Have trouble back squatting? Try the split with Coach David

POSTED ONDECEMBER 3, 2018

Can you get deep enough in your squat and still maintain good posture? Do your knees Buckle or turn in when you squat?  Your body might not be ready to do a good clean squat just yet. So before starting a squat there are a few exercises that will help your body develop. One example is the split squat. The split squat is good for two reasons. The first reason being the stretch that the hips gets through this movement. The second reason is that this movement will help strengthen the VMO (Vastus Medialis Oblique), a muscle that is responsible for keeping the knee stable. Anytime we do a where our knee comes over our toes, we will target our VMO. Another good example is the Poliquin step up.  But for now I will I will break down the split Squat.

For The split squat we will place our front foot the platform. Our back foot will be on the ground. We want our back foot to be quite far back. This is to prevent our knee from dipping to the ground. I tend to keep the heel of my back foot elevated. So it is just the toes on the mat.

For this movement I will keep my upper body quite strait. I don’t want to lean forward. If I lean forward, there will be extra pressure on my knee. I’m now going to lean forward, the goal of this movement if to open up my hip hinge and lock out my front knee. I want to close my knee so that my calf touches my hamstring. The back leg will bend a little, but the goal is to keep it as straight as possible. If the back knee dips to the ground, it means the back leg needs to be moved back a little more.

When coming down I will push my hips forward. That will help keep my shoulders up and open up the hip hinge more to give a better stretch. I will come forward slowly. Then push through my heel comping back up. So my tempo should be “4010”.

The Final detail is that will really make sure the knee goes over the toes for full range of motion in the knee joint. So the movement is to come forward. Not straight down.