The strongest squat isn’t always the best squat.

The back squat: one of the so-called ‘Big Three’ in Powerlifting. Nowadays, also part of Streetlifting in an All-4 competition. Targeting mostly the lower body, but as the weight increases, the demands for the upper body increases as well.

A few years in to consistent training, your squat has reached a strong 160kg. But for the last months, it’s almost impossible to get more weight going. Purchasing knee sleeves and a belt, it did help to add a few kilos. But it stopped there again.

‘That’s it, limit reached, well done.’

‘You shouldn’t push it further, or your back will pay the price.’

A squat might look simple; it’s practically sitting down and standing up, right?. But in reality, it’s one of the most technical lifts out there.

Out of the hole

To picture this, let’s take an athlete with a shorter torso and longer femurs. She has progressed well over the last 2 years with a high bar squat. Now she’s stopped progressing for the last months. She’s seen a lot of athletes use a lifting belt, so she figured it’ll help. The belt helped, but it wasn’t adressing the underlying reason her squat had stalled. Main question for now: ‘What hinders further progression?’

Looking at the squat technique, this athlete has a hard time maintaining proper balance and with that, the center of mass is off. This has led to her lower back taking too much of the load. Also, her left hip is less able to ‘open up’, also leading towards improper heel pressure on that side. Finally, perhaps one of my biggest frustrations, doing heavy squats with running shoes.

So, what’s next?

First, like always, reducing the intensity toward recoverable loads. Next, adopting a slightly lower bar placement. This will help in a better ability to maintain the center of mass over the mid foot, looking from the side. This will also help in better balance and more even distribution of the forces.

For her warmups, we’ve added a warmup drill to help open the left hip more. Even though it doesn’t directly solve it, it does help with better awareness.

Lastly, other shoes that help provide a stable platform so she can focus on producing force.

Squatting to depth

There are a lot of variables when it comes to choosing the right technique. I can list them all, but that would dilute the focus. Below, I name a few important ones.

When choosing the right setup for a strong back squat, there are generally 3 main options. All of them are good, none of them are bad. It’s what suits your body and its desired technique the best.

-   High bar

o   Bar rests on traps

o   More upright torso, knee travels more forward

o   Requires more ankle dorsiflexion.

o   Might be the better pick if you’ve got a longer torso, short femurs and excellent ankle mobility

-   Mid bar

o   Slightly lower placement

o   Moderate knee travel, hip movement

o   Often the best middle ground

-   Low bar

o   Bar rests on rear delts

o   More forward lean, less knee travel

o   May be the better choice if you’ve got shorter torso and/or longer femurs.

This is just a brief look at which style to choose. Normally, it stays at ‘long femurs = more forward lean’. Or ‘Can’t hit depth? Elevate the heels.’ Whilst these aren’t incorrect, it is much more nuanced than this.  With the last one, it might not be the best position for heavy squats since there’s a balancing component that might hinder force production.

Common mistakes

The squat is super-complex, but to name a few:

-            Grabbing equipment like sleeves and belts too soon, before having aquired an efficient technique.

-            Always grabbing small plates for heel elevation to reach proper depth.

-            Ignoring your footwear

What’s in it for you?

Question for you: ‘Why should you stick to the same technique, even though it gives you injuries and stagnates progress?’

Of course, you don’t have to change your technique every time. But it might be worth your time to look at your technique more seriously to see if there’s room for adjustments.

Lastly, progress naturally slows as you become more experienced, and that’s completely normal.

Final thoughts

The back squat is immensely complex and also rewarding, when done right. There’s much more to it than just long or short femurs. Your squat should fit your body, not somebody else’s.

Being strong at the complex lifts isn’t just about pushing big numbers. It’s about being able to do so, whilst staying injury free as long as possible and feeling rewarded after every session. All of these will allow you to progress consistently.

Has your back squat stagnated for a while and you’re not sure why? Perhaps it’s not just your strength, rather a proper setup to express your abilties. Curious to what’s holding you back? So am I, and that’s what I love to help people with to find out.