Workout of the Day:
“Cindy”
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
15 Squats
Stephanie just joined CF Invictus, and during her three introductory sessions with Dani demonstrated near perfect squat mechanics. Nice work!
Bad Habits – The Air Squat
Written by Mike Hom
In this series of posts, I will explore bad habits in common movements. Most of these movements will be fundamentals, such as the air squat, push up, and pull up, and then move on to barbell, dumbbell, and kettlebell movements. Let’s start with the most fundamental of movements, the air squat.
CJ previously posted a fantastic blog entry that describes the dysfunction associated with a pronated squat. To paraphrase what he said in his post, pronating–or rolling to the arch of the foot–while squatting is a sign of lackluster hip and pelvic control. A combination of muscular imbalance and poor activation of posterior muscle groups. Furthermore, pronating makes your knees cave in which creates an obstruction for your hips to move. Cues like “spread the ground”, “push your knees out”, and “active hips” try to rectify this problem.
Another common problem is the soft chest, characterized by protracted shoulders at the top of a squat and allowing the chest to drop during the descent. Several problems can be inferred. The upper torso is a main contributor to midline stabilization. Without going into too much detail, soft chest syndrome usually results in a “softening” of the thoracic spine, which gives people the “fish pole” look. This can lead to injuries in the future. Furthermore, a lazy chest generally results in a blunted expression of hip extension. A couple things help alleviate this problem. For those that squat with their arms out, try to raise those arms as high as possible. This effectively raises the chest and brings your whole spine into nice, tight extension. I believe the set-up is one of the most important pieces of the equation. If your chest is nice, big, and puffed out from the get-go, you should fight to maintain that nice big chest on your way down and up, barring any major bio-mechanical issues.
Of course, we must also address where your heels should be when you squat. In CrossFit, we squat with our whole foot on the ground, heel included. I won’t argue here whether there are benefits to movements like Hindu squats, but I will tell you that people with knee problems generally don’t benefit from them. On the other hand, a correctly performed CrossFit air squat has had nice rehab effects for many with knee issues. So why do we squat with heels down? Simply put, efficiency of movement. Try this, squat down while rolling onto the balls of your feet and try to explosively stand up. Now, squat down while staying rooted on your heels and try to explosively stand up. What’s the difference? When we stay rooted on our heels, we can more effectively recruit muscles from our posterior chain–glutes, hamstrings, etc.–which help us generate explosive hip power. Rolling onto the balls of your feet reduces your body’s ability to use those big muscle in the back of your body to produce power. That is why we have people “sit back” in their squat. It helps them stay rooted on their heels and recruit the explosive power of the posterior chain.
In sum, remember these points the next time you squat: move your knees out of the way, lock your lower back into extention, keep your chest up, and keep your whole foot on the ground. These are the keys to the squat kingdom.
