How to do barbell squats correctly

Squats they are an effective exercise to work buttocks and legs. Although it is a basic exercise, if you add the weight of a bar, it will become the best method to exercise the lower body of your body. Thanks to squats you will be able to work different muscle groups at the same time: glutes, quadriceps or the posterior muscles of the hip are some of them.

For the barbell squats this element should be placed at the back of the neck. What is achieved with that? It is simple:

Using the bar you will add a little more weight to your body, which will allow you to make a greater effort, increase your strength and endurance, increase the volume of your muscles and tone them and, in addition, increase the secretion of growth hormones, since the nervous system works actively during exercise.

There are some machines that are capable of reproducing the movement of the squat, replacing the exercise itself, but they are not recommended. If you want to exercise your lower body well, you must perform natural movements. Although the incline press exists to do weight lifting in a Roman chariot, it is not as complete an exercise as perform a barbell squat. Try it and you will discover the differences.

If you have encouraged practice barbell squatsYou must be aware of their technique to avoid injuries, minimize damage and, above all, properly exercise your legs and buttocks. First of all, you must know the low exercise position:

1. Slightly spread your legs, making sure they are level with your shoulders.
2. The soles of your feet should be about 30 degrees outward.
3. In this position, lower your body as if you were sitting in a chair.
4. Important! Make sure that the knees do not stick out more than the tips of the feet, since you could injure yourself.

The previous steps correspond to the movement that you must repeat while being low. Next, we explain the barbell squat movement:

1. Taking into account the previous position, in which to do the squat the body must be raised and lowered, flexing the knee, you must take into account the position of the bar to add difficulty and weight to the work.
2. Place the bar on the never, grasping it with your arms extended and parallel to the ground.
3. The elbows should be in line with the knees.
4. The hands must be supported on the bar.

For Correctly perform a barbell squat, we should not only pay attention to the position, but also to the movement. Although many people think that it is a vertical movement when lifting the body, this is not entirely the case. The bar should also move at an angle while squatting:

1. The movement must start from the bottom up.
2. In the starting position, first lift your pelvis. Then gradually straighten your knees to finally lift your entire body.

Watch out! Do not start the upward movement directly with your knees, since in addition to damaging the mechanics of the movement, you will greatly increase the risk of injury. Take care of postural hygiene!

Finally, you should also take into account your breathing during exercise. Keeping air in your lungs will help you push and pull. That is, it is not necessary to take in air and exhale while lifting the weight, but it is best to contain the inspired air in the lungs while you move, thus creating a natural tension in the chest that will help you work with more strength and resistance. Test it!

When practicing any exercise, it is important to pay attention to any position that may be incorrect, since the risk of injury is much higher. In the case of barbell squats, one of the most common mistakes is leaning your back forward when bending your legs to squat. It is important that your back remains straight or with its natural curvature, especially in the lower part of the movement.

Another mistake we often make when doing barbell squats is not positioning the bar properly. As we have pointed out previously, it must be supported on the shoulders. Find the shoulder bones and let the bar rest on them. As for the hands, they must catch the bar in order to maintain the position, but watch out! the hands are not in charge of supporting its weight. Remember that with squats we want to work legs and glutes, not arms.

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