Why Squatting has become Impossible (6 reasons)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Is the squat impossible for you, or does it seem impossible to make progress on your squat? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers gives 6 possible reasons why as well as how to address them.

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  • 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.

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This Mistake Will Ruin All Your Lifts...

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

The topic of today’s discussion is the mistake of not having a focal point, which can show up in two different ways.

Balance plays a pivotal role in your ability to move a challenging load. If you’ve squatted long enough, you’ve accidentally gotten forward onto the balls of your feet (and you remember how terrible that rep was), if the barbell drifts away from you slightly when deadlifting, it makes for a much harder rep than it should have been, and the press is exceptionally susceptible to bar path and balance issues.

figure 1: the wandering focal point

A focal point helps greatly with balance, so you don’t want to put your balance at a disadvantage by not having one. With this in mind, let’s cover the two forms of this error.

Error #1: The Wandering Focal Point
With this version of not having a focal point (Figure 1), your eyes wander when performing the lift. You might be looking forward at the start of the press, you might look up while pressing upward, and then you might look downward slightly as you lock out the press overhead.

Error #2: Closing Your Eyes
While this error (Figure 2) prevents you from committing error #1, it’s no better as closing your eyes prevents you from focusing your gaze on a single point. Your eyesight contributes mightily to your ability to balance, so you want to keep your eyes open.

figure 2: ladon demonstrates the error of closing the eyes when lifting.

The Solution
As is so often the case, you want to think about what you should do and not dwell on what you shouldn’t do. For example, if you tend to close your eyes when driving a heavy squat up out of the hole, don’t bother telling yourself, “Don’t close my eyes, don’t close my eyes!”

Instead, give yourself something to do. The moment you take your stance, tell yourself, “I’m going to look at this point and keep staring there during every rep and between every rep.” In other words, give you eyes a job to perform.

For the press, tape an X on the wall in front of you at eye-height, for the squat and the deadlift, put something on the floor out in front of you (such as a 2.5 lb plate or your water bottle), and if you’re benching, pick some point on the ceiling to stare at.

Stare at that point and remind yourself that you’re going to keep starting at it until you are completely done with the last rep. Give your eyes a job to do, and commit to it. If you keep doing this, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can fix this problem.

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?

4 Reasons Why Every Senior Should Squat & How to Do It (PLUS Bad Squat Advice & Myths to Ignore)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers 4 reasons older adults should be squatting as well as how to correctly do it. He also addresses 8 pieces of bad squat advice and myths to flat out ignore.

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?

How to Instantly Squat More Weight

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

A while back, I had a conversation at the gym with one of our members - “Lou” (name changed to protect the poor soul who I dragged into a conversation). Lou was having a problem with his squat on this particular day, and specifically, he was struggling to effectively utilize the stretch reflex - AKA the “bounce” - out of the bottom of the movement.

Lou is certainly not the first person to struggle with this, nor will he be the last, so let’s briefly discuss how to get a useful bounce out of the bottom of the squat.

What is this bounce that you speak of?
As the squat starts, you descend under control, and then you want to get a tight bounce upward when you hit depth. We refer to the stretch reflex as a “bounce” because this is what it looks like if performed correctly, so don’t worry, you’re not actually bouncing off of anything (such as your calves or something else equally silly). The word “bounce” simply refers to the visual phenomenon that we witness - the rebound out of the bottom will somewhat resemble a ball bouncing off the floor (albeit slower).

The stretch reflex is very useful, and without going into the anatomical specifics of the situation, for now, it suffices to say that it makes for a more effective, forceful muscular contraction when used correctly. In other words, it makes your squat stronger.

With that said, there are two ways to mess this up, so let’s cover them both as well as how to fix each situation (watch the video below to see these solutions in action).

Mistake #1: Pausing at the bottom of the squat (or descending too slowly)
Quite simply, don’t pause at the bottom of your squat. This makes for a harder and less efficient squat as it ruins the effect of the stretch reflex - this is precisely why a pause squat always utilizes less weight than a regular squat.

To eliminate a pause at the bottom of your squat, cue yourself “think up all the way down.” In this way, you are preparing yourself for the upward aspect of the bounce throughout the entire descent, so you’ll be ready for a nice, sharp turnaround the moment you hit the bottom of the squat.

On a lesser note, don’t descend too slowly, either. If it takes you three seconds to reach the bottom of your squat, speed things up a bit. You want a controlled descent, but not a painfully slow descent.

Mistake #2: Descending too quickly
The problem of descending too fast shows up in two ways. First, a lifter might go down too fast throughout the entire movement. Second, he goes down too fast only near the bottom of the descent, i.e., he descends at a normal pace for most of the squat and then speeds up or “dive-bombs” the last few inches of the descent. The second version of this error was Lou’s problem - most of his descent was solid, and then he would drastically speed up the last few inches of the downward movement in an effort to get a better bounce.

The problem with either version of this error is that if you descend too quickly, you will either relax or “collapse” into the bottom of the squat - which is not useful for getting a good bounce - or you’ll descend quickly enough that you’ve created more downward momentum than necessary, thus making it that much harder to turn around and drive back up.

One way to handle this problem is to cue yourself “tight bounce.” If you remind yourself to get tighter and tighter all the way down, you’ll probably do a solid job of not allowing yourself to relax any muscle groups at the bottom of the lift.

Another solution - and this is the solution that helped Lou - is to cue yourself “smooth down, smooth up.” When a lifter speeds up his descent for the last few inches, it’s usually in an effort (however misguided it may be) to get a better bounce, so by thinking “smooth down, smooth up,” Lou stopped thinking about the bounce completely and instead focused on a smooth turnaround (i.e., transition) between the downward and upward portions of the squat. As a result, he controlled his pace effectively and achieved a tighter and more efficient bounce in his 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.

  • 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?

Top 8 Squat Myths

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

More people than ever are learning that the squat is important for getting stronger. However, as popularity increases, so do the number of myths surrounding this movement. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers puts this nonsense to bed.

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?

11 Mistakes that Make Your Squat Look Like GARBAGE

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers 11 common squat errors and how to fix them so you can have a stronger and more efficient squat.

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?