LOWER BODY MOVEMENTS

In our Strength Training System, most exercises that are being considered for a specific program will be placed into one of three general movement categories. Lower Body Movements involve the following movements: knee extension, hip extension, and plantar flexion. Lower Body Movements are those that will help increase strength in the lower back, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus muscle group, hip extensors, flexors, adductors, abductors, and the muscles of the lower leg (calf and ankle). Bilateral Movements are prominent within the program, but we also utilize a lot of unilateral variations which are more sports specific and help reduce stress placed on the body during training.

BACK SQUAT EXERCISES

The Back Squat is a traditional Exercise where an external load using a barbell is placed across the upper back while the athlete performs a squat. The depth of the squat may vary with each individual based on physiological traits such as limb length, hip structure, injury, etc. But it is preferred that the athlete squats to a depth where the top of the thigh is parallel to the floor.

Back Squats: Barbell / To the Box

• This movement is not any different than a traditional back squat, except we utilize a box to help regulate depth. You don’t sit on the box, just slight touch.
• Utilize a sturdy box with plates to establish a height in which the top of your thigh is parallel to the floor when sitting on the box.
• The movement begins from an athletic stance. Feet slightly wider than hip width. The width of stance can vary based on the ability of the athlete to maintain an upright posture into proper load position
• Feet should be pointed out slightly. It is important that your thigh, knee, shin and foot are all inline during the movement. Don’t let your knees come inward
• Next grab the bar with the same bench grip, thumbs one finger width from smooth
• When stepping under the bar, pull your shoulders down and back, while placing the bar on your lower traps just above your shoulder blades. This placement should be a tight and secure.
• Maintain your head in a neutral, double chin position.
• Under control, walk the weight out of the rack slowly, one step at a time
• Prior, make sure your bar clamps are secure
• Once you’re in your proper stance, slowly and under control, drive your hips back as you maintain a relatively upright posture. Take a deep breath and hold it during the decent.
• Don’t lean too far forward and don’t bounce at the bottom of the movement
• Once you achieve full squat depth, push your feet through the floor as hard as possible and exhale when squatting back to the starting position
• Your chest should always come up first, before your hips. Not the other way around. This will always be your biggest challenge.
• Especially with this lift, don’t let your ego get in the way. Form is always more important than the weight utilized.
• The utilization of a Safety Squat Bar is also an excellent variation to this movement which we often rotate into our training protocol