Can you believe it’s already 2017? This past year flew by! I wanted to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU for following and connecting with SquatU. It’s truly an honor to see the response we’ve received from the content shared over the past year. Today, I want to share with you the most viewedContinue reading The Top 5 Articles of 2016
During a recent Squat University seminar, I was approached by an athlete who wondered why I had asked everyone to show me his or her squat with their toes straightforward. This was definitely not the first time I’ve been asked this question. There’s a lot of controversy in the fitness world today when it comesContinue reading Toes Forward or Angled Out When You Squat?
I recently watched a DVD on overhead throwing athletes and rehabilitation that featured Mike Reinold and Eric Cressey. Reinold is a well-known physical therapist (owns and operates Champion PT in Massachusetts). Cressey is a widely respected and highly educated strength and conditioning coach. Anyways, on the DVD Cressey spoke about the injury threshold of aContinue reading Why You Should Squat Heavy
When we talk about the squat many people often want to jump right into discussing the barbell squat. We forget the basics of the bodyweight squat. If we don’t address the movement of the squat before the exercise version of the squat we set ourselves up for failure. If we can fix the issues that present during the bodyweight squat we give ourselves a greater capability to carry the load of the barbell. We should all have the ability to perform a full depth “ass-to-grass” squat without any weight. Period.Continue reading How to Teach a Perfect Squat
Just last week, I was guest lecturing to a class of physical therapy students at the University of Missouri. I asked a simple question, “How many people here think we should never have our knees go past the toes while squatting? Following my inquiry, every single student held their hand raised. The next thing I said was, “You’re all wrong.”Continue reading Can The Knees Go Over The Toes?
Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite tools to improve hip mobility. I also want to share with you my 4-step process in dealing with hip stiffness. 1) Mobilize, 2) Foam Roll, 3) Stretch, 4) Posterior-Chain Activation. Continue reading How to Improve Hip Mobility
Hip mobility is a very important aspect in achieving a full depth squat. Stiff hips decrease our ability to properly activate the appropriate muscles in our hips. Essentially, we bleed out a good amount of power during heavy squats. Understanding the cause of our restricted hip mobility is the first step in establishing effective ways to fix the problem.Continue reading The Squat Fix: Hip Mobility Pt 2
Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite tools. I also want to share with you my 3-step process in dealing with ankle stiffness. If you want to remain competitive or move around pain free, it is vital that you improve and maintain good ankle mobility. Band mobilization, foam rolling and/or classic stretching is the way to go.Continue reading How to Improve Ankle Mobility
Stiff ankles are primarily caused by two different factors: joint and soft tissue restrictions. This lecture is intended to give you a more in depth understanding on the different mechanisms that can cause stiffness to the ankle joint.Continue reading The Squat Fix: Ankle Mobility Pt 2
Stiff ankles are often a culprit behind our squat problems. Today I want to introduce a simple way to assess our ankles. This screen will tell us if we have full mobility or if our movement problems are a result of a problem somewhere else in the body.Continue reading How to Screen Ankle Mobility
