Enter the TUBOW

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/20/18)

What on earth is a TUBOW?
So glad you asked! A TUBOW is a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood. Many of you have seen us use 2-foot lengths of 4 x 4 lumber when people squat from time to time - these are TUBOWs.

Why would one use a TUBOW?
We use TUBOWs in the squat, and there are a couple reasons we might use a TUBOW. The most common use is to fix the knee's forward position on the way down.

becky’s knees are so far forward that parker refuses to watch.

Two common errors that we see when people squat is either (a) the lifter's knees travel forward all the way down, or (b) the knees travel forward at the bottom of the squat.

We would like to see the knee establish its final forward position about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way into the descent of the squat, and touching the TUBOW with the knee at this point provides excellent tactile feedback as to whether or not the lifter is doing that correctly. If the lifter accidentally knocks the TUBOW over, it provides excellent negative feedback that the knee has traveled too far forward.

becky touches her knees lightly to the tubow during the descent.

Another use of the TUBOW is to fix the knee's lateral position in the squat, i.e., is the lifter shoving the knees out (to the side) far enough, or perhaps even too far? The TUBOW gives the lifter something concrete (well, lumber, actually) to aim for, and very often, this will help solve the issue.

One of the great side effects of fixing the knee position is that it will often fix the back angle in the squat as well. If the lifter's knees can only travel "so far" forward on the descent, then the hips will have to travel backward (since your hips and knees are connected by your femurs . . . you know . . . the leg bone). If the hips have to travel backward, the lifter will have to lean over during the descent to avoid falling over backward and stay balanced on the midfoot, and that leaned over position is precisely what we want in the low bar squat. Pretty awesome.

Are you one of those people who is deeply, intensely, spiritually, emotionally, and morally opposed to using the TUBOWs? If so, you're probably the type of person whose squat would benefit most from using them. And if your squat benefits, then you benefit, because you'll get stronger - faster.

Where do I get a TUBOW?
You can go to your nearest lumber supply store and get a 4 x 4 (and they'll often cut it to size for you), but if you'd rather just order a 2 foot section of 4 x 4 online and have it show up at your front door, then just click here.

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

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?

The Squat: Hips and Knees Together!

For heaven’s sake . . . don’t do this.

(This is a Blast from the Past article originally posted on 09/17/21.)

A problem that sometimes shows up in the squat is that of breaking at the hips first; in other words, instead of bending the hips and knees at the same time as we start to descend in the squat (which is what we want to happen), a lifter makes the mistake of breaking (i.e., bending) at the hips first followed by bending the knees. Let’s solve this problem.

A) Becky correctly initiates her descent by bending the hips and knees simultaneously.

In a correctly executed squat, the hips and knees will start to bend at the same time. As Becky shows in Figure A, her hips travel backward at the same time her knees travel forward and outward (i.e., in the direction of her toes) - this is what we would like to see, and this allows Becky to maintain her balance over the middle of her foot.

B) Becky incorrectly initiates her descent by bending at the hips first. Becky is exaggerating the error in the image on the left, but it tends to be a bit more subtle as Becky demonstrates in the image on the right (note that her hips have begun reaching back while her knees seem frozen in place).

In contrast, in Figure B, you can see Becky incorrectly initiating her descent by reaching back with her hips - which is correct - but she’s not forcing her knees to simultaneously move forward and out early in the descent.

This error is usually accompanied by the knees moving too far forward as the lifter reaches the bottom of her squat as well.

If you notice that you tend to break at the hips first, the simplest approach is to cue yourself, “Hips and knees at the same time” or “Hips and knees together.” Not surprisingly, the first approach is to cue yourself to do exactly what it is that you want to do.

However, if that approach doesn’t work, you can use an overcue and tell yourself to go “knees first” - in other words, you’re cueing yourself to shove your knees forward and out before you reach back with your hips. This overcue (like all overcues) is a bit of a lie as we actually want the motion of the hips and knees to be simultaneous, but it can be a potentially useful lie if it does the job and fixes the problem.

If those cues don’t work, go ahead and break out a TUBOW (Terribly Useful Block Of Wood) or two and make sure that your knees touch the TUBOWs about one-third to one-half of the way into your descent. If you’ve never used a TUBOW before, check out our video on that topic - TUBOW: The Portable Squat Coach - which is also included in this article.

Becky breaks out the TUBOWs.

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

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

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

---

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?

Enter the TUBOW

(This article is a Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/20/18).

What on earth is a TUBOW?
So glad you asked! A TUBOW is a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood. Many of you have seen us use 2-foot lengths of 4 x 4 lumber when people squat from time to time - these are TUBOWs.

Why would one use a TUBOW?
We use TUBOWs in the squat, and there are a couple reasons we might use a TUBOW. The most common use is to fix the knee's forward position on the way down.

becky’s knees are so far forward that parker refuses to watch.

Two common errors that we see when people squat is either (a) the lifter's knees travel forward all the way down, or (b) the knees travel forward at the bottom of the squat.

We would like to see the knee establish its final forward position about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way into the descent of the squat, and touching the TUBOW with the knee at this point provides excellent tactile feedback as to whether or not the lifter is doing that correctly. If the lifter accidentally knocks the TUBOW over, it provides excellent negative feedback that the knee has traveled too far forward.

becky touches her knees lightly to the tubow during the descent.

Another use of the TUBOW is to fix the knee's lateral position in the squat, i.e., is the lifter shoving the knees out (to the side) far enough, or perhaps even too far? The TUBOW gives the lifter something concrete (well, lumber, actually) to aim for, and very often, this will help solve the issue.

One of the great side effects of fixing the knee position is that it will often fix the back angle in the squat as well. If the lifter's knees can only travel "so far" forward on the descent, then the hips will have to travel backward (since your hips and knees are connected by your femurs . . . you know . . . the leg bone). If the hips have to travel backward, the lifter will have to lean over during the descent to avoid falling over backward and stay balanced on the midfoot, and that leaned over position is precisely what we want in the low bar squat. Pretty awesome.

Are you one of those people who is deeply, intensely, spiritually, emotionally, and morally opposed to using the TUBOWs? If so, you're probably the type of person whose squat would benefit most from using them. And if your squat benefits, then you benefit, because you'll get stronger - faster.

Where do I get a TUBOW?
You can go to your nearest lumber supply store and get a 4 x 4 (and they'll often cut it to size for you), but if you'd rather just order a 2 foot section of 4 x 4 online and have it show up at your front door, then just click here.

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

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

---

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?

The Squat: Hips and Knees Together!

A) Becky correctly initiates her descent by bending the hips and knees simultaneously.

A problem that sometimes shows up in the squat is that of breaking at the hips first; in other words, instead of bending the hips and knees at the same time as we start to descend in the squat (which is what we want to happen), a lifter makes the mistake of breaking (i.e., bending) at the hips first followed by bending the knees. Let’s solve this problem.

In a correctly executed squat, the hips and knees will start to bend at the same time. As Becky shows in Figure A, her hips travel backward at the same time her knees travel forward and outward (i.e., in the direction of her toes) - this is what we would like to see, and this allows Becky to maintain her balance over the middle of her foot.

B) Becky incorrectly initiates her descent by bending at the hips first. Becky is exaggerating the error in the image on the left, but it tends to be a bit more subtle as Becky demonstrates in the image on the right (note that her hips have begun reaching back while her knees seem frozen in place).

In contrast, in Figure B, you can see Becky incorrectly initiating her descent by reaching back with her hips - which is correct - but she’s not forcing her knees to simultaneously move forward and out early in the descent. This is usually accompanied by the knees too far forward as the lifter reaches the bottom of her squat as well.

If you notice that you tend to break at the hips first, the simplest approach is to cue yourself, “Hips and knees at the same time” or “Hips and knees together.” If that approach doesn’t work, you can use an overcue and tell yourself to go “knees first” - in other words, you’re cueing yourself to shove your knees forward and out before you reach back with your hips. This overcue (like all overcues) is a bit of a lie as we actually want the motion of the hips and knees to be simultaneous, but it can be a potentially useful lie if it does the job and fixes the problem.

Becky breaks out the TUBOWs.

If those cues don’t work, go ahead and break out a TUBOW (Terribly Useful Block Of Wood) or two and make sure that your knees touch the TUBOWs about one-third to one-half of the way into your descent. If you’ve never used a TUBOW before, check out our video on that topic by clicking here or scrolling down to the end of this article.

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

Lifters' Corner: Enter the TUBOW

(reposted from our June 2018 newsletter)

What on earth is a TUBOW?
So glad you asked! A TUBOW is a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood. Many of you have seen us use 2-foot lengths of 4 x 4 lumber when people squat from time to time - these are TUBOWs.

Why would one use a TUBOW?
We use TUBOWs in the squat, and there are a couple reasons we might use a TUBOW. The most common use is to fix the knee's forward position on the way down.

becky’s knees are so far forward that parker refuses to watch.

Two common errors that we see when people squat is either (a) the lifter's knees travel forward all the way down, or (b) the knees travel forward at the bottom of the squat.

We would like to see the knee establish its final forward position about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way into the descent of the squat, and touching the TUBOW with the knee at this point provides excellent tactile feedback as to whether or not the lifter is doing that correctly. If the lifter accidentally knocks the TUBOW over, it provides excellent negative feedback that the knee has traveled too far forward.

becky touches her knees lightly to the tubow during the descent.

Another use of the TUBOW is to fix the knee's lateral position in the squat, i.e., is the lifter shoving the knees out (to the side) far enough, or perhaps even too far? The TUBOW gives the lifter something concrete (well, lumber, actually) to aim for, and very often, this will help solve the issue.

One of the great side effects of fixing the knee position is that it will often fix the back angle in the squat as well. If the lifter's knees can only travel "so far" forward on the descent, then the hips will have to travel backward (since your hips and knees are connected by your femurs . . . you know . . . the leg bone). If the hips have to travel backward, the lifter will have to lean over during the descent to avoid falling over backward and stay balanced on the midfoot, and that leaned over position is precisely what we want in the low bar squat. Pretty awesome.

Are you one of those people who is deeply, intensely, spiritually, emotionally, and morally opposed to using the TUBOWs? If so, you're probably the type of person whose squat would benefit most from using them. And if your squat benefits, then you benefit, because you'll get stronger - faster.

Where do I get a TUBOW?
You can go to your nearest lumber supply store and get a 4 x 4 (and they'll often cut it to size for you), but if you'd rather just order a 2 foot section of 4 x 4 online and have it show up at your front door, then just click here.

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

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

---

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?