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  • What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.

  • Obviously, the squat. Obviously a major focus of a lower body strength program. Why?

  • Because it's one the most functional movement patterns we do. We do know that there are

  • some checkpoints, though with the squat.

  • And I think that a lot of guys are overlooking one of the most important, and I'm want to

  • show you that today.

  • When we squat, we know that elbows should be tucked, head should be up, feet should

  • be on a line, toes pointed out, knees go out as we go down.

  • Now, I'm going to do a whole other video talking about how one squat position doesn't fit for

  • everybody, ok, but we'll get to that at a different time.

  • For this video, though, we know those points. And I wanted to show you how even when you

  • have all those checkpoints right, chest out, right.

  • There's still one thing that you could be doing dramatically wrong, and I'll show you

  • how to fix that today.

  • So we take any kind of a stick that we can put on the ground here, and we know that if

  • you want to squat, and squat properly, you should be square, right.

  • It's like playing golf. Anybody's that ever played golf, they should be squared to the

  • line. So, my feel are square here.

  • We're going to point the toes out a little bit, ok, still square to the line.

  • Whether your toes are straight ahead or whether your toes are pointed out, your feet are still

  • square and lined up on that line.

  • When I go down into the squat, again, the knees will go out, and I come down. Head's

  • up. Chest out. Elbows down, right. Gluts engaged.

  • There's still one major problem. Watch. If I take this, and I put it up against my hips

  • right here, ok, this has also got to be square.

  • These should be square with this because I can do this, and my feet have not changed.

  • I have just opened up my hips, but my feet haven't changed.

  • So, I can think that I'm square because I'm facing ahead, my chest is ahead, my feet are

  • squared, my feet are level. Everything is good, but I've just opened up my hips.

  • And it happens all the time, guys, because we're very asymmetrical people whether we

  • sit all day and we develop imbalances in the muscles around our hips,

  • or we have an actual leg length imbalance that will cause something like this. But this

  • torsion that's going on here is a very common problem.

  • So what happens is, in a really exaggerated way, if I were to turn all the way like this,

  • ok, complete exaggeration.

  • No one's ever going to look like this, and then I try to squat. Look what happens to

  • the right leg. The left leg goes down fine. The right leg is caving in.

  • Ok, we got a valgus at the knee. Ok. It's looking like that.

  • This is a bad position for your knee, especially if you count up all the reps of squats that

  • you're doing.

  • And this applies to dead lifts as well, guys, same position. The same thing can happen up

  • here at the hips.

  • You count up all the reps that you're doing damage here at your knee, that's going to

  • cause a problem over time.

  • So, what we want to do is make sure that we're squared off here, too.

  • How do you do that if it's already something that you can't perceive, and it's already

  • something that your body has adapted to?

  • Here's one quick thing that you can try to do. When you get up in your position here,

  • I'll put it down here first.

  • If you're the kind of guy who's a little bit tight, it could be the other way, too, but

  • to demonstrate here, if you're somewhat open,

  • if your feet are square, but you're hips are somewhat open, the best way to check for that

  • and to make sure even if you don't know you are, is to squeeze your glutes tight.

  • Just like that. I squeeze my glutes together as tight as I possibly can. What that does

  • is it levels off the hips.

  • It will square them off. I just found that by being back here, my left glute had a lot

  • more work to do to get me back to center, alright.

  • So, I squeeze the glutes. Now, from here, ok, then I go down into my rep, and then I

  • come out.

  • And before I go another rep, I squeeze those glutes again real tight just to make sure

  • that I didn't fall back out of line again, ok.

  • But I stay here, and then down. And then up and through.

  • And the same thing can happen and apply to a dead lift as well.

  • You go down, you come up. It's a little bit easier there because it's a very natural portion

  • of the deadlift to come up and actually squeeze, follow through with your hips.

  • But on the squat, a lot of guys will come up and kind of hang out right here which looks

  • good, it looks like you're at the top.

  • But you're not really fully extended, and that full extension is going to set your hips

  • properly so that now everything's in line.

  • A little Bonus Tip for you guys that do play golf, that is a major issue. You set your

  • alignment up, there's the flag.

  • You're here. Everything's good. The hips are open. Likely, you're going to come over the

  • top and probably either slice the ball or whatever.

  • But you have to be lined up no matter what it is you're doing. And especially when it

  • comes to the gym.

  • You want to be doing reps that are quality that have you in the right biomechanical alignment,

  • or, you're going to cause joint problems, pain, discomfort, all that stuff, for a long

  • time.

  • So, you want to make sure you set yourself up right. So, there you have it, guys.

  • This tip, again, this is where I put on my physical therapy hat, and I try to show you

  • guys from a biomechanic standpoint, how doing the wrong things can actually lead to bigger

  • problems.

  • Forget just in your strength levels, but really to your body. Over time it starts to have

  • major implications on how you function.

  • So, I got to get these videos out there to you as well, and I think now that we have

  • our third video, it kind of slots in nicely.

  • I'm able to give you guys sort of that PTS video to help you. But again, you can see,

  • just a small tweek in the hips,

  • and I'll tell you, will it not only just correct some of these biomechanical flaws you have,

  • but it's going to allow you to lift more weight.

  • It's going to allow you to get stronger because you're body's now working the way it wants

  • to.

  • Guys, we put the science back in strength, again, not to be flashy, but to do this for

  • a purpose, to make you guys stronger, more functional, and athletic.

  • And if you guys want a complete program to help you do that, that's the ATHLEANX Training

  • system.

  • And you guys can get that at ATHLEANX.COM. In the meantime, let me know if you like these

  • types of videos.

  • What other problems are you dealing with? What would you like to see me cover? Leave

  • that in the comments below.

  • And as always, if you like the video and found it helpful, a thumb's up, too.

  • Alright guys, I'll be back here in just a couple days.

What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.

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