Fix Your Squat: Two Variations You Aren’t Doing Now

I love using exercise variations to improve technique, and correct flaws in the three Powerlifting lifts. As a coach, I will always make sure that several things are being done properly before going to corrective exercises though. Before I use any variation to correct a lifters technique issues, it must be verified that they are doing the following two things properly:

• 
  
  Rooting
• 
  
  Bracing

If one, or both of these are off, a flaw will occur and it may not need further correction once proper rooting and bracing are in place. Another thing to be sure of is that the lifter is not nursing an injury. Flaws pop up at these times and we don’t need to address them, rather, we need to work around the injury.

So assuming that you or your lifter is healthy, and are rooting and bracing properly, let’s look at how to Fix Your Squat: Two Variations You Aren’t Doing Now

  NOTE: These, and most corrective exercise variations can be used to reinforce technique in an already good lifter-they aren’t just for corrections.     Our first variation is a Squat with a Pause Half Way Down.       It’s a simple concept. Squat, stop halfway down and hold for the indicated pause length, then stand up and generate as much force as you can.   The second is Squat with a Pause Half Way Up.     This is done in the same fashion as above, but you reverse the pause. Drop into the hole, stand up forcefully and pause half way up, wait then smash the rest of the lift. Both of these are outstanding for improving a few things:

• Dumping forward either on the way down, or on the way up
• Fixing ass rise (You know, when your ass pops up first out of the hole
• Getting strong(er) in weak positions

A key point on both of these, and any paused movements is to be sure that you are in the most technically perfect position you are capable of at all points in the lift, especially the paused one. Pausing in a shitty position will only reinforce the shitty position and affiliated weak areas. I like to use these as a second exercise with a lighter load for two reasons.  

• 1. Inducing fault through fatigue is safer than under a max load
• 2. Inducing fault through fatigue is easier to recover from

Your faults, or technique breakdowns will be the same under the fatigue of volume as the will be under a max load, they will just be easier to manage and will not happen at 1000 miles an hour. And by doing them second, you are already fatigued from your main lift, so the fault shows up sooner. Try these out as a second exercise for sets of 4-8 using 62.5%-75%. Less reps on the higher percentages obviously! Try varying the pause length. Use longer pauses on the lower reps, and shorter ones on the higher rep sets. You can also add different length pauses to each set. EG: Squat with Pause Half Way Up 5x5 at 65% Pauses: 1 at 1/1000, 1 at 2/1000, 1 at 3/1000, 1 at 4/1000, 1 at 5/1000 When you count, just say one-one thousand to get it right, or whatever the first number is. Did you miss last week’s log?

Read it here



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C.J. Murphy

January 2, 2020