Zero Before You Lift

by stef bradford, PhD, SSC | June 20, 2024

Have you ever noticed a lifter, maybe even an experienced one, struggling to respond to cues during a lift and still failing to move into the right positions? If you do, take a moment to pay extra attention to the start position. An improper set up not only begins the movement from the wrong position, creating an extra mechanical problem to solve, but it can also alter a lifter’s perception of where his body is in space since the reference position that he moves in relation to is out of alignment – his “zero” is wrong.

Proper calibration of the start position is essential for accurate measurement of how and where you are moving. We do this with instruments such as scales by “zeroing” before use – setting the device so that it reads exactly zero when there is no weight being applied – in order to get accurate results. If the scale is not zeroed, the error will be added to the value displayed for an object when it is weighed. In a similar way, setting up a lift with each segment in the proper alignment and in balance – center of mass of the system over mid-foot and evenly distributed from side to side – “zeros” the lifter, making it easier to correctly and consistently judge the position and the movement of joints and segments under the bar.

Squat and press start positions are prone to drift because they are not constrained by a bar that must stay in front of the body, as it does in the pulls. They also lack a “pre-game”: there is no 5-step teaching method for the squat or the press to help discipline the lifter and ingrain a process of getting ready for the lift the way there is for the deadlift, clean, or snatch.  

You might see a lifter setting up for a squat with the correct stance, grip, bar position, but not standing straight up – slightly bent over, with the hips held in flexion and straight legs shifted back to maintain a balanced position over mid-foot. It’s a common “rest” position, especially for a lifter with an insecure rack who has adopted the habit of using back angle to help hold the bar in place between reps. Often the lifter will not be aware that he is not in the correct start position because the configuration has become normal to him – it has become the reference position for the start and finish of the lift.

When the lifter begins his descent, the hips have a head start and the knees have to catch up during the early part of the eccentric portion of the squat. They need to move a longer distance from their too-far-back starting place to find the correct position to hold at the bottom before the hips drop below parallel. And often they do not.

Some lifters shift the balance toward the heels as they lower themselves in the squat, leaving the knees too far back and taking work away from quads. Others let the too-far-back knees race forward, overshoot the set point, and slam forward at the bottom in the classic knee-slide presentation.

Either problem can be hard to solve without recalibrating the start to the proper reference position, as the set-up error affects perception of knee travel during the lift. Imagine being the case above and being coached “Knees forward!/More knees!/Earlier knees!” but feeling as if the main thing you’re already doing is exactly that.

Another example of this effect is in the press, where instead of starting from an erect position by pushing the hips forward, the lifter shoves the hips back. The backward movement is not necessary, it adversely affects timing, and nearly all lifters who do this will push the hips only slightly forward and not ever get to an effective place for the dynamic start.

Coaching lifters who do this with “More hips!/Hips forward!/Hips to the wall!” tends to not be effective since the lifter is measuring a lot of hip travel already. The problem is that the hip use they perceive just cancels out the too-backward start position, and it doesn’t lead to productive use of the hips in the press to create anterior tension that can be translated into upward momentum of the bar.

Take a moment to zero your position before you start each rep. When you squat or press, stand all the way up, check that the back is locked into position, suck in a big breath and brace, and feel the mid-foot balance point before starting to move the bar. This approach will produce consistent, repeatable technique when you lift.