Squat Variation to Boost Your Strength

Of all the lifts that you can do with a barbell, squatting is one of the most beneficial exercises in terms of gaining size, strength, and physiological health. Many people try to avoid leg day in the gym – simply because it’s hard – but the serious lifters know that squats are not something to skimp on. Unfortunately, it becomes very difficult to add weight to your squat once you hit a certain “sticking point.” Luckily for you, I’m going to explain a technique that help you get over that plateau and skyrocket your squatting ability!

 

During a squat, you will automatically tighten your stomach, because your body knows that this is the best way for it to balance itself when it’s put in an awkward weight-bearing situation. Tightening your abdominal muscles creates a cinch-like effect for your torso so that it is able to maintain its rigidity and not collapse forward.

 

This is a great way to start out if you are learning the fundamentals of the exercise. However, there comes a time when it will start to inhibit your gains.

 

In order to overcome this hindrance, you can perform “breathing squats.” There’s really not a whole lot to it, and you can probably guess how they are performed just after reading the title.

 

Basically, you just squat like usual, but then take several breaths at the bottom before coming back up. This will be hard at first because your abdominal muscles are so used to being tense and tight during this movement.

 

The benefit of this exercise is two-fold. First, you are removing the intra-abdominal pressure within your stomach that has been keeping your torso stabilized. By getting rid of this pressure, your body needs to compensate some other way so that you don’t fall over. In order to accomplish this pelvic stabilization, your nervous system will recruit other muscle fibers that are generally inactive during the movement. By getting more neuromuscular recruitment, you are building a stronger torso and pelvic floor.

 

Second, you are increasing the time under tension during the exercise. Time under tension is just an indication of how long your muscles are working to move a weight against the pull of gravity. So, by taking a few breaths, you’re increasing how long your muscles are working, which therefore increases the intensity of the workout.

There you have it. By implementing breathing squats into your workout routine, you will see improvements in the muscular development of your legs and the strength of your squat. Be forewarned, these are not easy, but they are worth it!

 

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ACL Injury Prevention

As ACL injuries become more and more widespread in today’s athletes, it’s important to understand what causes them to tear, and how to prevent it.

First, let’s start with a little anatomy lesson. Your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is located toward the front part of your knee joint, and helps to connect your femur (thigh bone) to your tibia (shin bone). When an athlete lacks the adequate strength for their activities, has poor running form, or has an off-kilter pelvis, it contributes to the stress being placed on the ACL. Over time, this will result in the wearing down of the ligament, and then a quick cut, stop, or pivot can end in a loud pop with a lot of pain.

The first thing to address is the lack of lower body strength. Specifically, the lack of ECCENTRIC lower body strength. There are three types of contractions within your muscles: concentric (shortening muscle fibers, like during a bicep curl), isometric (holding a contraction, like stopping a bicep curl halfway through and keeping it there), and eccentric (the controlled lowering motion, where you are keeping the weight from freely dropping to the ground).

During many sports, an athlete will often be running at a high speed, and need to suddenly stop. If they don’t have enough strength in their muscles to stop as quickly as they need to, it overextends the legs as they strain to defy the laws of physics. For a time, this method will work for an athlete, because the tendons and ligaments in their legs will help out by stopping the leg from going too far. However, every time this happens, those tendons and ligaments get a little more worn down, and will eventually snap. So, having strong quadriceps and hamstrings will aid in supporting the health of your ACL while playing a sport that demands changes of directions often (like soccer, football, or basketball).

Another factor in the degredation of ACL health is an athlete’s running form. Most people walk and run with a “heel strike.” This just means that the heel is hitting the ground first, which results in a huge spike in the force that your leg absorbs. Each step you take, your body – and especially your ACL – is taking on almost your entire weight, so focusing that force on such a small area coincides with a lot of stress on your bodily structure. When this heel strike is coupled with a quick change of direction, it places a large load of torque on the ACL and weakens it.

Another unfortunate issue is the anterior pelvic tilt. I’ve blogged about this before on, but it essentially just means that the hips face downward instead of straight ahead. When a sport requires a lot of running, you will see many athletes with this because it is generally caused by tight hip flexors and weak glutes and hamstrings.

As mentioned above, weak muscles will result in lots of stress. This pelvic tilt contributes to the important muscles used during the eccentric motions of running (glutes and hamstrings) AND will mechanically encourage a run that involves a heel strike. All bad.

So what can we do to prevent this? Well, strength training (obviously), a focus on running technique, and a stretching routine that reduces the pelvic tilt will all be beneficial. ACL injuries are especially common in women – there are several other factors not mentioned here that contribute to that – but the most easily fixed factor is their lack of strength. Male athletes are usually encouraged (pressured, almost) to start going to the gym and lifting around 14 or 15 years old. Women, however, hardly ever have a serious strength and conditioning routine until they get into collegiate athletics.

The prevention of ACL injuries is fairly simple, but rarely implemented. By focusing on training athletes so that their risk of injury decreases, it creates a stronger athlete and more solid team. If we take care of our bodies, our bodies will take care of us.