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Push-ups. Image credit: Spirited_Away

Push-ups are one of those exercises everyone should do. They build muscle in your upper-body, don’t require any equipment and improve shoulder health. Push-ups are also easy to do. Or at least that’s what people believe.

Push-ups look easy but like any other exercise they have their technique. Bad Push-up technique is common, and unfortunately it can cause shoulders and/or lower back injuries. Here’s how to perform Push-ups correctly.

Benefits of Push-ups. Push-ups are a closed kinetic chain exercise. Unlike the Bench Press, your hands are fixed while your body moves through space.

• Build Muscle. Just like Pull-ups & Dips, Push-ups force you to lift your own body-weight. Push-ups work your chest, shoulders, triceps & core.
• Shoulder Health. Push-ups improve shoulder health by strengthening your serratus anterior. They also teach you to Bench Press correctly.
• Versatile. You can do Push-ups anywhere, anytime. Harder Push-up variations keep things challenging for constant progress (more below).

Push-up Technique. Assume the Push-up starting position with your elbows locked. Lower yourself by bending your elbows until your chest almost touches the floor. Come back up by pushing through the floor.

• Hand Position. Don’t take your hands out to wide. Put your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width. Hands turned out 45°.
• Tuck Your Elbows. Easier on your shoulders. Keep your elbows at a 45° angle to your body during Push-ups.
• Push Your Abs Out. Straight line from shoulders to ankles. Push your abs out as if someone was going to punch you in the stomach.
• Squeeze Your Glutes. Push your abs out while squeezing your glutes hard. Both will avoid any hyper-extension of your lower back.
• Tuck Your Chin. Lead with your chest, not with your head. Your neck must stay inline with the rest of your spine. Don’t look forward.

Push-up Video. Here’s a video of Push-ups using a light resistance band. Pay attention to the technique: straight line from ankles to shoulders, chest goes to the floor, elbows tucked. Video by Tony Gentilcore.

How to Increase Your Push-up Strength. If you lack the strength to do 1 Push-up or if you struggle to do Push-ups with correct technique, start this way.

• Push-ups Holds. Hold the Push-up starting position for time. Straight line from shoulders to ankles. These strengthen your core. Aim for at least 1mins. Switch to Prone Bridges for a bigger challenge.
• Kneeling Push-ups. Perform Push-ups with both knees on the floor. Push yourself up using your chest, shoulders & triceps muscles. Do not push yourself up using hip or back extension.

Push-up Variations. Unless you’re looking for strength-endurance, you’ll need to add some kind of resistance to keep Push-ups challenging. Some ideas:

• Close Grip Push-ups. Shift the emphasis to your triceps. Perform Push-up with your hands slight narrower than shoulder-width.
• Iso Push-ups. Improve shoulder health & posture. Hold the bottom position for time. Hands elevated for a greater stretch. Example.
• Blast Straps/Ring Push-ups. Harder to stabilize, improve core strength and improve bottom Push-up (and Bench Press) strength by increasing the stretch. Use Blast Straps or Rings.
• Resistance Bands. Add a mini or light resistance band like in the video above. I have Jump Stretch flexbands. Iron Woody works too.
• Chain Push-ups. Another way to add external resistance. Perform Push-ups with chains wrapped around your body. Example.
• Rucksack. Wear a rucksack filled with plates high on your back (not on your neck!). Add weight as you get stronger.
• Xvest Push-ups. Much more expensive than a rucksack or chains, but also more convenient. Perform Push-ups wearing an Xvest.
• Incline Push-ups. Shifts the emphasis to your shoulders. Do Push-ups with your feet elevated. Check the picture at the top.
• 1 Hand and/or 1 Feet Push-ups. Pavel Tsatsouline wrote a whole book about these Push-up variations in the Naked Warrior.
• Explosive Push-ups. Build power. Lower yourself in a controlled way. Hold at the bottom for a split second. Push yourself up as hard as you can, trying to elevate yourself from the floor.
• Depth Push-ups. Plyometric exercise. Hands on 4″ blocks. Let yourself fall between the blocks. Push yourself back up on the blocks. The floor is “red hot”: think of bouncing back on the blocks before you hit the floor.
• Handclap Push-ups. Also build explosive strength. Clap your hands on the way up. Check Ross Enamait video of triple handclaps push-ups.

Common Push-up Errors. Here are some of the most common Push-up errors you’ll see. Avoid them at all costs.

• Looking Forward. Hyper-extending your neck can cause neck injuries. Keep your neck inline with the rest of your spine from start to finish.
• Leading with Your Head. Forward head position from computer work is common. Leading with your head during Push-ups aggravates the problems. Both increase risks of neck injuries. Tuck your chin and lead with your chest.
• Letting Your Torso Sack. Often caused by a weak core. Your body must be in a straight line from ankles to shoulders. Push your abs out and squeeze your glutes. Strengthen your core with Prone Bridges.
• Elbows Out. Increases the torque on your shoulder joint. Avoid on Push-ups & Bench Press. Tuck your elbows: 45° angle to your body.

If you’re doing StrongLifts 5×5 and lack the equipment to do Dips or if Dips hurt your shoulders, replace them by Push-ups for 3xF. Add a mini resistance band once you can do 15 Push-ups with good technique on your 1st set.

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Image credit: bartek nowicki

Looking down, up or aside during Squats can tweak your neck. Proper head positioning during Squats is not only safer on your neck, it also prevents many technique problems. Here’s where to look during Squats.

Where You Shouldn’t Look During Squats. These are the 3 biggest mistakes you’ll see on the Squat with regard to the head position.

• Not at Your Feet. Your body follows your head. If you bend your neck to look down, your upper & lower back will also want to bend. Rounding your lower back during Squats increases risks of spinal discs injuries.
• Not at The Ceiling. Hyper-extending your cervical spine increases risks of spinal discs injuries. It also shifts the weight to your heels which can make you lose balance. More bad technique can follow to compensate.
• Not Aside. Never look aside during Squats or any other exercise to see what’s going on there. It’s a guaranteed way to tweak your neck.

Starting Strength’s Way. Starting Strength recommends to fix a point 5-6′ in front of you on the floor. Several readers have posted videos in StrongLifts.com Forum showing bad technique while they own Starting Strength. Examples:

• Looking too much down because you’re squatting close to a wall/mirror
• Finishing the Squat with your neck bent, torso bent and hips unlocked

Read the text (p. 27), don’t only watch the pictures (p. 26). Most of you face a wall/mirror when squatting, so you can’t fix a point 5-6′ in front of you on the floor. The point is to keep your neck inline with the rest of your spine.

Where You Should Look. Not at the ceiling as this is bad for your neck. Not at the floor as this causes your back to bend. Your cervical spine should be inline with the rest of your spine during Squats for maximal safety.

Look forward. Fix a point on the wall/mirror in front of you. Your neck won’t be perfectly inline with the rest of your spine in the bottom Squat position. But as long as you don’t look at the ceiling, your neck will be ok.

Forward Head Posture. If you have a forward head posture, your neck is more at risk. If you have a forward head posture, you’ll usually also have kyphosis (a bent upper-back). Improve your thoracic mobility, then work on head posture.

• Do Nods. Make a double chin, hold for 5 sec, repeat for 10 reps. Don’t retract your neck, and don’t force the range of motion.
• Stretch. Your Levator Scapulae, like this. Stretch also your upper-traps & sternocleidomastoid (same stretch, but tilting head to the side).
• Keep Your Head Back. When sitting, working on computer, driving, etc Do a few nods when in doubt.

Remember this also for other exercises like Deadlifts or Pull-ups. Just like your lower back must remain neutral, so should your cervical spine remain neutral from start to finish to prevent spinal disc injuries.

StrongLifts.com went online May 1st 2007. Within 12 months it became one of the biggest blogs on the Internet: 13.000 subscribers, +500k monthly page views, 200k monthly visitors and ranking top 40k in Alexa.

How Did I Do It? Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Life somehow brings you what you need to get what you want, if you REALLY want it. Here are some unorganized thoughts I had this week with the blog turning 1 year old.

Read. Knowledge is power when applied. Stop watching TV & read everything you come across: copywriting, marketing, psychology, business, spirituality, strength training, nutrition, …

Just Start. You don’t need to know everything to get started. You’ll learn more by doing than by reading. Don’t fear making errors, just do it. “Rejection is better than regret” - Pook.

Confidence. I’m in one of the most competitive niches, English is not my primary language and I procrastinate a lot. If I can do it with all the “limitations” I face, you can do it too. Don’t be a crab. You can achieve anything if you work hard. “Your only limitation is the one that you set up in your own mind” - Napoleon Hill

Leads. It always comes down to generating AND converting leads.

Love the Game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Keep playing.

The Big Picture. Keep it in mind. Remove what holds you back.

Critiques. Some people won’t like you & what you’re doing. You can’t change them. Learn to deal with it.

Sacrifice. There’s no something for nothing and you can’t get everything in life.

Set Goals. For everything. Big & mini-goals. Aim high. Review goals constantly.

Give. Building experience is more important than a paycheck.

Money. Change to regain freedom. To set your own rules. To do something you like. Don’t change for the money. “Those who work for money alone, and who receive for their pay nothing but money, are always underpaid” - Napoleon Hill

Purpose. You have one. Find it.

The Crabs. Ignore them. “Who said it could not be done? And what great victories has he to his credit which qualify him to judge others accurately?” - Napoleon Hill

Desire. You can get whatever you want, get out of whatever situation if you REALLY want it. The only real thing that stands between your present situation and where you want to be is YOU. You decide what happens to you. NO-ONE ELSE. They know NOTHING.

Burn Your Bridges. “When Julius Caesar landed his army in England, he was determined to take no chances of possible retreat. He wanted to show his men that their invasion meant victory or death. He burned all his ships before their eyes.”

What Is. Life has its own way to push you in another direction and teaching you lessons the hard way. When looking back years later, you know everything happened for the best. “That every event is the right one. Look closely and you’ll see. Not just the right one overall, but right. As if someone had weighed it out with scales.” –Marcus Aurelius.

Thanks. Thanks to all of you for subscribing, stumbling articles, recommending the blog, linking to articles, for helping out, … It’s been a great year. THANKS.

Unlike Squats & Deadlifts you can’t do much wrong on the Overhead Press. The most common mistakes are not starting each rep with your elbows in front of the bar and not shifting your torso under the bar.

Performing the Overhead Press with your elbows under or behind the bar is bad technique. You must readjust your elbows on each rep so they’re in front of the bar when looking from the side.

Why Does It Matter? Tony asked in StrongLfits.com Forum why you must start the Overhead Press with your elbows in front of the bar on each rep.

I understand what the proper form is for OHP. I have read Starting Strength and referred back to it several times. I have read Mehdi’s articles about the lift several times also. I have watched all the videos that have been posted here about the lift. I know that it is emphasized that the elbows be in front of the bar and not under it.

My question is, Why?

On Bench Press, I put the bar right on the base of my palm, right where the thumb connects to the palm, then wrap thumb and fingers around the bar. My wrist cannot roll back this way. However, on OHP, with elbows in front, it seems like it causes your wrists to roll back so the weight of the bar is now near your fingers and not on the base of the palm.

I know in Mehdi’s article on OHP (and other places) it says to keep the bar near base of palm and keep elbows in front of bar. How can you do both? If I keep my elbows under the bar my wrists are in the perfect position to let the bar sit right on the base of my palm. No wrist bending at all. But if I put the elbows in front, my wrists automatically roll back to accommodate this position and so the bar ends up closer to my fingers and not on the base of the palm anymore.

It seems anatomically impossible to put your elbows in front of the bar but still keep the bar on the base of the palm and don’t let the wrist roll back. And if the wrists are back it doesn’t seem safe for them and it sure doesn’t feel strong to me.

The Wrist Issue. You can’t keep your wrists perfectly straight on the Overhead Press. Look at this, this, this, this & this pictures of weight lifters doing the Jerk. Their wrists are slightly bent. You can’t avoid it.

But you can minimize it. Your wrists can bend more if you put the bar close to your fingers. This stretches your wrists the hard way, increasing risks of injury. Put the bar close to the heel of your hand.

Lack of flexibility makes it harder to get into the correct Overhead Press starting position. Keep your chest up at all times. Stretch your wrists & triceps, improve thoracic mobility and do shoulder dislocations.

Hyperirradation. When you do a weight lifting exercise, tightening each muscle in your body during the whole movement makes you stronger. In Power to The People Pavel Tsatsouline calls this hyperirradation.

How does this makes you stronger? You increase neural stimulation and can lift from a more stable position. Some ways to do this are: squeezing the bar hard, squeeze your glutes hard, planting your feet into the ground, …

The Lats. On the Overhead Press you can apply hyperirradation using your lats. Pull your shoulders into their socket by flexing your lats. Imagine you have a tennis ball in your armpit and you’re trying to squeeze it.

Try it now. Make a big chest. Bring your right arm in the correct Overhead Press starting position: elbows forward. Tighten your right fist, pec & lat. Squeeze your armpit. Compare tension when your elbow is not forward.

When you put your elbows forward on the Overhead Press, your lats act like a cushion where you can press from. You can lift more weight this way. This is why increasing your strength on Pull-ups help your Overhead Press.

How much your elbows should be in front of the bar depends on your built. Put your elbows in a position which lets you drive up with your forearms vertical and which lets you use your lats in the starting position.

Image credit: kelco & robbymacklem

Skinny guys often say they can eat anything they want without gaining weight. They think they’re blessed with a fast metabolism. They’ll say: “I make women jealous with my metabolism. I can eat junk food all day without gaining weight”.

Truth is you can eat anything you want without gaining weight because you’re not eating a lot. I know you think you do, but you’re not. Otherwise you wouldn’t be skinny. Here’s how to gain weight for skinny guys.

1. Track Calories. Skinny guys often overestimate what they eat. Read the labels, use a food scale and track your daily caloric intake using FitDay. You need at least your body-weight in lbs x 20kcal daily to gain weight.

2. Set a Goal Weight. A rule of thumb is at least 1kg for each cm above 1m (use this converter). Anything less you’ll always look skinny. There’s no upper limit, if you want to weigh more go for it. Examples of minimum goal weights:

• 1m70/5′5″ at least 70kg/154lbs
• 1m75/5′7″ at least 75kg/165lbs
• 1m80/5′9″ at least 80kg/176lbs
• 1m85/6′1″ at least 85kg/187lbs
• 1m90/6′3″ at least 90kg/200lbs

3. Eat Every 3 Hours. You need at least your body-weight in lbs x 20 kcal to gain weight. That’s 2700kcal/day if you’re 135lbs. If you have a physical job or move a lot, you’ll need even more. Eat every 3 hours.

• Breakfast. Get calories from the first hour. Read how to build the habit of eating breakfast and try these breakfast recipes.
• Lunch & Diner. Prepare double portions while making breakfast. 1 portion for work/school, 1 portion when you get back.
• Snacks. Mixed nuts, fruits, dried fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, sandwiches, milk, protein shakes, …
• Post Workout. Physical activities burn calories. Eat post workout to get that energy back. Check this post workout shake recipe.

4. Eat Calorie Dense Foods. 100g raw rice is 380kcals. 100g raw spinach is only 25kcals. Getting your daily calorie intake is easier if you eat foods high in calories. Your best options:

• Pasta. 100g pasta is 380kcal and easier to ingest than 100g rice. Whole grain pasta is healthier, but takes longer to digest. Eat white pasta.
• Whole Milk. If you don’t bother gaining some fat, drink 1 gallon whole milk per day on top of your current food intake. I’ve seen guys gaining 60lbs/year drinking 1 gallon per milk per day while Squatting 3x/week.
• Nuts. Mixed nuts & natural peanut butter have +500kcal/100g, about 50% healthy fats and 25% protein. Use mixed nuts as snack & throw peanut butter on sandwiches for work/school.
• Olive Oil. Protects against heart diseases & cancer. Sip it like vodka (it’s not that bad, really) or use it for tomato pasta sauce. 1tbsp is 100kcal.

5. Get Stronger. You want to go from skinny to muscular, not from skinny to chubby. Get into strength training. More strength is more muscle. If you don’t know where to start, check StrongLifts 5×5. Some tips.

• Free Weights. Force you to stabilize the weight and allow for natural motions. Start light, focus on technique and add weight progressively.
• Compound Exercises. Do exercises that work your whole body. Squats, Deadlifts, Overhead Press, Bench Press, Pull-ups, Dips, Barbell Row, …
• Squat. Leg exercise stressing your whole body. When you can Squat 1.5x your body-weight, you’ll no longer be skinny. Squat often.
• Rest. Muscle grow when you rest, not when you workout. Don’t train daily. Sleep, drink 1 gallon water daily and eat fruits/veggies.

6. Eat Protein. You need 1g protein per pound of body-weight per day to build & maintain muscle. If you weigh 150lbs/68kg, that’s 150g protein per day. Eat whole protein with each meal. Sources of protein:

• Red Meat. Ground round, steaks, deer, buffalo, …
• Poultry. Chicken breast, whole chicken, turkey, duck, …
• Fish. Tuna, salmon, sardines, mackerel, …
• Eggs. Eat the yolk, it’s full of vitamins.
• Dairy. Milk, cottage cheese, quark, yogurt, whey, …

7. Plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail. You don’t have time to cook 3x/day, and the food at work/school is often low quality/more expensive. Prepare your food in advance and take it with you.

• Do The Grocery. Avoid skipped meals because you don’t have food available. List everything you need for 1 week and go buy it.
• Cook in Advance. Prepare all your meals once per day: while preparing breakfast or while preparing dinner. It takes about 40mins.
• Keep it Simple. Make double portions, take leftovers with you, use cans of tuna & mixed nuts, 1 gallon milk per day, …
• Take Food with You. Food containers for work/school, mixed nuts at the movies, eat before going to town, take protein shakes to the gym, …

8. Track Progress. Success breeds success. Knowing that you’re losing your skinny look will keep you motivated. Track everything.

• Track Calories. Continue tracking your daily caloric intake using FitDay so you get a confirmation of how many calories you’re eating.
• Weigh Yourself Weekly. Gaining weight? Don’t change anything. Not gaining weight? Increase your daily caloric intake by 500kcal.
• Take Pictures. The mirror is subjective. Pictures don’t lie. Shoot pictures bi-monthly so you have objective measurements of your progress.
• Track Strength Gains. When you can Squat 1.5x your body-weight, you’ll no longer be skinny. Keep a training log in StrongLifts.com forum.

Meal Plan. 3500+kcal diet for someone who wants to weigh 180lbs/81kg. This can be too much at once if you’re only 135lbs/61kg or not enough if you’re very active. Individualize the diet based on your needs.

• Breakfast: 100g oats, 50g raisins, 1scoop whey
• Snack: 100g mixed nuts or 1 liter milk or tuna sandwich
• Lunch: 200g white pasta, bolognese sause, parmesan cheese
• Snack: 100g mixed nuts or 1 liter milk or tuna sandwich
• Post workout shake: 1.5scoops whey, 60g oats, milk, banana
• Dinner: 200g white pasta, bolognese sause, parmesan cheese
• Pre bed: cottage cheese, berries, flax seed, fish oil

Your spine consists of several parts. Your lower back or lumbar spine counts 5 vertebrae (L1-L5). Each segment has about 2 degrees rotation which totals for 30° movement when turning. Your lumbar spine is designed for stability.

Your cervical spine or neck counts 7 vertebrae (C1-C7). About 40° movement in rotation. Your thoracic spine or middle back counts 12 vertebrae (T1-T12). 70° movement when turning and designed for mobility.

Lack of thoracic mobility is as common as lack of hip mobility. Slouching posture, hunchback, problems rotating your torso, … You’ve seen it, it might even sound familiar. This post will show you how to fix it.

Why Do You Need Thoracic Mobility? Lack of thoracic mobility forces your body to function in ways it was not designed for. Lack of thoracic mobility also forces your lower back and/or neck to compensate. Both increase risks of injury.

• Improve Posture. Part of the solution to a slouching back - kyphosis - is improving your thoracic mobility.
• Improve Technique. Keeping your chest up on Squats & Deadlifts prevents lower back rounding. Improving thoracic mobility makes it easier to keep your chest up. It also makes it easier to shift your torso under the bar during the Overhead Press.
• Avoid Lower Back & Neck Injuries. Lower back has 30° mobility, neck 40°, thoracic spine 70°. If you lost 70° mobility at the thoracic spine, you risk forcing mobility in your lower back/neck. Example: rotating your torso to look behind you when parking your car. This can result in a tweaked lower back/neck if you lack thoracic mobility.
• Prevent Rotator Cuff Injuries. Kyphosis prevents your shoulder-blades from tilting back when raising your arms. This narrows the subacromial space, increasing risks of shoulder impingement. Frequent impingement causes rotator cuff injuries over time. And external rotations won’t help without addressing thoracic mobility.

Do You Lack Thoracic Mobility? Lie with your back on the floor. Feet flat on the floor. Glutes against the floor. Bring your arms straight overhead (not the side). Keep your elbows locked and don’t hyper-extend your lower back.

If you can’t touch the floor with your wrists like in the picture above, you lack thoracic mobility. You can improve it using the following exercises.

1. Thoracic Spine Soft Tissue Work. I recommend Perform Better’s Foam Roller Plus. It has a PVC pipe on the inside which makes it last longer than other foam rollers. I use a paperboard roller, but a PVC pipe works too.

Lie back on the floor. Put the foam roller under your thoracic spine. Hug yourself so your shoulder-blades shift to the side. Foot flat on the floor. Glutes off the floor. Roll back & forth. Stay away from your neck and lower back.

This exercise will loosen your upper-back. Cracking & popping is common. Work through the pain while keeping your elbows up. Your back will feel better after 2-3 sessions. Again: stay away from your neck & lower back.

2. Thoracic Spine Soft Tissue Work with Tennis Balls. Same exercise as the first one but using 2 tennis balls inside a sock.

Perform sit-ups with your thoracic spine between the 2 tennis balls. Head goes against the floor on each rep. Crossed-arm grip. Elbows up. Move the tennis balls up every 3 reps. Stay away from your lower back & neck.

3. Thoracic Extension with Foam Roller. Stay on the floor with the foam roller under your thoracic spine. Glutes on the floor, hands behind your head, elbows pulled together. Drop your head. Let your upper-back stretch.

Your goal is to “arch” your thoracic spine. Try to wrap your upper-back around the foam roller. Glutes on the floor, head down, elbows together. Hold position for a few seconds then move up. Stay away from your neck & lower back.

This exercise will fix your bent upper-back posture. If you’re into powerlifting use this exercise to increase your arch for the Bench Press. But always stay away from your neck & lower back.

4. Side Lying Rotations. Lie on your right side. Left hip & knee flexed at 90°. Right leg straight. Rest your left leg on a cushion or foam roller so you can’t rotate at your lower back. Hold your right arm straight above you.

Push your right hand up while bracing your abs. Left hand on the floor with your hand palm up. Bring your left hand to your right hand while rotating your hand out. Hold the position for 2 seconds, then come back down. 10 reps both sides.

This exercise improves thoracic extension & rotation while improving your chest flexibility. Make sure you move from the thoracic spine, not from your lower back. Push your abs out from start to finish.

5. High Step Rotations. Grab a broomstick and put it on your back like for Squats. Rest your right leg on bench. Push your abs out. Squeeze your left glute. Rotate as far as you can to the right without moving your pelvis.

This exercise improves thoracic mobility & glute activation. Don’t move your neck and pelvis. The whole movement must come from your thoracic spine. Push your abs out and squeeze the glute of your down leg.

6. Quadruped Thoracic Rotation & Extension. Get on all 4s. Arms & thighs perpendicular to the floor. Brace your abs. Left hand behind your head. Rotate your trunk to your right arm by leading with your left shoulder.

This exercise improves thoracic rotation and extension. Move your thoracic spine, not your lower back, neck or elbow. Keep your elbow inline with your shoulder, your neck inline with your spine and push your abs out.


7. Heel Sit Mid Thoracic Stretch. Kneel on the floor. Sit back on your heels. Lay your torso on top of your thighs. Left arm reached out in front of you. Right hand behind your head. Rotate your trunk to the ceiling.

This exercise improves thoracic rotation & extension. Move from your thoracic spine. Keep your stomach on your thighs. Keep your elbow inline with your shoulder. Keep your neck inline with your spine.

8. Indian Style Thoracic Mobilization. Sit indian style. Hands behind your head. Rotate to the right. Sidebend to the right. Try to rotate further on each rep by moving from your thoracic spine. Video by Mike Boyle.

Try all these thoracic mobility exercises. 2 sets of 10 reps as warm-up and/or on recovery days. Focus on quality of movement not quantity. The exercises you struggle with are the exercises you need to do.

The biggest mistake you can do on Squats is not going below parallel. Half or Quarter Squats increase risks of knee injuries by creating muscle imbalances. Check this thread in StrongLifts.com Forum for more info.

The 2nd biggest Squat mistake is lowering yourself by moving your knees first. This impairs performance and can also cause knee injuries. The correct way to squat is using your hip muscles. Here’s how.

How NOT to Squat. Here’s a video of reader Banderbe’s Squat technique. Pay attention to the bar placement and his knees/hips movement. He squats down by flexing his knees first instead of his hips, and uses a high bar position.

Why This Is Bad Squat Technique. Low bar Squats emphasize your posterior chain. High bar Squats are quad dominant. It’s not bad to Squat high bar as long as your training program is balanced. But moving your knees first is bad.

• Strength Loss. Power comes from your hips. You can’t use your hip muscles optimally when squatting down by flexing your knees first.
• Knee Injury. Squatting down by flexing the knees first impairs posterior chain strength. A weak posterior chain can cause knee injuries.
• And Much More. Anything becomes possible when you squat low bar by flexing your knees first: excessive leaning forward, lower back rounding, heels off the floor, etc.

How to Squat Correctly. Move your hips first. This stretches your hamstrings on the way down, storing energy in your stretched muscles. Use this energy on the way up by bouncing off your stretched hamstrings.

• Sit Back. Think of sitting on a toilet. Squat down by pushing your hips back as far as you can. This stretches your hamstrings, building tension.
• Lean Forward. Put the bar low on your traps and lean forward. Keep the bar above the center of your feet so you don’t lose balance.
• Look forward. Avoid doing a goodmorning. Look forward while keeping your neck straight. Big chest, shoulder-blades back & down.

Good Squats, Bad Squats. Here’s an example of good vs. bad Squat technique. First 30 seconds is bad technique, next 30sec good technique. Ignore the depth: I’m using a broomstick. Focus on the knees/hips movement.

How to Learn Correct Squat Technique. Most people are quad dominant and have tight hamstrings/adductors. Moving your knees first is usually caused by weak posterior chain muscles or lack of hip mobility. Here’s what you can do

• Squat Stretch. Hold on to something. Chest up. Shoulder-blades back & down. Lower leg close to perpendicular to the floor. Knees out. Push your hips back. You’ll feel tension in your hamstrings/adductors. Hold the stretch. Aim for 30 seconds while trying to break parallel.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ETJavBsbfo

• Wall Squats. Force you to move your hips first instead of your knees. Stand against a wall with your hands between your legs and squat down. Push your knees out.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohiqjBCpMas

• Practice. Low bar position. Chest up. Shoulder-blades back & down. Curl your toes up. Push your hips back as far as you can. Lean forward. Knees out. Break parallel. Bounce of your hamstrings.

The same principle applies to High Bar Olympic Squats & Front Squats. The upright torso position makes sitting back harder but you still must move your hips first. Dan John recommends to “squat between your legs”.

Best cue is to go for the hamstrings stretch. When you squat down correctly, you’ll feel tension in your hamstrings. The greater the tension, the bigger the force on the way up, and the more weight on the bar.