Stronglifts: How to Squat

This article covers the five most important points for squatting on Stronglifts. You will learn basic techniques and find material to deepen your knowledge. To start learn a proper walk out, how to build tension and to squat to depth. Learn these techniques one step at a time. For more detail you can always contact me via pascal@marathon-crossfit.com.

Walk out

The first and most important thing is the walk out. You will use three steps to walk out. Not more not less.

The first step is done with your dominant leg. Do a normal step backward. With normal I mean whatever feels comfortable for you to get a bit of space between you and the rack. A good way of doing this is not to think about it too much.

When this is done the second step places your other leg in line with your dominant leg. You should also be confident about this step. Again do what comes naturally for now.

The third step is your opportunity to adjust your dominant leg a little to get both feet planted securely. The end position is about a step away from rack position. The legs are roughly shoulder width apart with your feet pointed slightly outward.

This takes practice and focus. Take your walk out seriously. Imagine you already have an elephant on your back. You don’t want to be messing around prancing like a princess. You are lifting heavy stuff.

There are more intricacies to this. If you are just starting out practice the walk out. Get back to more advanced techniques like proper tension when descending and screwing your feet into the ground at later stages. Otherwise, you have to think too much as a beginner in the setup.

Positioning

This relates to hand and body positioning. I often see beginners who are not centered under the bar. They also do not have a clear strategy for where to put their hands.

For body positioning, you want to be centered. The easiest way to do this is to look for a barbell with center knurling. Get your back to touch the center knurling. That should do the trick.

Hand positioning varies by size and shape. Women have a tendency to grip narrower than men. Guys up to 100kg with normal mobility usually grip a thumb length away from the inner knurling. Guys with poor shoulder mobility grip at the outer ring and move in as far as they can go. Same goes for very big guys who are heavier than 100kg.

For hand positioning the ultimate goal is to get your hands as close together as possible while still being able to squat. This should be uncomfortable. For beginners, I like the inner knurlings and thumbs for easy orientation even if you can go more narrow.

Again don’t overthink it. Find a placement on the barbell that you can easily reproduce each session. Gradually work on getting tighter by moving your hands in further. The knurling is a great help for orientation.

Breathing

Once you have the walk out and positioning down breathing is next. The most important concept here is to get tight. Your entire body should feel like a rod of steel when you descent. Avoid being like a wet noodle. You won’t lift much that way.

To become a rod of steel your breathing helps the most. Get all of the air out through the mouth and nose. Then take a deep sharp breath into your stomach. Press your abs out and around. You want to create a cylinder that is stiff and hard all around.

You will master this over time. The main thing is to use the airflow and tighten up. I have written more detailed articles about breathing which you can find at the end of this post.

Tension

The next is to build maximum tension. After breathing and getting your abs tight continue to do so with all other parts of your body.

Pull the bar into your back
Push your back into the bar at the same time

You can think of this like bending the barbell like a horseshoe.

Squeeze your glutes
squeeze the bar

This happens in parallel with the push and pull movement.

All of this is aimed at creating maximum tension. Show the barbell who is boss. Stay in control. This is not about speed.

Depth

Squat as deep as you can based on what your current mobility and strength allow. Again the main points are tension and control.

In the beginning, you might not be able to squat below parallel. This should always be the end goal but not at the expense of tightness. If you can not squat deep it is usually a result of lack of mobility in the ankles and hips. Cossack squats are a great tool to remedy this.

Conclusion

These are the five most important points to squat for Stronglifts. Pay attention to each of them. Become a lifelong learner. Read instructions and watch videos from many different sources. I learned from Brandon Campbell, Chris Duffin, Chad Wesley Smith and Mark Bell to improve my squat.