makes me want to throw my face into an ax.

STOP IT!

Copyright: bialasiewicz / 123RF Stock Photo

Stop Corrective Exercising People to Death

Now, before I proceed let me be clear.

I am not downplaying the importance of “corrective exercise,” nor am I attempting to debunk the notion that it’s never useful or shouldn’t be prioritized. Sometimes more attention to detail with regards to one’s ability to access thoracic extension or, I don’t know, hip internal rotation, in order to accomplish a specific movement is warranted.

Sometimes people need “correcting.” (<— said in a creepy Mr. Grady voice from The Shining).

Whenever I start working with someone and they make note of how “x” exercise hurts “such and such,” rather than go down the corrective exercise rabbit hole and point out 27 different things that make them a walking, talking, breathing dumpster fire of dysfunction…

…I’ll do this novel thing, instead, where I ask him or her to perform the exercise and show me how they set-up and execute the movement.

Often, the culprit as to why something hurts or doesn’t feel quite right is the lowest hanging fruit like their setup and/or technique.

Let’s use the back squat as an example.

It’s not uncommon for many trainees to note how squats – barbell back squats in particular – tend to make their lower back feel like hot death.

Some fitness professionals like to keep things fashionable and will begin with an explanation that’s a bit more nefarious, if not altogether esoteric:

“Your lower back hurts when you squat because you lack big toe dorsiflexion, your left 4th rib is slightly rotated, and your chakras are all out of whack. See? Simple.”

via GIPHY

It doesn’t have to be so complex.

First off: If this is how you talk to clients, you’re a tool.

Secondly: No one wants to listen to a laundry list of all the things that are wrong with them, and in doing so, does nothing but cement the idea that they’re broken and beyond repair.

Third: You’re a personal trainer not a physical therapist, act like one.

Fourth: Watch this video.

Those with a keener eye should be able to notice the difference between the two.

❌ TOP VIDEO

I initiate the descent by “falling” into my lower back.

In other words, rather than using the joints I want to perform the squat – ankles, knees, and hips – I recruit my lower back and use my spine for support as I descend towards the hole. Additionally, because I’m excessively arching my back (excessive anterior pelvic tilt) I’m increasing bone on bone contact as I go into deep(er) hip flexion, thus creating a more likely impingement scenario.

As a result, if you watch closely, I exhibit a bit of “butt wink” in the bottom because I’m running out of room in my hip.

As such my lower back HAS to come into play (even more) in order to go lower. To that end my back is basically saying “bye Felecia.”

via GIPHY

✅ BOTTOM VIDEO

By contrast, in the bottom video, I create more tension in my abs (creating a flexion moment) so as not to fall into (more) anterior pelvic tilt on the descent, and I think about squatting DOWN rather than BACK.

I’m still in APT, but using posterior pelvic tilt to nudge myself closer to “neutral.”

In Short: I’m improve my STARTING POSITION, which in turn keeps me more stable, the squat cleans up nicely (I’m able to squat deeper because I have more room in my hips), and the butt wink is all but gone.

More to the point…my lower back no longer hurt.

No need for a laundry list of correctives, stretches, mobility drills, or an exorcism.

All that was needed was to address my starting point (set up) and to have a better appreciation of the importance of TENSION.

To quote Denzel from Training Day: “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!”

November 22, 2019 Tony

Assessment Exercise Technique

Alignment Affects ROM

I had a new client start at CORE recently who, before we even met in person, let it be known that 1) he hated techno and 2) he hated squats.

Well, why don’t you let me know how you really feel?

Personally, whenever I email someone for the first time, my approach is to just, you know, introduce myself, say I’m a big fan, and maybe butter them up with a savory compliment like “oh, and your cat’s adorable.”

I generally refrain from taking a proverbial shit on the things the person on the other end enjoys:

“…and while I’m at it, Tony, I also hate 8o’s cartoons, cheese, rainbows, and your kid.”

I’m exaggerating of course, but once I dug a little deeper and had a bit more back and forth with this individual I got a better sense of his lack of enthusiasm towards squatting.¹

Copyright: lightfieldstudios / 123RF Stock Photo

The Smash, Thrash, and Trash Method

When “Ken” came in for his initial assessment he noted that he had, at one point, enjoyed squatting.

Admittedly, those days were more than a decade ago, and despite his current disdain for all things squatting, he was still very much interested in putting them back into his training repertoire and giving them a go again.

The obvious question from me was, “why?”

“If you don’t like back squatting and more to the point, they hurt, why insist on doing them? We can also perform other variations – Goblet, Front, Zercher – that may be a little more back friendly.”

“That’s the thing,” he said, “they didn’t always hurt. When I trained all through college and into my early 30s I never had any issues.”

“But then, you know, I became more sedentary due to life, was stubborn and not taking into consideration I wasn’t 25 anymore, and things just fell apart.”

SIDE NOTE: “Ken” is 47, works long hours mostly at a desk, and I can’t stress this enough, hates techno…;o)

via GIPHY

To speed things up all I’ll say is that, while Ken isn’t the most supple person in the world, nothing during his initial assessment came up as a stern red flag or required an exorcism. Sure, he had a few aches and pains, but nothing outside of the normal “niggles” that come with the territory of lifting heavy things for a large portion of one’s life.

I did notice with his passive vs. active squat screen that his active ROM was limited (while his passive ROM was pretty darn okay).

Pertinent information. And if you want to know why that’s pertinent information read the article hyperlinked a sentence above this one.

He also noted he had worked with several trainers in the past who, like me, noticed his lack of ROM with his active squat.

Seriously, read the article.

It’ll help.

As a result he was used to being given a laundry list of hip mobility drills in addition to a plethora of aggressive soft tissue “smashes” to perform daily:

A1. Take a 88 lb barbell and roll it over your thighs. Have someone stand on it and jump up and down for added pressure. Doesn’t that feel great!?

A2. Take a lacrosse ball and poke around in your glutes. If you feel nothing, glue on some razor blades to make it more challenging. Splendid!

A3. If neither of those work, go get a chainsaw. RELEASE.

brb

Moreover, Ken was also given poor advice and told to arch his lower back aggressively whenever he squatted because, #powerlifting.

As a result, whenever he hit a certain depth – usually juuuuust as he passed 90 degrees of hip flexion – he’d compensate with more lumbar flexion and exhibit what’s often referred to as “butt wink.”

Photo Credit: GirlsGoneStrong.com

Again, pertinent information.

No wonder his back always hurt when he squatted:

His issue wasn’t a mobility issue, but rather a POSITIONING issue.
Squat cues that work for powerlifters usually don’t work well with non-powerlifters.

Alignment Affects ROM

To be clear: I am not some anti-anterior pelvic tilt lobbyist.

Anterior pelvic tilt is normal.

There’s a natural lordotic curve to the lumbar spine which is accompanied with a slight forward/anterior tilt of the pelvis.

It’s when it becomes excessive – or people are encouraged to seek it out – that it can (not always) elicit negative repercussions.

Ross et al (2014) noted that:

In 3D modeling of pelvic motion from x-rays of test subjects an increase of anterior pelvic tilt of 10 degrees resulted in:

Decreased hip flexion by 6 degrees.
Decreased hip internal rotation of 15 degrees.
Decreased abductions of 8.5 degrees.
Increased contact with positions of impingement.
Being put into Hufflepuff.²

In short: more anterior tilt (may) require more spinal motion during squatting exercises compared to more posterior tilt.

The dotted section(s) to the left represent the acetabulum (or hip socket). As you move down from A to C we lose site of the acetabulum due to increased anterior pelvic tilt. This will incite increased bone on bone contact – or impingement – sooner as we go deeper into a squat.

Now, I am not suggesting we all walk around in more posterior pelvic tilt like a bunch of Ed Grimley wannabes:

However, what I am suggesting is that nudging a little more posterior pelvic tilt so our clients/athletes get out of their aggressive anterior pelvic tilt (and closer to neutral) may be the more appropriate long-term play.

Sure, it may entail “some” releasing of this and “some” mobilizing of that…but not as much as most people think.

Much of the time the more pertinent approach is to have your clients adopt a better bracing strategy in addition to spending more time strengthening the anterior core and glutes (both of which aid in posterior pelvic tilt).

Likewise, I don’t feel cuing people to “arch their lower back” during a squat is beneficial. As pointed out above, increased anterior pelvic tilt resulted in increased impingement of the hip. Once someone runs out of room in his or her’s hips, in order to squat deeper they have to gain ROM elsewhere.

Their ~~soul~~ lower back.

Moreover, the reason many powerlifters adopt a hard arch when they squat is more out of necessity than because it’s better.

They wear gear/squat suits (that require an aggressive arch in order to hit passable depth).

Photo Credit: EliteFTS.com

People who don’t compete, don’t wear squat suits (and “passable” depth is arbitrary and highly individual anyway).

Circling back to Ken (remember him?), all I had him do in our initial session(s) was to appreciate POSITION. I took away the cue to arch his lower back, and instead had him focus more on posteriorly tilting his pelvis to scoot him closer to neutral (which, remember, is STILL an anterior tilted position).

He was able to squat pain free AND was able to squat deeper without “falling” into that butt wink posture.

I think he’s beginning to like squats again.

Tiesto?

Not so much.

May 9, 2019 Tony

Assessment Exercise Technique

Individualizing Your Squat Stance

I’ve often championed the notion that there’s “no such thing as textbook technique.”

How we’re taught to execute certain exercises in a textbook often won’t translate to the real world because, well, we don’t live in textbooks.

This is a theme that’s hit on several times in The Complete Trainers’ Toolbox. Sam Spinelli, one of the contributors, was kind enough to share a bit of an amuse bouche from his presentation “All Things Squats, Knees, and Hips” with everyone today.

To check out the full presentation, as well as contributions from eight other renowned industry leaders, go HERE for more information.

Individualizing Your Squat Stance

Humans are these incredibly awesome, adaptable, and diverse creatures.

Within our awesomeness, over time we have adapted to have a diverse set of unique features in our anatomy that provides for a wide range of movement from person to person. This is something that we did not readily acknowledge for a long time and tried to fit people into square holes.

The squat is a perfect example of this topic.

For such a long time it has been advocated to squat with your toes forward and perfectly hip width apart. The unfortunate thing is that this limits a significant majority of people from being able to squat comfortably – or to an appreciable depth.

While some people may be able to do so with practice and working on range of motion, for a vast majority it is just not realistic due to their bony anatomy.

As we examine the ankle, knee, and hip, we can see that there is significant variation within the bones forming them and the resulting joints.

For example, at the hip we have an acetabulum that can vary in depth of which will impact how much motion a set sized femoral head can have. This will impact the capacity of motion for hip range between individuals, leading to diverse squat stances already. When we begin to layer on the other ways our anatomy differs, it compounds and leads to a breadth of variations in how people may squat.

How Should I Squat Then?

There isn’t a set stance that will accommodate everyone – some people will do well with a hip width stance and slight toe out, others may do better with a narrower stance and feet directly forward. Finding what works best for you can be a challenge at first and require some experimentation.

To help expedite the process, try out these four methods:

1) Find Your Squat Stance – Standing

2) Find Your Squat Stance – Supported

3) Find Your Squat Stance – Seated

4) Find Your Squat Stance – Kneeling

The goal with each is to start with feet together and progress foot/knee width. You will find that one width generally feels better than the others, that’s the one to stick with for now. Then you can start playing around with foot/knee angle and continue experimenting.

This will get you a great head start on your squat stance and making it unique to you.

Two additional details – you may find your stance more comfortable with your feet not symmetrical and you may find that your stance changes with time. These things are normal for many people.

Did I Just Blow Your Mind?

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of stuff I cover in my presentation “All Things Squats, Knees, and Hips” in the Complete Trainers’ Toolbox, an online resource that became available this week that also features presentations from eight other industry professionals – including Tony Gentilcore, Dean Somerset, Dr. Lisa Lewis, Alex Kraszewski, Kellie Davis, Meghan Callaway, Dr. Sarah Duvall, and Luke Worthington..

It includes 17 total hours of content covering a wide range of topics every health/fitness professional is bound to relate with. It’s on sale this week at a significant discount, but only until Sunday, February 17th at midnight.

Go HERE for more information.

February 14, 2019 Tony

Assessment Corrective Exercise Exercise Technique

The Big Toe and the Squat

Two things with regards to the title of today’s post:

I’m thinking it could pass for the title of the next big children’s book.¹
Searching stock images for “big toe” pretty much made me want to throw up a little in my mouth. I’d place it somewhere between kipping pull-ups and gonorrhea in terms of stuff I’d rather not see with my eyes ever again.

There’s a lot to consider and that can go awry when discussing the squat. To say there’s a plethora of moving parts – not to mention positional considerations (hand position, stance, bar position, etc) – would be an understatement.

One of the last things you’d probably ever consider when it comes to your squat performance is your big toe. Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s a pretty damn important and something you should consider considering.

Also, this is about as non-pukey of a picture as I could find of a toe.

Copyright: alfredhofer / 123RF Stock Photo

The Big Toe & the Squat

What inspired this post was an interaction I had with a new client recently. During his initial evaluation I had him show me his squat because he had mentioned the movement has always bothered his lower back.

He’d worked with previous trainers in the past who had attempted to “fix” things, more often than not resulting in him stretching this, smashing that, performing a cornucopia of positional breathing drills while repeating the Elvish alphabet backwards, and otherwise being over corrective exercised to death

The next step was to bring in an exorcist.

I didn’t do any of those things.²

Instead I did something revelatory.

In fact, I’d be surprised if I’m not nominated for a Nobel Prize for how revelatory what I did was.

Are you ready?

Wait for it…

I watched him squat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

I’m flummoxed as to why this seemingly obvious “intervention” is often overlooked. I think a lot of it has to do with something John Rusin spoke about during his keynote talk at the SWIS 2018 Symposium:

“We’re in an industry that gets too distracted by bright, shiny objects.”

Watching someone squat is boring.

Having someone stand in a zero gravity chamber while a bunch of lasers attempt to release their psoas isn’t.

We’ve become infatuated with gadgets and gizmos so much so that it’s become much harder to galvanize the masses into trusting what it is they do best……

………..COACH.

To that point, I’m old school and I just wanted to watch my man squat.

I had him take off his shoes ~~and pants~~, and it’s here where I noticed something.

I watched his feet and saw that with every repetition his toes would come up off the ground, like so:

FYI: this is a picture of me doing a reenactment. See you in a few weeks at the Oscars.

Now, for the sake of brevity, it is a conversation to have as to whether or not he was cued into lifting his toes off the ground or not? I’ll nip this in the bud and say for the record that he wasn’t.

He was just never coached on how to squat properly.

As such, it became glaringly clear why his back had always been flipping him the middle finger whenever he attempted to squat (Goblet, front, back, all of them).

When your toes – most often the big toe – comes off the ground you lose your core.

Bullet Points (for those of you too lazy to watch):

When toes come up, you lose canister position (ribs stacked on pelvis) and thus lose your core and stability.
When toes comes up, you crank into lower back.
Think more about foot pressure (pushing into floor and even weight distribution on big toe/metatarsal, small toe, AND heel).
Cement toes to the floor.
Take your clients’ shoes off when they squat. It will tell you a lot.
My biceps looks amazing in salmon colored t-shirts.

But Wait Tony, Some Coaches Cue People to Squat With Big Toe Up on the Way Down, and Then to Push It Into the Ground on the Way Up. Are You Saying They’re Assholes?

No.

Coaches such as Mark Cheng and Cal Dietz – who are both the shit – often advocate the big toe stays up on the way down during a squat (but the ball/metatarsal still stays glued to the floor) and then press the toe down on way up.

I find this to be okay – and far be it from me to say they’re wrong. They’re both developing outstanding athletes and making people better.

I just find that with all the other mental gymnastics that come along with the squat – big air, ribs down, sit down, not back, spread the floor, drive your chest into the bar, hips through, don’t poop your pants – that it gets a little crowded when you add in the “toes up on the descent, toes down on the ascent” cue.

As I note in the video above I like to cue the idea of foot pressure – with three points of contact – and to cement the toes down during the squat.

Moreover, the objective is not to grip or dig into the floor with your toes.

As Lexington, KY based coach, Drew Watts, notes:

“I don’t like “digging” because you don’t want to press the tip of the toe to the ground, more the pad of the toe. Big toe, ball of the foot, 5th metatarsal, heel. Pressing big toe helps the windlass mechanism as well.“

Here’s a nice demonstration of everything in action by Essex, Vermont based strength coach, Jess Voyer (who was kind enough to refer to me as a genius in her IG post. 4,000,000 points to Gryffindor):

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-xYyEHdmy/

All of This to Say

Don’t be shy to take people’s shoes off.³

Having a keener eye on what their toes are doing during their squat can give you a lot of information and insight.

Toes down = core on = sexier squat.

January 24, 2019 Tony

Corrective Exercise Program Design

Are You Engaging the Right Muscles When You Squat?

I’m in Europe for the next two weeks traveling.¹

Fear not. I’ve still managed to queue up some stellar content for you in my absence.

Today Dr. Sarah Duvall is pinch-writing for me talking about a topic that’s relevant to anyone who likes to lift heavy things: Squats (and how to make them feel better).

Her new resource, which she developed alongside fellow coaching superstars Kellie Hart and Meghan Callaway – Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Workout System – is on sale starting today (6/28) and runs through 7/2.

It’s stellar and I think you should check it out.

Copyright: viacheslavmaksimov / 123RF Stock Photo

Are You Engaging the Right Muscles When You Squat?

Several months ago Tony and I met at Caffe Nero to talk shop.

After a combined 30 + years of working with people, we have both come to the conclusion that strength is your friend!

It’s your friend for rehab, for life and for aging.

In other words,

“You need to lift shit to fix shit.”

It can get a little tricky, because I’ve often found for patients with tightness or pain that we have to first make sure the right muscle is doing the work before overloading.

A great example of this is doing squats but primarily loading quads and low back instead of balancing the lift with glutes and abdominals. Or doing deadlifts but primarily feeling them in your back, never your glutes or hamstrings.

So you’re lifting and trying to get stronger, but in reality if you’re experiencing the above you’re overworking a subset of muscles instead of the intended target.

That’s why you should always know what muscles you want to work and where you should feel it.

Educated lifting!

Let’s take a second to break down the ever-elusive squat a little further. There are so many varieties from goblet to back to front squats and everything in between.

You’ll want to pick a variety that feels best for you, but I’d like to share a couple tricks for squatting in a way that targets your glutes and abs. This will be especially helpful if you primarily feel squats in your quads and low back.

Let’s work from the ground up at 4 key areas of the body.

#1. Keep Your Toes Firmly on the Ground

Somewhere along the way the cue to lift the toes got popular.

This is an easy way to shift your weight back to help get the squat more into your hips instead of your knees.

When we make cues too easy they often miss the mark. It’s true that you want to sit back into your hips, but the body follows patterns and when you pick up your toes you set off a flexion chain in your body that can increase hip flexor activation and decrease abdominals.

Give it a try now.

Pick up your toes for a squat and focus on how much you feel your abdominals. Now, give me a nice short foot (big toe down, arch engaged, weight spread evenly between the ball and heel) and see if this grounded foot turns your abs on more.

Those hardwired neuro patterns are hard to break, and having great foot placement sets the tone for the rest of the body.

So how do you sit back instead of coming forward onto your knees? Try practicing your squat by sitting back to a box or chair.

This will help train the pattern without picking up your toes.

#2. Sit Into Your Glutes

You want to feel your glutes lengthening for your squat.

It’s not a deadlift, your knees will bend, but it shouldn’t be all knees.

Two signs you’re not lengthening and sitting into your glutes:

You have to fold in half to sit back. (Now, if you have really long femurs or a narrow stance, you’ll need to lean forward a bit more. But if you widen your stance and you still find yourself bending over at the waist, it might be a good idea to check your rockbacks.)
You start with a neutral spine but then overarch your back to sit into the squat. Overarching the back and lengthening the hamstrings is a great way to look like you’re sitting back into your glutes when in reality you’re just going into a big anterior pelvic tilt. If this is the case, your low back will often feel tight after your squat.

To fix the folding in half, try holding on to something when you squat, like suspension straps. Then you can practice sitting back and down into those glutes.

#3. Neglecting to Keep a Neutral Spine

How we initiate a motion sets the tone for that exercise.

So if you arch your back to start, then your brain gets the signal, “this is a back exercise.” If you lengthen your glutes to start, then your brain gets the signal, “this is a glute exercise.”

Sitting the tone is important!

It’s much easier to do something right from the start than it is to play catch up. Wait, are we talking about life or squats?

See if you can spot the difference between initiating for the glutes lengthening vs the low back overarch?

#4. Head Alignment

Let’s do a test.

Look up at the ceiling and squat.

Did you feel how you wanted to overarch your back?

Now, put your chin to your chest and squat.

See how you wanted to tuck your bottom?

Our body follows our head. You’ll never see a gymnast look the opposite way for a flip.

Playing around with head positioning and where the eyes are looking can dramatically change a squat. If someone is having lots of trouble keeping their abs engaged, I might have them look down just a pinch more. If they are really having trouble sitting into their glutes, I might have them look up a pinch.

The real takeaway from this is to know where you should feel an exercise and make sure that is what’s working. When you’re doing squats, you should feel both your glutes and quads working, as well as your abs and low back. A balanced squat works everything, and working everything means you’ll be able to do more and get stronger without getting hurt because the effort is shared.

Want to learn more about where you should be feeling an exercise and which muscles should be working?

You’re in luck!

Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Workout System

Three expert coaches in the fitness and rehab industry came together to build an incredible 12 week workout program to help you reach your fitness goals.

Everyone – women AND men, powerlifters AND CrossFitters, Batman AND Care Bears – can spend more time developing their glute, core and pelvic floor strength and integrity.

Sarah, Kellie, and Megan are phenomenal coaches and have put in a ton of work to make this a resource that can equally help (and be applied) fitness professionals and general population alike.

Fitness Professionals: to be able to assess and write effective corrective and training programs to address things like pelvic floor dysfunction, rectus diastasis (which effects males too), incontinence, and many other “intricate” issues that aren’t easy to train around (much less talk about).

General Population: to show you the basics needed to feel great and to set yourself up for as much success as possible if or when you choose to attack the iron.

Batman (in case you’re reading this): to fight crime in a more efficient and timely manner.

This program is thorough AF and the beauty is that it requires minimal equipment and can be done at home or in a gym.

I’ve performed a few of the workouts & movements myself and lets just say its highlighted a few glaring weaknesses on my end. What’s more, I’m learning a lot. This WILL make me a better coach.

The price is heavily discounted – $200 OFF – for two days only (6/28 and 6/29).

It increases $100 on June 30th – July 1st.
And then increases to full price on Monday, July 2nd.

You don’t have much time to take advantage, so I encourage you to do NOW.

—> Hurry! Click Me <—-

June 28, 2018 Tony

Strength Training

Making the Squat Look and Feel More Like a Squat

Squat technique is a daunting topic to write about. No matter what, despite logic, sound reasoning and the fact not everyone falls neatly into any one way of doing anything (especially as it relates to lifting weights), some people are going to get triggered and go batshit crazy.

This post may rub some people (and coaches) the wrong way, but I beg you to take a deep breath, listen to what I have to say, and understand that this is not an attack against you or your way of doing things.

Rather, what follows is a brief look into what works for me and what I feel works best for the bulk of people I work with on a weekly basis as it relates to coaching the squat.

In short: Making the squat look more like a squat.

Huh, Come Again Now?

Gone, I feel, are the days where we’re overzealous with cueing people to aggressively sit back during their squats.

For competitive powerlifters, who are into powerlifting, and who are wearing squat suits, while they powerlift…the cue to sit back makes a lot of sense.

For everyone else?

Mmm, not so much.

Call me crazy (and some may do just that), but I’d garner a guess that many trainees would benefit from two subtle tweaks to their squat:

No more (or less emphasis on) sitting back.
Finding and maintaining foot pressure.

The former is not to say I don’t advocate to sit back. I do. It’s just I feel there should be a simultaneous break with knees going forward AND hips going back on the descent. The net result is a SQUAT down.

The latter takes a bit more practice, but has a profound effect on one’s ability to have a bit more “umph” out of the hole (quads, baby!) and to stay in a better position throughout the rep/set (I.e., less falling or dipping forward).

Check out the brief video below. Hopefully it’ll make sense and not cause anyone to punch a wall with their face.

Making the Squat Look and Feel More Like a Squat

November 28, 2017 Tony