Barbell Full Squat

Starting position:

Choose an appropriate weight to match your fitness and technical level. To begin, first set the bar on a rack just above shoulder level. Once the correct height is chosen and the bar is loaded, step under the bar and place the back of your shoulders (slightly below the neck) across it. Grab the barbell with your hands positioned wide, palmar part of the wrist facing front. Lift the barbell from the back of your shoulders and step away from the rack to make a full movement. Position your legs using a shoulder-width medium stance with the toes slightly pointed out.

Keep your torso upright and your pelvis in a neutral position.

Exercise:

Begin to slowly lower the bar without changing the curvature of your back and breathe in. As you go down, your knees follow the rotation of your toes. Maintain your torso straight without extensive bending forward. As you go down your hips should drop lower than your knees. Go back up to the starting position in the same way while breathing out. Repeat as many times as required without changing technique.

Note:

Make sure you maintain correct body posture and a neutral pelvis position.

Your knees follow your toe tips all the way through; avoid jerking while overcoming the resistance. Make sure your knees, torso and head are in front of your toes.

Keep your heels on the floor at all times.

Recommendation:

Start with lighter weight to master the technique well.

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While the definition of what is and what is not a “deep squat” or “full squat” (many athletes use less politically correct term ATG meaning Ass-To-Grass) is not strictly defined, generally every squat where the hips are lower than the knees at some point counts as such.

The main advantage of full squats is that you can use much lower weights to “kill” the muscle. So if your training aim is other than impressing the bystanders in the gym, you will probably prefer deep squat.

Lower weights mean less lower back problems. Knees and hips are subjected to more stress but again by lower weight so the result is thought to be less knee injuries as well.

The proponents of full squat also claim that in regular barbell squat there is a danger of increasing the weight and doing the exercise more and more shallow. You can’t succumb to such temptation when doing full squats.

As with every type of squat, body posture is crucial. Keep your back straight but not arched: many people make this mistake, pushing their bottom and shoulders backwards; such position will deform your backbone. The hips should be in NEUTRAL position.