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Position the bar on
the squat rack at a height approximately 3-5 inches lower than your
shoulder.
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Check your equipment:
weights on both sides, collars, spotter, rails adjusted, general area
clear of loose plates and debris.
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Use 2 spotters,
especially if you're using heavy weights. Place your hands evenly on the
bar and position yourself so that the bar rests near the top of the
trapezius muscles but not on the cervical spine. With your feet squarely
under it, lift the bar from the rack with the legs.
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Step back just far
enough to avoid bumping the rack during the exercise. Position your feet
at a comfortable width.
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Your weight should
remain centered over the back half of your feet, not your toes,
throughout the descent and ascent.
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Descend with control
into a position where the tops of your thighs are about parallel to the
floor, keeping your torso and back erect so that your hips remain under
the bar at all times.
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Don't allow your hips
to drift backward, your knees to drift inward or out beyond your toes,
or your torso to incline forward.
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Check on proper
position to ensure that the angles formed at the knee joint and hip
joint are close to being equal.
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Vigorously rise out of
the bottom position following the same path that your descended - the
torso and back remain erect and the hips remain under the bar throughout
the ascent.
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As your leverage
improves throughout your ascent, accelerate the bar with maximum force.
Slow down just short of lockout to eliminate unnecessary ballistics.
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Use supportive devices
such as power suits and wraps only if the weight is extremely heavy.
Doing without such devices for light to moderate squatting forces your
body - instead of your gear - to adapt to the stress.
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When returning the bar
to the rack, have both spotters carefully guide you in, being sure that
your hands aren't in the way. Your fatigues state has diminished your
control over the weight, so use caution here.
