Are you making these 3 squat mistakes?
If you’ve only recently started strength training it’s normal to feel a little bit overwhelmed - there are a lot of lifts, a lot of rules, a lot of variations, and on top of that, you need to take into consideration your body’s uniqueness. But there's a method to the madness, and over the years we’ve helped hundreds of women get to grips with strength training - and become bloody good at it, too. And we’ve noticed that newbies usually make a few common mistakes when it comes to one of the most fundamental lifts - the squat. We thought we’d sum them up for you here - so you can avoid them like the plague and squat like a champ!
Shoulder width apart isn’t one size fits all
First things first, where are your feet at? The generic ‘shoulder width apart’ advice works - but only for everyBODY. It’s not about how short or tall you are. See, the thing is that it’s all about your proportions - that is, your torso vs your legs, your femur (big long thigh bone) in particular. So a stance that might work for your long femur bestie might not be optimal for you. Add mobility issues on top - and you see how it’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Our best advice is to experiment with your stance - try narrow, try wider, try elevating your heels slighty too too - until it feels right for your body.
Are you squatting with your knees?
A squat is basically sitting on a chair. Your hips need to go back and down - at the same time. What we see often is newbies squatting with their knees moving forward and going waaay over their toes, leaving them with most of their weight on their toes as they sit down into their squat. Our best tip here is to grab a chair, bench, sofa - whatever you have available - and practice sitting on it - but not if you’re about to binge a Netflix show. Control the movement on the way down, get your glutes to gently touch the chair, and then stand back up. Repeat this until your body gets used to the motion!
Are you an ego lifter?
Squatting with great form beats squatting with heavy weight any day. We see a lot of newbies get excited about lifting (yay!) and start adding too much weight too fast without focusing on form (nay!).Please don’t rush into lifting heavy if you don’t have good form. You’re only going to injure yourself which we do not want! . Get used to bodyweight first as above and then remember you can try lots of different variations of squats - using different pieces of equipment! Dumbbell, kettlebells or even some bumper plates! We know the barbell could be a bit intimidating but the sooner you get to grips with it - the better! Bear in mind the barbell itself is either 7.5KG, 15KG or 20KG - so don’t rush to add plates to it!
When you’re ready to add more weight - don’t make jumps bigger than 2-3 KG at a time, and don’t make those jumps too fast either!
Happy squatting team!
If you need extra help with your squats - or any other lift for that matter - apply for our Warrior project. This is our small group training programme where you’ll get all the benefits of personal training (personalized feedback, accountability, nutrition support) without breaking the bank. We’ve just opened up a few more spaces for our October intake - sign up here!