Barbell Squat, Effective beyond Complexity Exercise

The barbell squat is a complicated squat yet effective way to increase the muscle mass of your posterior chain. These muscles must be built stronger to produce hip extension. The squat is one of the exercises that improve your strength for jumping, pushing, pulling and other lower body movements.

The barbell squat is one of the squat variations that provide additional tension to your lower and upper body. Basic squat uses the most amount of weight. The squat should be performed through the effective range of motions. You only need to ensure that your hip is dropping below the top of the knee.

But for the barbell squat as one of the squat variations, you will need the barbell to be placed on your shoulder back.

How to do this?

Since the barbell is in the rack at the height of mid-sternum, take a thumbless grip on the bar that is narrow enough for your straight wrists. Then place the heel of the palm against the bar, while placing fingers on top. The hands keep the barbell from rolling down our back. With grip and hooks in place, walk under the bar and place it right under the spine of the scapula on the meat of the rear deltoids muscles. With the bar in position, take a deep breath and stand up with the bar on the back. Next, you will have to step out of the rack and make the same shoulder-width stance as the stretch without the bar. Take a big deep breath to increase the intra-abdominal pressure of the gut and provide stability for your back.

While doing the squat with a barbell, you will need to keep in mind some of the things that you should need to learn. For instance, the hands don’t hold the bar on the back; instead, our back muscles hold the bar on our back. We use the low bar position to allow us to bend over and use the hip drive to stand up.

Also, when you are preparing to squat down, there are two things that you need to remember, as well. The first one is you have to shove your knees out. And the second one is squat down to depth and come right back up by driving your hips up.

Learn the Basic

Aside from the barbell squat, there are other kinds of squat that you want to try. But you’ll need to know how to do the basic squat.

For the basic squat, the starting position is standing with your heels apart with shoulder-width distance. Put your heels under your shoulder and turn it out at 30 degrees. While, push your knees to the side, the same direction of your feet. Then bend your hips and knees at the same time. Start moving it back and down while pushing your knees out. Make your lower back squat with a natural arch shape when you stand. Your hands should be outside your shoulders while squeezing the bar hard. But let your upper back carry the bar. The bar should be in the center, between your traps and rear shoulders or on your traps. For your elbows, you will need to place it behind the top of your torso. Before unracking, raise your chest and make sure your legs are straight before walking back.

While doing that, bend your hips and knees at the same time. Your head should be in-line with your torso. Next, squat down until your hips are lower than your knees. Lock your hips and knees for racking and step forward, hit the rack. Move the bar in a vertical line over your middle foot. Then, hold it at the bottom while breathing in and out.

Quick Reminder: Avoid raising your toes or heels while doing squat. On each repetition, lock your knees at the top and stand with it. Do the proper breathing and get tight for the next repeat. Make sure your back is neutral and no rounding nor excess arching. Keep it at a diagonal angle. To support the bar, never use your hands to prevent damage on your wrist.

Common Mistakes while Doing the Barbell Squat

1. You will avoid the lack of tightness during lifting by making the right stance. Doing the correct position should give you a tighter set-up. Also, it can build muscle mass and provide more balance while doing squat barbell.
2. Try placing your barbell at the rack evenly and balanced. Keep it placed irregularly towards the left or right of the center. It will make your shift on whether the barbell is placed asymmetrically.
3. Another common mistake during the barbell squat is making your knees forward too much. It will make your squat pattern weaker and can cause injury to your joints in your knees and lower back.
4. On the other hand, if you move your knees inward, it can lead to a vulnerable position that could harm your knee joint. It should be one of the common mistakes when doing a barbell squat.
5. The most common mistake while doing a barbell squat is not reaching the proper depth or doing only half squats. It is the result of a lack of an ingrained understanding of what an adequate extent and has locked down the feeling of joint positioning. To avoid, allot more time in the bottom position through holding repetitions.

Doing a barbell squat has many benefits.

Doing squat helps your body to build more muscles.

Indeed, a barbell squat doesn’t just help you achieve incredible, toned legs. Also, they promote body-wide muscle building by creating muscles in the body. They work up your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, abdominal muscles, lower back and your butt too.

It can burn calories faster and more effective.

As calories burn, it will help you build muscle. It will become more efficient at burning calories so you can get to that slimmer physique faster. When you squat with weights bar, you’ll burn the calories even quicker.

More flexible muscles after incorporating weighted squat in your routine exercise

Being flexible is one of the factors to perform well in the workout routines. Our muscles, tendons and ligaments become less elastic as we grow old. But this does not mean that we cannot slow it down. Doing regularly weighted bar squats will help you limber up and become more flexible as the exercise involves bending and stretching of the leg muscles.

Like other exercises, it improves mobility and balance.

You will need to have strong legs for your daily activities. Strong thighs are essential for staying mobile; thus, you will need to do squats. Not only do they develop leg strength, but they also work out your core to stabilize your muscles. These muscles help you to maintain balance.

Maintain good health of your lungs and heart.

If you do exercises, your breathing will be practiced. Also, your heart will improve its function in blood circulation. Also, it will strengthen your cardiac muscles and lung capacity.

Prevent you from having injuries.

Proper stance while doing the barbell squat can prevent you from getting injuries. Aside from muscles, squat strengthens the tissues and ligaments in our body. By doing this, it helps your body to become steady while your primary muscles can do their job.

Stronger Bones and Improve functions of joints

Doing barbell squat engages your hips, knees and ankles at the same time. It helps build muscle and improves joint health and joint strength. Aside from joints, squat increases bone density in our bodies. It helps our bones to become stronger over time.

Good posture in doing squat.

Another good thing in performing squat has a good posture. While improving your core and leg strength, it influences your muscles at the back to have good posture.

Getting support for your daily activities

In general, doing a barbell squat will increase your capacity for doing everyday tasks. The squat is one perfect cardio exercise that you will need to improve your lower body, which is vital for daily movement.

In a nutshell

Indeed, doing a barbell squat improves our muscles in the lower body and at the back. But what could be the reasons for choosing the squat? Why squat if we could have other choices?

In the beginning, the squat is the most natural exercise that we have. It is one of the most foundational functional movements in our lives. And as we get older, it is crucial to maintain and to do squat correctly.

Don’t be deceived if you notice that doing squats is more comfortable than any workout. In fact, squats are compound movement. It means that it is a movement that needs your every joint working. A simple bodyweight squat workout uses almost every muscle group in the body. Adding a barbell in your routine, it helps your primary muscle group to work.

Aside from legs, don’t forget your muscles at the back, hips and core as well as your shoulders and arms moving.

Because of utilizing your bones and muscles completely, it burns calories and fats. In return, it adds muscle mass and increases bone density. Given this, it improves your flexibility. The increase in your knees and hips reduces your chance of getting an injury.