The Barbell Squat Free Weight Exercise

Video Transcript

"Hi! I am Manny Castro, exercise physiologist. In this next series of exercise, what we’re going target are thighs, butt, and legs in general. Now, this next exercise is probably the most feared exercise for a beginner. Really, what we’re trying to target are the thighs and the butt, or the buttocks. Particularly, I’m talking about the barbell squat. Now the barbell squat is a difficult movement, because not only does it work out the lower legs, but also the stabilizers in the lower back, upper back and also the arms. This exercise really requires several techniques. If you look at different sports, whether it is bodybuilding, athletes that are playing football, or some other sport, there are different types of bar techniques. What I mean by that is you’ll see a body builder place their bar up high on their neck; where as an athlete, who is playing a sport will place the bar, or power athlete, will place the bar lower down below their neck or somewhere behind the shoulders. Now, it’s a preference thing in some cases, in some cases it is a technique thing; and if you are a power lifter you are going to be using the low bar technique. I prefer to a use a low bar technique, because I was an athlete, and I feel that it prevents injury, and you can rotate the hip, which is the next technique that I would like to talk about. The barbell squat requires that you rotate your hip, so your knees do not slide forward above or past your toes. Now what you are going to do is, to start this exercise, you’re going to make sure you got a good grip on the bar. Your feet are about shoulder width apart, or a little wider than shoulder width apart. Your toes are slightly pointed outward. What you’re going to do is, before you go down, you’re going to rotate your hip out, keep your back nice and straight. You’re going to come down to about parallel, so that your thighs are going to be about parallel to the floor. Nice slow controlled movement: nice count of three on the way down, nice count of three on the way up. Make sure you keep your back nice and straight, your abdominals are nice and tight, and you breathe normal throughout this movement. Again, you’re using about 3-4 sets, 12-15 repetitions to begin with. You can also pyramid if you’re doing 3-4 sets, you can pyramid. First set would be 12-15 repetitions; second set would be 10-12 and third set 8-10."