If you want to exercise your legs and buttocks, there is no better exercise than doing squats, but if you add the difficulty of doing it with a barbell to this basic exercise, there will be no better method to work various muscle groups at the same time, such as the quadriceps, the glutes or the posterior hip muscles. Barbell squats done right will allow you to increase your strength and endurance while also toning your muscles. Do you want to know how to do barbell squats correctly? we explain the technique and the mistakes you should not make. Take note.
Table Of Content
1. Leg Squats
2. Barbell Squat Technique
3. Common mistakes when practicing barbell squats
leg squats
Squats are an effective exercise for working your glutes and legs. Although it is a basic exercise, if you add the weight of a barbell, it will become the best method to exercise your lower body. Thanks to the squats you will be able to work several muscle groups at the same time: glutes, quadriceps or the posterior muscles of the hip are some of them.
For barbell squats, this element should be placed on the back of the neck. What do you get with that? It’s simple:
By using the bar you will add a little more weight to your body, which will allow you to make a greater effort, increase your strength and resistance, increase the volume of your muscles and tone them and, in addition, increase the secretion of growth hormones since the nervous system works actively during exercise.
There are some machines that are capable of reproducing the movement of the squat, replacing the exercise itself, but they are not recommended. If you want to exercise the lower body well, you should make natural movements. While the incline press exists for Roman chariot lifting, it is not as complete an exercise as performing a barbell squat. Try it and you will discover the differences.
Barbell Squat Technique
If you have dared to practice barbell squats, you should keep your technique in mind to avoid injuries, minimize damage and, above all, correctly exercise your legs and buttocks. First of all, you need to know the low position of the exercise :
- Slightly separate your legs, making sure they are at the same level as your shoulders.
- The soles of your feet should be about 30 degrees out.
- In this position, lower your body as if you were sitting on a chair.
- Important! Make sure your knees do not protrude more than the tips of your feet, as you could injure yourself.
The previous steps correspond to the movement that you must repeat being low. Next, we explain the movement of the barbell squat :
- Taking into account the previous position, in which to do the squat you must raise and lower the body, bending the knee, you must take into account the position of the bar to add difficulty and weight to the work.
- Place the bar on the never, grabbing it with your arms extended and parallel to the ground.
- The elbows should be in line with the knees.
- The hands should be supported on the bar.
To properly perform a barbell squat, we must not only pay attention to the position, but also the movement. Although many people think that it is a vertical movement when lifting the body, this is not entirely the case. The bar must also move at a certain angle while performing the squat:
- The movement must start from the bottom up.
- In the starting position, first lift your pelvis. Next, he slowly straightens his knees to finally end up raising his whole body.
Watch out! Do not start the upward movement directly with your knees, since in addition to damaging the mechanics of the movement, you will greatly increase the risk of suffering an injury. Take care of postural hygiene!
Finally, you should also take into account breathing during exercise. Keeping air in your lungs will help you push and force. That is, it is not necessary to take a breath and exhale while lifting the weight, but it is best to hold the inspired air in the lungs while you move, this way you will create a natural tension in the chest that will help you work with more strength and resistance. Test it!
Common mistakes when practicing barbell squats
When practicing any exercise, it is important to pay attention to any position that may be incorrect, since the risk of injury is much higher. In the case of barbell squats, one of the most common mistakes is leaning your back forward when bending your legs to squat. It is important that your back remains straight or with its natural curve, especially in the lower part of the movement. According To Jeremy Ethier STOP Doing Squats Like This (SAVE YOUR JOINTS!)
Another mistake we often make when barbell squatting is not positioning the bar properly. As we have pointed out before, it must be supported on the shoulders. Find your shoulder bones and let the bar rest on them. As for the hands, they must grab the bar in order to maintain the position, but be careful! the hands are not the ones in charge of supporting its weight. Remember that with squats we want to work legs and glutes, not arms.