30 Jan Teaching the Squat from the Ground Up
Article Rundown
- Squat technique should be coached to the individual, not forced into a one-size-fits-all model
- Proper rooting, bracing, and posterior chain loading increase strength while reducing joint stress
- Better leverage often feels uncomfortable at first, but stiffness and efficiency win in the long term
- Squat depth and mechanics must match the goal—power, longevity, and repeatability
How I Coach Squat Technique to Maximize Performance and Minimize Injury Risk
When I coach the squat, I’m not trying to force every lifter into the same model. What I’m doing is evaluating how that person moves, where they’re strong, where they’re leaking power, and what changes will give them the biggest return with the least risk. In this session, I’m working with a client who already has good mobility and strength, but her setup and mechanics weren’t allowing her to fully use her hips and posterior chain.
The goal wasn’t to reinvent her squat overnight. The goal was to make targeted adjustments that improve leverage, shorten unnecessary bar travel, and help her move weight more efficiently without beating up her joints.
Rooting Into the Floor: Cleaning Up the Foundation
One of the first things I addressed with her was stance and foot engagement. For her, narrowing the stance too much and failing to actively grip the floor was creating instability and forcing compensation higher up the chain. By bringing her stance just slightly wider and cueing her to spread the floor, we immediately improved how she connected to the ground.
This isn’t about exaggerating a wide stance for everyone. In her case, that small change allowed her hips to engage more naturally and gave her something solid to push against. Once the feet are locked in and the floor is “alive,” the rest of the squat has something to build on. Without that, you’re fighting yourself before the bar even moves.
Building the Lifter’s Wedge and Locking the Upper Body In
From there, we focused on building what I call the lifter’s wedge. She had a tendency to let her elbows drift and her upper body loosen as the weight got heavier. That creates movement where you don’t want it and turns the torso into a weak link instead of a force transmitter.
By cueing elbows down, lats engaged, and the core braced hard before unracking, we created a much more rigid system. The goal here was simple: once she’s under the bar, nothing moves except the hips. When the upper body is locked in like that, the squat becomes more predictable, more repeatable, and far safer under load.
Learning to Load the Posterior Chain Instead of Coasting
She has strong hamstrings and good hips, but she wasn’t actually loading them consistently. Instead, she was relying more on quads and momentum out of the bottom. That works at lighter weights, but it always shows up later when things get heavy.
By emphasizing a controlled hip hinge and sitting back just enough, she started loading the entire posterior chain instead of dumping everything into the knees. The biggest change wasn’t just where the effort went—it was how direct the bar path became. Less forward drift, less correction on the way up, and far more power coming out of the hole.
Stiffness Over Comfort: Why Better Often Feels Worse at First
One thing I made very clear to her is that improved mechanics don’t always feel better right away. What feels “good” is often just what you’re used to. When you change leverage and torso position, it can feel awkward, heavier, or even unstable at first.
But that discomfort doesn’t mean it’s wrong. In her case, the bar actually moved easier even though it felt different. As stiffness increased and she learned to stay braced throughout the entire rep, the strength showed up. Over time, that stiffness becomes second nature—and that’s when the squat really takes off.
Managing Depth Based on Goals, Not Ego
Another key adjustment for her was depth control. She’s extremely mobile, which sounds like a good thing, but excessive depth was actually taking tension away from her muscles and putting unnecessary stress on her knees and back.
We shaved off just enough depth to stay strong, loaded, and controlled. This wasn’t about cutting corners—it was about keeping the squat honest. If the goal is powerlifting or building maximal strength and muscle, you don’t get extra credit for burying every rep. You get stronger by staying in the range where your musculature can actually produce force.
Mental Buy-In and Aggressive Intent
As the session went on and the weight increased, the biggest improvement wasn’t physical—it was mental. Once she stopped second-guessing and trusted the setup, her intent changed. She stopped coasting out of the bottom and started driving through the entire lift.
That’s where technique and confidence intersect. When lifters commit fully to the cues and stay aggressive through the sticking point, the squat stops being a grind and starts becoming a tool.
The Long-Term Payoff
We weren’t chasing max weight in this session. We were building a squat that she can own long term—one that allows her to get stronger without accumulating unnecessary wear and tear. These kinds of changes don’t always look dramatic in a single rep, but over weeks and months they add up fast.
That’s how you maximize performance. And that’s how you stay healthy enough to keep pushing it.
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