Like Robert Santana's articles on the deadlift, I know I will find myself coming back to Nick's articles on this squat fundamental over and over.
Lizard brain BAD. Primate brain GOOD.
"[L]et’s cover how to actually get this done...because the concept is simple doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. Unless you practice bending over and staying bent over correctly when you squat over and over again, you will not do it. And even when you do practice, you’ll still have to be reminded every once in a while."
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Like Robert Santana's articles on the deadlift, I know I will find myself coming back to Nick's articles on this squat fundamental over and over.
Lizard brain BAD. Primate brain GOOD.
A very apropos article for me. I had felt that my squat form was pretty good until I finally got around to shooting some video of myself. I met with a SS coach last summer and worked out most of the kinks, but apparently they crept back in with a vengeance. Besides doing almost everything wrong, I have some major knee slide at the bottom of the squat, causing me to become more upright at the exact point when I need hip drive, pretty much killing it, and I was probably too upright to begin with. This will be an article that I keep coming back to re-read. Thanks.
Nick, have you coached fools such as myself who sometimes struggle to distinguish hip flexion from thoracic flexion when thinking "bend over"? If so, what do you do to help these trainees?
Yep. Depends on what you're doing, but usually it helps to think about keeping your chest up/elbows down while sending your butt back and pointing your belly button at the floor. Just keep everything from the bar to your hips as one piece and bend at the waist. Pay attention to your elbows - if they're going up as you bend over, you're rounding your upper back.