4 ERRORS Beginners Make that Experienced Lifters NEVER Do | Part 1 - The Squat
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In this multi-part series, we cover four mistakes that lifters often make when starting out. We cover one mistake each for the squat, press, deadlift, and bench press. These are all errors of inefficiency, and as such, people often don’t realize they’re making these mistakes.
Today’s lift is the squat, and the error is that of doing too much with your feet. This shows up in four different ways, so let’s cover each version of the error.
Version #1: Squat Stand
Don’t back out a mile from the squat stand.
Some lifters back out far enough that the safeties stand very little chance of being useful in the event of a missed rep. As a result, the lifter wastes energy backing out farther than needed and potentially puts himself in danger.
Stay within the radius of your safeties (Figure 1) – it’s smarter, safer, and it doesn’t waste energy.
figure 1: this is a reasonable distance back from the rack while staying within the radius of the spotter arms.
Version #2: Deep Power Rack
A power rack (i.e., a squat rack with four uprights) often prevents you from committing version #1 of today’s error (i.e., backing out too far). When you stand the bar up from the hooks and step back, the presence of the uprights behind you tends to provide a subconscious pressure that keeps you from stepping too far back (Figure 2).
figure 2: Megan demonstrates the proper setup inside a power rack.
However, there are plenty of power racks that are quite deep - three to four feet deep for some models (Figure 3). With racks such as these, it’s still quite possible to waste both time and energy backing out too far.
figure 4
The solution is simple – once you’ve stood the barbell up from the hooks, take one step back with your left foot, then one step back with your right foot, and you’ll be an appropriate distance back from the uprights without having wasted energy backing up an excessive amount.
Version #3: Spotters
Squatting with spotters is ideal (Figure 4). You have the social pressure of not wanting to fail a rep when your buddies are spotting you – everyone squats better with spotters – and in the event of a failed rep, you don’t end up performing the crawl of shame out from under your bar (which ends up sitting on the safeties when you squat without spotters).
Figure 4: becky squats as Dawson and jill are ready to spot.
In the case of a failed rep, you also get to avoid the annoying process of unloading your bar, getting it back up to the hooks, and then reloading your bar to finish your set. Instead, when the point of failure occurs, your spotters step in, and then you and your spotters lift the bar back up to the hooks together.
However, squatting with spotters is similar to squatting at a squat stand or in a deep power rack since it’s easy to back out too far from the rack. The solution here is the same as it was in version #2: one step back with your right foot, then one step back with your left foot, and you’re good to go . . . unless you commit version #4 of today’s error . . .
Version #4: Stance Fidgeting
Quit messing with your stance.
You are now efficient when backing up from the uprights – right step, then left step – so don’t ruin that efficiency by messing around with your stance for the next 30 seconds.
Give yourself one chance to adjust your right foot, then one chance to adjust your left foot, and that’s it. With a very small amount of practice, that’s all you’ll need to take a consistently accurate stance.
To help with this, make it a practice to keep part of your foot on the ground when adjusting your stance. Move your toes or your heel – not both at the same time (i.e., don’t lift your entire foot up). When you pick your foot up off the ground, you’ll usually make too large of an adjustment.
The entire process is now very simple – one step with your right foot, one step with your left foot, small adjustment with your right foot, and then small adjustment with your left foot.
It’s quick, straightforward, and you don’t waste any energy preparing for your work set.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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