All About Free Weight Squats

Squats

Squats are one of the basic exercises in bodybuilding. By targeting large muscle groups, these exercises can help you gain muscle mass. Squats are great for working out all the muscles in your legs and buttocks. But to achieve the effect, you have to shoulder the weight. And when working with additional burdens, you need to take precautions. Then the likelihood of acquiring injuries will be minimal.

Technics

Before starting to take heavy weights, you need to warm up and remember the elements of the exercise technique. First of all, you need to stand in a half-sitting position, with your legs slightly wider than your shoulders. Tilt your body forward and straighten your back. And without bending or stooping, complete the squat to the parallel of the thigh with the floor.

• Attention: the knees should not go beyond the toe, creating an acute angle in the joint! Not only will this shift the center of gravity, creating a dangerous posture when lifting weights, but it can also lead to rupture of the ligaments. Be careful! If you can’t keep your knees out of your toes, then your position in space is wrong.  Most likely, the body is not tilted forward, but this must be done.

Remember the position of the body in the squat, feel which muscles are in tension. Rise up, first straightening your knees, and only then the body.

Repeat the exercise several times. If you do everything right, then you can’t help but feel it. The tension is concentrated in the area of ​​the hamstring, which is significantly stretched. Therefore, with the correct squatting, the support system is felt, which does not allow the pelvis to fall.

With weight

Depending on how heavy the weight you take, its taking differs. A heavy barbell must be taken from a rack and squatted with support. It may happen that, having squatted, it will be impossible to rise, since the weight is too great. Then a person who provides support will come to the rescue. Therefore, calculate your strength if you go to the gym alone.

When the weight is light or medium, you can put it on your shoulders by simply lifting it up in your arms and throwing it behind your back. With the bar resting on your trapezoid or upper back.

You can also squat with a kettlebell, but then the range of motion of the hip joints will be small. After all, the weight is taken with two hands, which are located in a free position, that is, they are lowered down. This means that you can not bend as much as with the bar. To avoid this, bodybuilders put their feet on an elevation, and the kettlebell is lowered down. For example, two benches are placed parallel to each other, but not close to each other, so that a weight is placed between them. The legs are each on its own bench, and the kettlebell in the squat position is between the benches below the plane of the feet.

• The more the body is tilted during the exercise. The stronger the load on the gluteal muscles and less on the quadriceps.