lundi 22 avril 2013

How to Use the Barbell Squat to Build Muscle

By Dustin Aaron


Lots of people debate what the king of all exercises is. A lot of fitness professionals will probably agree that the squat is one of the best physical exercises for acquiring muscle not just on your legs, but on your entire body. There is no doubt that training heavy weight in this physical exercise will super charge your results, but first you need to learn how to correctly perform the exercise.

Start by placing your legs shoulder width apart. There are multiple variations of the squat. You can execute the exercise with your thighs and legs spread wider like a sumo wrestler to put more focus on your hamstrings and lower back, or you can perform the movement with a very narrow stance to put more focus on your quads. Training with a shoulder width foot position will ready you for any version of the movement.

Before you step under the barbell, you must arch your back as firmly as you can. Using a firm back arch through the entire motion will help to prevent injury to your lower back. Now position your hands somewhat wider than shoulder width on the bar and then step under the barbell so that it is sitting on your trapezoid muscles.

Grasp the bar as hard as you can, and think about arching the bar out of the rack. Once the barbell is out of the supports you should actually sit back with the weight instead of squatting down with it. This sitting back movement will activate your hamstrings and also take most of the weight off of your knees and put it on the more durable hip joints. You might have to lean forward somewhat to maintain your balance, but as long as you sustain a strong back arch a little bit of leaning will not harm you.

Proceed to sit back until your thighs are parallel with the floor and then push hard into the floor with your feet until you are standing fully upright. Remember to keep your entire body tight for the duration of the workout. This can easily be done by just gripping the bar as tight as possible and attempting to keep a hard back arch for every single repetition. A tight body and arched back muscle mass, will help to forestall injury.

The squat can be executed with heavy weight for minimal reps to develop power or lighter with increased reps to boost your fitness level and conditioning. Always remember to loosen up before you set about to lift heavy weights, and for the sake of your safety it is preferred to use a minimum of one spotter when you execute the movement.




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