Narrow stance squats. Squats with a barbell with wide legs. We study all the subtleties and secrets. Narrow leg squats

Barbell squats are a basic element of any weightlifting workout. The exercise comprehensively develops the figure and the athlete.

Target muscles

The main load is taken by the quadriceps and buttocks. The stabilizers are the back extensors, hamstrings, soleus, calf muscles. The abs and deltoids are indirectly loaded.

Benefits of Exercise

Power squats have many advantages for the athlete:

Increase in total body weight and muscle strength.
Improving mobility and coordination by strengthening ligaments, joints and stabilizer muscles.
Maintaining the health of the male reproductive system by stimulating testosterone production and increasing blood circulation in the pelvic organs.
Getting rid of subcutaneous fat, thanks to the inclusion of large muscle groups in the work.
Formation of toned thighs and rounded buttocks among women.

Beginners can also benefit from squats with a light weight on the shoulders. Moderate loads combined with basic multi-joint exercise help shape muscle corset, strengthen ligaments and tendons.

Squat technique

Before you start, you should prepare yourself psychologically. Try to concentrate as much as possible on the exercise. Concentrating on the weight being lifted helps complete the approach:

Approach the barbell located at the level of the collarbones, grab the bar with a straight closed grip. The width of the palms is selected individually. As a rule, your hands are positioned slightly wider than your shoulders. This is necessary so that the shoulder blades remain retracted and the back is level throughout the entire approach. If your shoulder joints are stiff, you can spread your arms wide, but this grip increases the likelihood of losing balance.
Squeeze the bar tightly with your palms, sit slightly on your feet and step forward. Once under the barbell, place your other foot and lift yourself up. In this case, the shoulder blades should come together, and the bar should rest against top part backs. If everything is done correctly, the weight will lie on trapezius muscle and supported rear delts. If you feel a lot of pressure on your vertebrae, step back and repeat the approach to the barbell.
Tighten your leg muscles, straighten your knees, and release the weight from the supports. Take a step back, then cross your other foot. You don't need to move far from the racks. Direct your gaze at an upward angle. This will help keep your lower back arched and reduce the risk of losing your balance. Place your feet wider than your shoulders and turn your toes slightly to the sides. Lock this position and concentrate as much as possible before squatting.
With a deep breath, begin to move your pelvis back and spread your knees to the sides. Don't lean forward. Natural tilt as a result of pelvic abduction will be sufficient. Your squat should feel like lowering your butt onto an imaginary chair. Having descended to the lowest point, immediately begin to rise, powerfully exhaling air from your lungs. In this case, lift by straightening your legs, not straightening your back.

WITH basic technology We figured it out, now let’s look at some important nuances:

Bar position. If you lower the bar below the rear deltoids, the load will shift to the buttocks. Girls use this method of holding when doing light squats. IN strength training This position of the bar is not recommended, as it increases forward tilt and increases the risk of losing balance.
Squat depth. Affects the involvement of the buttocks and lower back. The deeper the athlete goes, the more these areas are stressed. We also note that a lower squat increases the amplitude of movement, which has a positive effect on the growth of strength indicators. If your goal is to gain muscle mass, lower yourself slightly below the horizontal position of your hips. If you are a weightlifter, squat all the way.
Knee position. One of the basic rules for a safe squat: the knee joints should not extend beyond the toes. If this happens, it means you are not pushing your pelvic region back enough. When doing this, the traumatic load on the knee ligaments increases. We recommend putting aside power squats and working on technique.
Foot position. Selected individually. The wider the feet are apart, the greater the load they receive. gluteal muscles. For power squats, we recommend placing your feet at shoulder level or slightly wider. Make sure your toes are pointed in the same direction as your knees.

Before squats, be sure to warm up your entire body with cardio and perform several build-up sets with minimal weights.

How to choose weight

Remember: in order for muscles to grow, you need to perform 6 to 12 repetitions in each working approach. With a smaller amount, strength indicators will increase, with a larger amount, endurance will increase. In this case, failure should occur in the last two repetitions.

Let's look at an approximate weight selection algorithm for beginners:

Let's say you decide to work "for the masses." For beginning athletes, we recommend limiting yourself to 10 repetitions per set.
Throw a couple of 10 kg weights onto the bar and secure them with locks to create average weight for an untrained athlete (40–50 kg).
Try doing 10 squats with proper technique.
If you did 8–9, and failure occurred, the weight was selected correctly. If all 10 repetitions were easy for you, add 5 kg on each side and repeat the approach.
Add weight until you reach failure on squat 8.

In this way you can learn to select initial weight in all strength exercises. Number of approaches per basic squats for beginners should not exceed 5–6. In this case, the first 2 are warm-up, with an empty bar, the rest are working.

The effect of exercise on the lower back and knees

If the technique is strictly followed, squats do not harm the musculoskeletal system. On the contrary, they strengthen muscles and ligaments, which makes the athlete more mobile and faster. Beginners often make the following critical mistakes:

bringing the knee beyond the line of the fingers;
“rounding” of the spine;
lack of deflection in the lower back;
bringing the knees inward;
transferring body weight to the toes and lifting the heels;
lifting the barbell with your back, not your legs.

Try to eliminate these errors, as they can cause not only pain, but also serious injury.

If pain does appear during squats, stop exercising and try to assess your condition.

A dull pain in one place usually indicates a slight sprain. In such a situation, we recommend using analgesic ointments and refraining from physical activity for a few days.

If painful sensations– sharp, interfering with normal movement, seek help from a doctor. Self-treatment can only worsen the injury.

Smith machine squats

The simulator is a power frame with guides to which a sliding bar is attached. Let us briefly list the advantages of squats in this machine:

accentuated effect on the muscles of the thighs and buttocks;
safe mastery of squat technique;
no risk of loss of balance and falling;
the ability to squat for people with bad knees.

Since the bar moves in one plane, stabilizer muscles are excluded from the work. On the one hand, this reduces the overall effectiveness of the exercise, on the other hand, on the contrary, it allows novice athletes to strengthen the muscles and ligaments of the legs, without fear of injury.

Squats for girls

Girls are often afraid to “swing” their hips too much and therefore avoid power squats. In fact, this is not something to be afraid of. To pump up large, voluminous thighs, you need impressive weights and increased production of growth hormones. Women have naturally low hormonal levels, so they are not threatened with muscular legs like men.

Women's fitness programs, as a rule, are aimed at losing weight and “drawing” the relief. Consequently, all exercises in them are designed to be performed with light weights and for a large number of repetitions (15–20). Therefore, squats will not increase muscle mass girls, but will only give the buttocks a rounded, toned look.

We offer an example of a fitness program for working out the gluteal muscles and thighs:

Warm-up: orbitrek or treadmill– 5–7 minutes at an easy pace.
Smith rack squats – 3x15.
Lunges with dumbbells in hands – 3x15.
Incline leg press – 3x15.
Reverse lunges – 3x15.
Romanian deadlift – 3x15.
in the calf machine – 3x20.

Rest between sets – 1 minute. At the end of the workout, you can perform 1-2 elements on the abs, for example, crunches on the floor (3x20) and planks (3x40 seconds).

Varieties

You can perform the exercise not only in classical technique. Let's look at other, no less effective variations of squats.

Sumo squats

A special feature is the wide stance of the feet. Thanks to this, the buttocks are more actively involved in the work, which allows you to lift more weight than with the standard technique. Sumo squats with a light barbell are great for girls who want to work their inner thighs and glutes.

Front squats

Performed by holding a barbell on the upper chest and deltoids. In such squats, the body moves vertically, without tilting, which allows you to almost completely eliminate the buttocks and shift the load to the quadriceps. Not recommended for beginners due to complex technique.

With a narrow stance

The technique is the same as in classic squats, only your feet are narrower than your shoulders. Used by professional bodybuilders to focus on the outer and lateral surfaces of the thigh. Not suitable for beginners due to risk of loss of balance.

Lunge Squats

The athlete places a barbell on his shoulders, puts one leg forward, and takes the other back. Then, while inhaling, lowers the pelvis until the thigh is parallel to the floor, and exhaling, returns to the vertical position. The exercise qualitatively loads the muscles of the thigh and buttocks. Suitable for girls and beginners.

Hackenschmidt squats

The athlete lowers the barbell to the floor and turns his back to it. Then he lowers his pelvis, grabs the bar and stands up. The arms and back are straight, the chest is slightly turned forward, the gaze is directed at an upward angle. Slow squats are performed from this position.

At the bottom point the pancakes touch the floor, but without “beating”. The technique allows you to work out the quadriceps and calf muscles well. Beginners can perform hack squats in a power rack from stands.

Zercher Squats

The barbell is located on the racks of the power frame, approximately at lumbar level. It is recommended to place a soft towel over the bar. The athlete presses his elbows to the bar, clasps his palms, removes the weight from the supports and takes a step back. The legs are positioned slightly wider than the shoulders, the back is straight. Squats are performed from this position.

This exercise allows you to effectively work out your quadriceps. In this case, the load on the lower back is almost completely removed.

Equipment

Power squats even with correct technique create pressure on the lower back and knee joints. Therefore, to protect these areas from injury, we recommend using sports accessories. For the lower back use weightlifting belt, and for the knees - special elastic bandages.

You can strengthen your grip with wrist loops. Such straps will be needed, for example, when performing Hackenschmidt squats, when it is necessary to hold the barbell in your hands.

If you want to squat with more weight, buy barbells with heels. Such shoes will help you perform the exercise correctly, without lifting your heels and shifting your weight to your toes.

Contraindications

Squats with weights should not be performed if you have the following diseases and conditions:

radiculitis;
scoliosis;
spinal and abdominal hernias;
phlebeurysm;
knee or spine injuries;
recovery period after surgery;
pregnancy;
exacerbation of chronic diseases;
vestibular disorder.

If you doubt the safety of squats for you, be sure to visit a doctor. Otherwise, you may harm yourself and worsen any disease.

Some people just hate squatting because they can't get below the parallel of their thighs to the floor. Others cannot squat wide or narrow setting legs, and this is not always associated with stretching.

Often the limitations are determined by the physiology of a particular person: the structure of his hip joint, the length of the hips, legs and torso, or the mobility of the ankle joint. Let's look at these features and their effect on the squat.

Structure of the hip joint

The structure of the hip joint resembles a hinge. The ball (femoral head) is inserted into the socket (acetabulum) and moves freely in it.

This is the general structure of the joint, but each person has his own characteristics. For example, if the neck of the femur (the area connecting the head to the body of the bone) is positioned horizontally, as in the photo on the left, leg abduction will be limited and it will be more difficult for a person to squat with a wide stance.

If the neck is more vertical, as in the photo on the right, it will be easier to abduct the leg. This means that a wide stance will be more comfortable.

Femurs with different structures of the neck and head / themovementfix.com

The position of the legs is also affected by the angle of the femoral head. A person with a bone head positioned at an angle, as in the photo on the right, will find it very difficult to squat with a narrow leg stance and comfortable with a wide one. And for a person with a head like the one in the photo on the left, it will be more convenient to perform a squat with a narrow stance of the legs.

Different angles of the femoral head / themovementfix.com

The location of the acetabulum also matters. The picture on the left shows a pelvis that would be comfortable for a person to squat with a narrow leg stance. And having a basin like the one in the photo on the right, for deep squat you'll have to spread your legs wider.

Pelvis with different locations of the acetabulum / themovementfix.com

If you can't get the pistol to work, it may be due to the location of the acetabulum. If she is "looking" down, like in the picture on the right, doing these squats will be more difficult due to the restriction in hip flexion. Therefore, you can try to perform the “pistol” to the side.

You can't know exactly what your hip joint looks like, but you can guess it from your limitations, stop fighting your body, and find the perfect squat position.

How to Find the Perfect Squat Rack

Find a spot next to a mirror to track your back position, or ask a friend to watch you.

Get down on the floor on all fours, place your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. From this position, push your pelvis back until you can maintain a natural arch in your lower back.

Try this exercise with a narrow stance first, and then with a wide stance.

Narrow and wide stance

Keep track of what position is more comfortable for you to be in, in what position you can lower your pelvis lower without rounding your back.

Setting the shins

Experiment with the position until you find the one that works best, then slowly transfer your weight to your feet and come into a squat. This is your ideal position. Repeat the exercise several times to remember the feeling.

Exit to squat

The structure of the hip joint is not the only feature that can affect the depth of a squat. The length of the thigh, lower leg and torso is no less important.

Squatting and body proportions

There are people built for squats - their body proportions are ideal for a deep squat. Others, on the contrary, are built in such a way that, even if they want to, they cannot sit below parallel with the floor. For clarity, let's look at this using the example of three people.

Squats with different body structures

The first (left) has the same size of shin and thigh, the second (center) has long thighs and short shins, the third (right) has long shins and short thighs.

To squat deeper, the second person needs to practically lie with his stomach on his knees. If he keeps his back straight, he will not be able to stay on his feet and will fall backwards. Therefore, people with such a structure cannot squat below the parallel of their hips with the floor.

But a person with long shins and short thighs can drop into a deep squat without any problems. At the same time, his back practically does not bend.

How to check your proportions

You can easily do this using tailor's tape and MySquatMechanics.com. Enter your metrics and look at the model.

If you have to lean forward too much to squat deeply, try purchasing or performing a heel plate squat. By lifting your heel, you can bring your knees further forward and squat lower than usual.

You will also be able to squat lower if you position your feet wider. This can be seen in the model.

Dependence of squat depth on hip rotation angle

In the first picture we see a squat with a hip angle of 20 degrees, in the second - 45 degrees. Due to the rotation of the hips, the second person can squat to the same depth without tipping the body forward.

If you don't have the right body type for squats, try doing the exercise with weights and a wide stance.

How Ankle Mobility Affects Squats

Many people have a rounded back when squatting at the bottom point, which is dangerous. This problem is often associated with the ankle.

If you are not mobile enough ankle joint, the dorsiflexion of the foot is difficult, then you have to hold the pelvis higher to maintain balance.

Angle of shin flexion

How to Improve Ankle Mobility

Rolling on a roller

To stretch and warm up your calf muscles, roll them out.

Sit on the floor, stretch your legs forward, place a massage roller under your calves and cross your legs. Raise yourself up on your hands and slowly roll your calves. Spend at least two minutes on each leg.

Calf stretch

Foot in front standing leg rests his toe against the wall, his back leg is straight. Bend your knee and try to touch the wall with it. Hold the position for one to two minutes. Sway gently, deepening the stretch.

Mobility exercise with plates

For this exercise you will need a small platform, such as a barbell plate. Stand with your heels on the floor and your toes elevated. Gently bend your knees and move your shins forward. Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise.

Perform 15 times, trying to bend your knees a little more each time.

Wall Mobility Exercise

Stand one or two steps away from the wall, lunge forward and press your hands against the wall. Place the toe of your front foot on the wall, then gently push your knee forward, trying to reach the wall. Perform the movement without jerking and only on warmed legs. Do 15 movements on each leg.

Exercise with an expander for mobility

Stand on one knee, place the loop around the ankle of your front leg, and place the rest of the band under the knee of your back leg. Overcoming the resistance of the expander, move your knee forward. Perform 15 movements on each leg.

This exercise is designed to add additional stress quadriceps muscle hips (quadriceps). Squats are performed with a narrow position of the legs with a barbell, or with dumbbells, or in a Smith machine.

Elaboration:

Quadriceps femoris (quadriceps)
Gluteus maximus and minimus, biceps femoris, tensor muscles fascia lata, spinal extensors

Advantages:

Developing hip strength
Shaping slimmer legs
Increase in volume and mass of the anterior thigh
Formation of muscle contours of the quadriceps
Progress of working scales in classic squats with a barbell
Lift inner surface hips

Technique for performing squats with narrow legs:

1. Equip the bar with the required weight. Go under the barbell, sit under it and position it on the back deltoid muscles, with a shoulder-width grip. Take a few steps away from the counter and place your feet narrower than shoulder-width apart. Turn your toes slightly to the sides. Tighten your abs, straighten your back

2. Inhale and begin to lower yourself down, bending your knees. Continue lowering until the angle between your thigh and calf becomes smaller 90 degrees. At the bottom point of the trajectory, starting to exhale, push off with your heels and begin to rise up to the starting position. Repeat a specified number of times

Alternative exercises:

In addition to the classic version, there are also alternative exercises:

Squats with narrow legs in a hack machine
Narrow leg squats on a Smith machine

When squatting, do not lean your body forward
The knees should not extend far beyond the plane of the toes.
Pay attention to the fact that the load falls specifically on the quadriceps; to do this, place your feet quite narrowly and push off from the bottom point with your heels
During the exercise, do not bring your knees together or spread them apart.
The depth of squats can be different - from full to below parallel.
Use a small block if you have long limbs and your heel comes off the floor.
Direct your gaze forward and upward
Breathing technique: inhale - when lowering down, exhale - when lifting up/pushing out
Numerical training parameters: number of approaches 3-4 , reps 10-15

Squats with narrow legs, video:

For safety reasons, follow this exercise in a squat rack. To begin, adjust the racks so that the bar is slightly higher than your shoulders. Load the barbell with the required weight. Step under the bar and place it on the back of your shoulders (slightly below your neck).
Grab the bar with both hands and lift it off the rack, contracting your legs and torso.
Step away from the counter and place your feet closer than shoulder-width apart. The feet should be approximately 8-15 cm apart. The toes are slightly turned outward. The head is raised, the back is straight and arched at the lower back. This will be your starting position.
As you inhale, begin to slowly squat, bending your knees and moving your pelvis back. Keep your back up. Continue downward until the angle between your thighs and calves is just under 90 degrees. Hint: when correct execution exercises, the knees should create an imaginary straight line with the toes of the feet and be located perpendicular to the line of the body.
As you exhale, lift yourself up, straightening your legs, pushing off the floor, returning to the starting position.
Execute required amount repetitions.

Caution: If you have back problems, replace this exercise with dumbbell squats or perform a machine leg press as an alternative. Make sure that your back is arched in the lower back throughout the entire exercise, otherwise you may injure your back. If you are in doubt about the weight you choose, it is better to go with a lighter weight rather than a heavier one.

Variations: You can also perform this exercise using dumbbells, a Smith machine, or a belt with a weight attached to it. You can use a small block placed under the heels of your feet. This makes it possible for beginners or people with insufficient flexibility to perform the exercise correctly.

Analysis of the Squat technique. Wide or narrow foot stance? Is the bar position high or low?

Let's start with the fact that to fully understand this article, it is necessary to voice 4 basic principles on which any movement should be based if the goal is lifting maximum weight. Here they are:
The athlete/bar system is balanced almost exactly in the middle of the athlete's foot

For maximum effectiveness, the projectile must move as close to a vertical line as possible

We need to minimize the moments of force in all levers in motion

The amplitude of movement should be minimal.

Neck position.
Any attempt to squat forward or backward, away from the vertical line between the barbell and the middle of the foot, is useless, as it creates an imbalance of the entire structure. This imbalance, in turn, leads to the appearance of another lever, completely unnecessary, between the center of gravity passing through the middle of the foot and the barbell, and we, as you remember, want to minimize the moments of force in existing levers, and not create new ones. Fortunately, our body usually does not allow us to assume an unbalanced position under heavy weight (however, there are always exceptions, especially with due diligence).

Since the bar should always remain approximately over the center of the foot, its specific position on the back has a huge impact on the angles of the back and knee flexion at the bottom of the movement.
To make it clearer, here’s what it looks like using a front squat, a high bar squat, and a low bar squat, respectively:
Front squat.
Front squats require an almost vertical position of the athlete’s body, since if you lean forward too much, the barbell will simply fall, and since the projection of the projectile should pass through the center of the foot, you have to maintain a minimal tilt of the body throughout the entire movement, and the movement itself essentially comes down to bending the legs at the knee joint. There is simply no other way.
Have you ever seen someone who front squats more than they do a back squat? Me not. The main reason for this lies in the levers formed by the almost straight position of the body:

As you can see, in this movement the athlete’s buttocks at the lowest point are located extremely close to the vertical projection of the bar, they are almost under it. As a result, the moment of force between the hip joint and the projectile is reduced to almost zero, which would seem good. However, at the same time, the moment of force between the knee joint and the apparatus increased by the same amount as it decreased between the pelvis and the barbell. In short, the entire lever that was in the hip joint moved to the knee joint.
Bottom line, the reason why you can't lift the same weight in a front squat as you can in a regular squat is very simple. Almost all the work to combat gravity is shifted to the unfortunate quadriceps, which, of course, is quite large muscle, but only one, in turn, the muscles of the “back” - the gluteal, hamstrings and adductors together form a much larger and stronger group of muscles than one unfortunate quadriceps.
High bar position or low bar position.
So, now it is more or less obvious that our goal is to make the pelvic muscles do most of the work, simply because they are able to do it. To achieve this goal, we need to ensure that all the important points are between the hip joint and the barbell, and not between the barbell and the knee. And here we have a problem of sorts.
The usual and familiar position of the bar to most is quite high on the shoulders, if not on the neck. It is also used by many very large guys and people with limited mobility. shoulder joint. With this position, you need to maintain a relatively straight core position to avoid deviating from the ideal path of movement. In principle, a high bar position provides a greater angle in the hip joint than a front squat, but there is an even better option - a low bar position on the back:

The reason why a low bar position is more advantageous, especially from a powerlifting standpoint, is as simple as the reason you back squat more than front squat. The pelvic muscles are collectively larger and stronger than the quadriceps.
We minimize the moments of force in the levers.
At the moment we have two main levers, which we will talk about:
between the pelvis and the barbell

between the barbell and the knee joint

The determinant of the magnitude of the moments of force in both levers will be the length of your hips. The shorter the femur, the less torque you will need to overcome during the squat, which is why guys with a long torso in relation to the length of their legs are often known as squat masters.

Since we cannot change the length of bones and limbs, we are left to look for other solutions. IN in this case- change the width of your feet. Long legs? Place them wider. It's simple.
It goes without saying that a wide stance will not shorten your legs; all you will achieve is an increase in the diagonal of movement, which in turn will reduce the horizontal distance between the knee and pelvis. By the way, this is why the advice for all athletes is to move your knees to the sides during squats, and not forward, regardless of the width of your legs.
In addition, wide stance of the legs (or spreading the knees to the sides) minimizes and Negative consequences low position bar - you don't need to bend over so much and overload your lower back to stay in the ideal trajectory of the projectile. Thus one simple solution we reduced the moment of force in both levers.
We reduce the amplitude of movement.
Again, wide stance of the legs allows you to reduce the range of motion. However, this is the case when a design that seems good from the point of view of biomechanics is not always good in practice, since the importance of the amplitude of movement in a squat is a very controversial thing; just look at the huge squats of the holders of current all-time records and people close to them in terms of results.
Knee movement in squats.
It's really impossible to give one clear recommendation since everyone's limb lengths are different. Let's say - not moving the knee forward - for people with long legs it will lead to an almost horizontal position of the body at the lowest point, i.e. this is just nonsense. Likewise, the advice to move your knees forward will put people with short legs in a strange position.
What we're really looking for is a knee movement that will result in a body angle of approximately 50-60 degrees at the bottom of the movement.
Straighter than 50-60 degrees is too large a moment in the knee joint, which can be easily transferred to the hip joint simply by increasing the tilt of the body.
An inclination of more than 50-60 degrees is too much stress on the back, which is not good, since we need to make the main muscle groups the limiting factor - the pelvic muscles and quadriceps, and not the back extensors.
If we look at the squat of most elite athletes, we will find that their knees at the bottom are somewhere in the region of 2-5 cm from the front or back of the big toe.

So. In this article, we tried to analyze squats from the point of view of physics and biomechanics. If you still don’t understand exactly how to squat, then next time we’ll look at exactly that. What, where, why and how.