On the surface, the squat is a straightforward exercise. You lower the weight, then you drive it back up. Another way to put it is that you flex at the hips, knees and ankles until you reach your desired squatting depth, and then you extend those joints to return to the starting position. Of course, there is a lot more involved in the proper execution of a squat, and the specific movement required at each joint will depend upon the variation you’re using. You wouldn’t know that by observing the manner in which some squats are being performed, though. In particular, I’ve noticed that the hip drive technique is showing up in just about every squat variation, even the front squat.
Now, hip drive is an essential component of a low-bar back squat. If you’re not familiar with that term, hip drive is when you focus on pushing the hips up from the bottom of the squat, using the sacrum as a focal point to drive through. This prevents the knees from drifting forward and maintains tension on the hamstrings. Equally as important as using hip drive out of the “hole” is setting up this movement in the first place, by pushing the hips back when initiating the squat. This is all well and good for the low-bar squat, but not so good for the high-bar squat or the front squat.
The video in this post compares those three variations of the squat, and highlights the appropriate cues for each one. This wasn’t meant to be a fully comprehensive analysis of the biomechanics of the squat, so if you have any questions after watching the video, feel free to let me know…
