The BEST Squat Accessory Ever: "This simple tool helps so much!"

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

How can one simple object fix your knees' forward position, your knees' lateral position, and even your hip position and back angle?! If you train on your own, the TUBOW can be a huge help to your squat. What's a TUBOW? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains as Becky demonstrates.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 12/03/22)

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  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

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People Believed this Lie about Squatting for YEARS

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

If you’ve lifted weights long enough - or been in a high school weight room or at a powerlifting meet for about five seconds - you’ve heard it . . .

“You’ve got to look up to go up!”

Let’s put this silly nonsense to bed real quick-like.

You don’t look up to go up when you stand up from your bed in the morning.

You don’t look up to go up when getting up from the couch.

You don’t look up to go up when getting up off of the toilet.

Look up to go up? ridiculous.

In fact, with the notable exception of rock climbing and ladders, you rarely look up to go up in life, and you certainly don’t need to look up to go up when squatting.

Keep it simple. Find a focal point that helps reinforce what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to reach back with your hips and point your chest at the floor on the descent, and you’re trying to stay in that leaned over position as you drive your hips up out of the hole on the ascent.

Looking up tends to yank the head up, and that, in turn, causes the chest to come up sooner than you want - making for a harder, more inefficient squat.

With this in mind, pick a spot 4-6 feet in front of you on the floor and stare at it the entire time. Before your first rep, during each rep, and between reps - keep the same focal point.

This focal point helps you achieve the correct back angle, drive your hips effectively, and makes for a more efficient squat.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

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(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

How to Squat Heavy ALONE! | How to Fail a Squat Safely

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Everybody needs to squat, but if you train alone, you need to be able to fail a squat safely. What to do? It's simple, and Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains and demonstrates.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 11/28/22)

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Why Do You Put the Bar There When You Squat?

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 02/19/21)

Listen up, folks - we’re going to discuss something you’ve probably never thought about before - why we put the barbell in the low bar position when we squat. Specifically, we’re going to discuss an anatomical rationale for placing the bar in The Position, so for today, we’ll be skipping the mechanical discussions about moment arms, hip drive, etc. (but as I was a physics teacher in a past life, we can geek out on that some other time if you like).

If you take a person who has never squatted before, maybe even a person who has squatted before, and you say, “Hey, go over there and squat that bar down and up” - which is unfortunately a fairly common approach to coaching - pretty much everyone in the world will go over to the rack, get under the bar, and they will then place the bar in what is called the high bar position (only they don’t know it’s called that), and they’ll stand upright with the bar sitting up high on the shelf provided by your traps.

They will do this because it’s easy and it’s obvious. It’s easy because it doesn’t require much - if any - flexibility (although it actually can be tough for some people), and it’s obvious because it’s the first potential shelf that the bar runs into as you slide under the bar.

However, remember that this position - the position of standing upright - is the easiest position in the entire squat. You know this because you can stand there supporting a lot more weight than you can actually squat. As this is the easiest position to assume, we might be wise not to let this position dictate the location of the bar.

Instead, we’re going to slide just a bit further forward - further under the bar, if you will - until the bar slides past the traps and is now supported on the shelf provided by your delts. We choose this location for the bar - not because it’s the easiest position to achieve when standing up (because it is not) - but rather because it’s the most secure location for the bar when you’re actually squatting.

Picture yourself at the bottom of your squat - you’ve got a nice, leaned-over torso, and now, with the bar sitting in The Position, any downward motion of the bar (i.e., rolling or sliding down your back) is blocked by your delts, and any upward motion is blocked by your traps. The bar is pinned between these two muscle groups in a very secure manner, and a bar that doesn’t want to move up or down your back is a very good thing when squatting heavy weights.

Now that you’ve got something to think about as you rest between work sets, it’s time to get to squatting.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Do This Once & Instantly Improve Your Squat Form

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Want to improve your squat technique right away? This particular tactic might seem counterintuitive to some - Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains and demonstrates.

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Why Does This Bar Position Just Work So Well? (where to put the bar for the squat)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

When squatting, why does this particular barbell position work so well, and how do you find the correct location? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains and demonstrates.

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?