I have a confession.

It's been 12 years since my mentor showed me how to Squat, and after having Squatted tens of thousands of reps, I still experience fear when Squatting.

Sometimes it's fear of missing a Squat PR, other times it's fear of injuring myself Squatting, half the times I'm just terrified of the pain that's going to follow.

If this sounds familiar: good news - there's nothing wrong with you, quite the opposite, you'll have a hard time finding a successful Squatter, no matter how much he Squats, who never, EVER, experiences fear when Squatting.

But there are strategies you can use to overcome your fear of Squats and build unshakable confidence in the Squat. Here are 7 powerful tips...

1. Squat Inside The Power Rack. The fastest method to beat the fear of failure and of injury is to do Squats inside the Power Rack because the safety pins will catch the bar if you get stuck in the hole. This will boost your confidence under the bar since you KNOW that if you fail the rep, you'll be 100% safe.

No Power Rack? Smith machine Squats are dumb because machines balance the weight for you and forces you into fixed, unnatural movements that can get you injured. Switch gym or invest in a home gym - for the price of a 12 month gym membership, you can get a Power Rack with free shipping from Amazon. Lack space for a Power Rack? Get Squat Stands + saw horses to catch the bar.

2. Fail Squats On Purpose. Personal anecdote so you understand the mindset behind this: I did indoor climbing for several months a couple of years ago even though I have fear of heights. This turns out to be common and the usual advice is to practice falling. Here’s why: there is KNOWING the rope will keep you safe whenever you fall, and there’s EXPERIENCING it. Once you experience it, the psychological barriers are broken and you can go all out.

The same strategy applies to Squats. Set the safety pins of your Power Rack so they can catch the weight, then Squat down and bail on purpose. The pins will catch the bar and you'll no longer know it’s safe, you'll have experienced it.

3. Do Squat Walk Outs. After you're done with your Squat sets, load the bar with 45lbs more than your maximum. Then unrack the weight, walk backwards to where you normally Squat and stand there for 10 seconds. Then walk back to the rack and set the bar down. That's a Squat walkout.

Squat walkouts strengthen your joints and ligaments while getting you used to Squatting heavier weights. Make sure you do them inside your Power Rack, with the safety pins high and ready to catch the bar would anything go wrong.

To motivate you, look at StrongLifts Member Adam R. (29y, Australia) doing heavy Squat walkouts with 946lb (read his story on page 91 of the 5x5 report).

StrongLifts Member Adam R. (29y, Australia) doing a heavy Squat walkout with 946lb to boost confidence under the bar and strengthen joints and ligaments.

4. Deload. Instead of Squatting the same weight all the time and hoping for it to get easier, take weight off the bar and gradually increase it each workout. So let's say you just can't get over 225lb. Well instead of lifting that weight all the time (which, as I explained inside the 5x5 report, would make you weaker), you lower the weight by 20% and add 5lb every time you go to the gym.

The reason this method works is that it's better for your confidence under the bar to avoid hitting the same plateau over & over. That's why I recommend you to deload, use the lighter weights to practice proper Squat technique, and then finally break your plateau when you're facing that same weight again.

5. Visualize Your Squats. Dr Maxwell Maltz showed in his bestseller "Psycho-cybernetics" (a must-reading book !) that your mind doesn't know the difference between what is real and imagined. That's why fighters have used the powerful "shadowboxing" technique for decades as part of their training.

So can Squatters: visualize yourself Squatting while taking your shower, before going to the gym or between your work sets. Will you visualize your way to a 500lb Squat if you never lift? Obviously not. But you'll feel more confident when your PR weight comes because you've lifted it 512x already.

6. Use Self Pep-Talk. It sure worked for Ronnie Coleman, 8x Mr Olympia and 800lb Deadlifter, with his famous "Light Weight Baby!" and "Ain't Nothing But a Peanut!" Heck, it even worked for the Swedish world class athlete Ricky Bruch (RIP) who yelled "It's Light, Light!" You may not want to be that loud, but silent self-talk could be just as effective to build confidence in Squats.

7. Just Frigging Squat. Frankly, if you only take away one thing from this article, let it be this. There's actually a book (it's not a good one), called "Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway,” that makes this point – winners almost always keep feeling fear when performing. The difference? They do it anyway.

This does NOT mean that you should load 350lb extra on the bar and injure yourself. It only means you must stop avoiding what you fear, stop overthinking it and do it. This is facing your fears, and it is what develops true courage and unshakable self-confidence – not just under the bar but in everything.

Again, the fear will never go away. So the real secret is becoming comfortable in uncomfortable situations. The next time you catch yourself standing in front of the bar fearing, thinking, hesitating, overanalyzing, delaying,...

Just frigging Squat.