How To Do a Squat Properly

Performing a squat properly is crucial to avoid injury and ensure maximum benefits for strength and fitness. A well-executed squat targets multiple muscle groups, including the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core. Here’s a detailed guide on how to do a squat properly.

1. Start with Proper Foot Position

Why It’s Important: Your foot position plays a key role in balance and stability during the squat.
How to Do It: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or slightly wider. Point your toes slightly outward, usually at a 15-30 degree angle, which helps accommodate your hip structure and provides better squat mechanics.
Common Mistake: Placing feet too narrow or too wide, which can lead to instability and improper form.

2. Engage Your Core and Maintain Posture

Why It’s Important: A strong core helps protect your spine and ensures you don’t round your back while squatting.
How to Do It: Before you squat, take a deep breath, tighten your core muscles, and brace your midsection as if you’re preparing to take a punch. Keep your chest up and shoulders back.
Common Mistake: Rounding your back or allowing your chest to collapse forward.

3. Begin the Descent (Hip Hinge)

Why It’s Important: A proper descent ensures that the right muscles (glutes, quads, hamstrings) are activated, and your knees and back are protected.
How to Do It: Push your hips back as you begin to lower your body, similar to sitting back in a chair. Keep your chest upright and your weight on your heels.
Common Mistake: Bending at the knees first instead of hinging at the hips, which can lead to knee strain and improper form.

4. Lower Until Your Thighs Are Parallel (or Lower)

Why It’s Important: Reaching parallel or lower activates the glutes and hamstrings more effectively than shallow squats.
How to Do It: Continue lowering your body until your thighs are at least parallel to the ground. If you have flexibility and mobility, you can squat deeper for more glute and hamstring activation. Ensure your knees track over your toes.
Common Mistake: Stopping too high (above parallel) or allowing knees to cave inward (valgus collapse).

5. Drive Through Your Heels to Stand Back Up

Why It’s Important: Driving through the heels engages the glutes and helps maintain balance as you stand.
How to Do It: Press through your heels and begin to rise back to standing, keeping your chest upright. Squeeze your glutes at the top of the movement to complete the squat.
Common Mistake: Letting the weight shift onto your toes or standing up too quickly, which can lead to poor muscle engagement.

6. Check Your Knee Alignment

Why It’s Important: Proper knee alignment prevents knee injuries and ensures the muscles are working efficiently.
How to Do It: As you descend and ascend, make sure your knees track in the same direction as your toes. Your knees should not cave inward.
Common Mistake: Allowing knees to collapse inward or move too far forward past the toes, which increases strain on the knees.

7. Keep Your Weight Balanced

Why It’s Important: Proper weight distribution prevents leaning too far forward or backward and protects your lower back.
How to Do It: Throughout the squat, your weight should remain balanced, with most of it on your heels and midfoot. Your toes should feel light but still grounded.
Common Mistake: Putting too much weight on the toes or leaning too far forward, which can strain the lower back and reduce effectiveness.

8. Control Your Breathing

Why It’s Important: Proper breathing enhances stability and helps maintain focus throughout the movement.
How to Do It: Inhale deeply before you begin the descent, hold your breath slightly as you lower, and exhale as you push back up. This technique, called the Valsalva maneuver, creates internal pressure that supports the spine.
Common Mistake: Shallow breathing or exhaling too early, leading to a lack of core stability.

9. Perform Squats with a Neutral Spine

Why It’s Important: Maintaining a neutral spine protects your back and promotes proper form.
How to Do It: Keep your back straight and neutral throughout the movement, avoiding any excessive arching or rounding of the spine. Your lower back should maintain a natural curve.
Common Mistake: Hyperextending or rounding the lower back, leading to potential back strain.

10. Practice with Bodyweight Before Adding Weight

Why It’s Important: Proper form should always come before adding resistance to avoid injury.
How to Do It: Start with bodyweight squats to master the movement. Once comfortable, you can progress to adding weights (dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells) to increase intensity.
Common Mistake: Adding too much weight too soon before mastering proper squat mechanics.

Bonus Tips:

Use Resistance Bands: To help with knee alignment, you can place a resistance band around your thighs just above the knees. This helps prevent knee collapse and activates the glutes.
Check Your Depth: Squatting too shallow won’t engage your muscles fully, so aim for a depth where your hips are in line with your knees (or lower if mobility allows).
Warm Up: Engage in dynamic stretches to warm up your hips, quads, and hamstrings before squatting.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can ensure that you're doing squats properly, minimizing the risk of injury and maximizing muscle engagement. Squats are one of the best exercises for building lower body strength, toning your glutes, and enhancing overall fitness.

Incorporating proper squat techniques into your fitness routine will give you long-term benefits, from improving posture to increasing functional strength.