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When it comes to squats there are many factors that can affect your form and possibly cause a serious injury. As a trainer for over 15 years it is my job to point out these mistakes to ensure you are training safely and always progressing. Below are my top 5 dumbest mistakes people make when they squat that are holding back their lower body muscle growth!

Make sure you are not doing any of them!

1. No Stretching Or Mobility Work Before Squatting
If you never perform any stretching or mobility work before squatting to loosen up your shoulders and hips, this can easily lead to pain in these areas. Most people don’t realize just how much pressure is placed in their shoulders when squatting. Think about it, in order to get the barbell across your traps you need to really get under the bar and force your elbows back. If your shoulders are tight, holding the barbell in this position can cause discomfort or even pain. So if this sounds like you, it is time to work on loosening up your shoulders with various exercises such as shoulder breakers.

To perform a shoulder breaker simply grab a resistance band and pull it apart infront of your body and while keeping your elbows locked bring the band up and over your head until it touches your glutes and then go back up and over your head until the band touches your thighs. Repeat for 12 reps and perform 2 sets before squatting.

Now if you are having a hard time squatting because your hips are too tight, a very easy warm-up you can do is supported air squats.

To perform this warm-up get as close as you can to one of the legs of the squat rack. Stand in front of it with one foot on each side of the leg of the machine and keep your chest up just as if you were about to squat normally. Next, use your hands as support and grab the leg of the squat rack and use your arms to keep your chest upright as you squat down. Really focus on pushing your legs out and forcing your hip mobility. As soon as you go as low as you can, return to the starting position by once again using your hands for assistance and repeat for 12 reps and a total of 2 sets.

It is going to be very important that you continuously work on your mobility and flexibility because aside from causing pain in your shoulders and hips, if you are too tight you could actually be pushing the barbell into your neck without realizing it. When this happens the entire weight of the barbell rests on your spine and you can possibly pinch a nerve or compress the discs in your neck.

Also, if you alter the height of the barbell to rest across your neck and not your traps, this will force you to also lean forward and push through your toes/knees to complete your reps causing flexion in your lower back which can also lead to a serious injury.

2. Stopping at 90 Degrees
For MAXIMUM development of all the muscles involved in a squat, (glutes, quads, hamstrings, etc) you need to always train in full range of motion. Most people do not realize that the lower they go the more they will recruit glutes and hamstrings into the movement.

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