What I have found is that there are three definitive things that will help your squat. If you concentrate on these three things, or emphasize them over and over again to your athletes, I guarantee that they will become better squatters. If you are a coach do not make things more complicated than they have to be. Simplify everything and you will be surprised at how much better your athletes will lift. Have the athlete get into whatever stance they are comfortable in. Unless they are much too wide or their heels are touching, don’t fight it. Just let them be comfortable.

1. Squeeze the bar. While you are sitting at your computer, drop your hands down at your sides and squeeze them into a fist. Squeeze as hard as you possibly can. What happened to your entire body? It got tight! This is one of the hardest things for an athlete to realize when he lifts and squeezing the bar takes care of it. This simple maneuver is one of the easiest ways to combat a difficult problem. This is one of the first things I ever learned when I began lifting and can’t believe that coaches leave this out.
Squeezing the bar/dumbbell should happen on every set of every lift. If you are a coach and are not emphasizing this, I highly recommend you begin.

2. Arch your upper back. If you arch your upper back, and I mean as hard as you can, you will put your head, your low back and glutes in the proper position. This starting position is so important and by simply pulling your upper back together and arching you are taking care of a difficult problem very easily. Again, this will apply to most every lift and not just the squat.

3. Get your ass down: Nothing is worse than walking into a Division I weight room and seeing a bunch of great athletes quarter squatting. The bar weight is too heavy for the athletes mid-section, their knees begin to buckle in and the potential for injury is a high as the coaches IQ is low. What a disgrace to the profession and how embarrassing for the administration and the coaches. How could they ever be so reckless and hire this strength coach? Also, it’s a shame for the athletes that they are being exposed to such non-sense. Now you can argue with me about sitting back and spreading the floor...whatever, just get your ass down. The next question will be “Should I have my athletes squat to parallel or below?” If you are not box squatting, then have them go as low as possible because if you tell your athletes parallel then they will eventually start cutting their squats. Tell them to squat as low as possible and then come back up. It’s that simple.