5. Enhance your squat

The squat is my favorite exercise. Here are some of the variations I’ve used through the years and still do to this day.

1. Box squat

I wrote a whole article on the box squat and it’s immense significance on muscular development, balance and explosive strength for multiple sports. This variation is the safest one, if executed correctly. And can be done by literally everybody who can sit on a chair or anywhere else. If you can sit, you can box squat. Not to mention I’ve used it in so many of my online clients programs.

You can do it with a barbell, a kettlebell in front of you or two hanging from the sides. Use a dumbbell in the exact similar way, both resembling the goblet squat. 

You can do it with bands and chains as well. It’s incredibly important to NOT swing back as you sit down. Maintain the posture you would if you were descending during a full squat. The only way you’ll have proper results as far as the weight goes into your full squat, is to do it without swinging back and forth before you stand up.

Do them with no weight at all for therapy and posterior mobility. There are  so many variations that I see myself at some point writing another article on it.

2. With chains

Chains add that extra weight that will increase at lockout and decrease as you descend. They will also help with instability. Remember to squat slow. Don’t fall asleep descending but be deliberate. Don’t have the chains suspended in the air at lockout. 2-3 links should be on the floor at least. Don’t overdo it either. I’d say have 20-25% chain weight compared to your straight weight. That is, if you have realistic goals. I’ve seen people add 10 chains per side with 2 plates per side.

3. Reverse bands (future method/lightened method)

Use a luggage scale or any other type of scale that allows you to hook it to a band. Attach the bands at the top of a power cage or a few pins lower, depending on where they’re getting loose at lockout. You want them to barely take any weight off when you’re standing with the bar on your shoulders.

Mark how deep you go during your squat and pull the band down to that level. Look at the scale. Multiply it by two and that’s how much weight it takes off the bar at bottom position.

Have the resistance at 20-25% of your maximum squat weight.

Amazing tool for maximal strength development. You’re handling numbers that you couldn’t normally do with straight weight, so it allows your body to gradually adjust to that weight you’ll be doing in the future. Great for CNS conditioning as well since you can train heavier more often without draining your central nervous system.

4. Against bands

The great Louie Simmons said: the bands constitute extra kinetic energy. And who am I to debate that?

The bands will pull the bar down faster than gravity. That immediately forces you to develop your explosive strength.

Use it for speed work, for max effort days but for repetitions as well. Hook the band to the  scale and stand up with your arms straight as in a deadlift lockout. Look at the scale. That’s your resistance weight created by the band. Multiply it by 2 and you have the total band resistance.

Personally, I always found the bands to be brutal. They just teach you to strain. The chains are tough too but if your form is on point and you get used to them, they’re much easier to recover from. The bands aren’t, to me at least.

5. Zercher squat

I started rotating them in 2019 simply because before that I was front squatting. In the gym that I’m in since 2019 there are no squat racks or power cages. So I load the bar with weight on the small barbell rack they have and I start from a standing position. I know…. Ed Zercher would yell at me…. “hey start from the floor” he’d say…

I’m sorry Ed… I’m just too fat to fit my arms up to the elbow crease under the damn bar and get into proper position. I try from the floor as well though… I promise. My 305lbs body is against me on this one.

Once you get used to the forearm swelling and pain, you’ll be good to go. I don’t necessarily recommend it. It’s not for everybody. I hold the bar with my arms crossed as if I’m listening to somebody talk. I can’t load 385lbs on my biceps so I turn my arms inwards. Fully supinated.

Amazing quad development. Talking about lower body anterior chain massacre. I do them always paused at the bottom. Always.

6. Front squat

The king of front loaded barbell squat variations. It demands a more vertical upper back, results in great quad activation. Do them paused at the bottom and feel the burn.

Great for strengthening your thoracic posture.

Don’t push your hips back on this one (or the Zercher for that matter). And if you do, it won’t be much anyway. You’ll feel that the bar wants to slide forward.

Go down in a straight line. Pause for a second. Stand up again. Remember to keep your elbow around chin level or higher if you can. I don’t have the wrist flexibility to hold it like a weight lifter so I just cross my arms. Used to do the zombie squat technique too but my shoulders would get really tired.

7. Goblet squat

The home workout’s front squat. Notice I didn’t say “the poor man’s front squat” simply because not everybody is interested in having a barbell pushing against your throat. 

Some people don’t have the space either. I’ve had so many people do the goblet squat you couldn’t imagine. I’ve had them do it on a chair if they can’t squat all the way down, if they’re complete newbies and their hips are just butter, or they just don’t really want to squat all the way down.

The main version though, will have you keep your chest out and hold the weight/dumbbell/kettlebell/medball above your chest. Try not to lean forward too much as you descend. Let your butt drop and go as low as you can. At light weights, it also helps with knee mobility.

Keep the weight glued to you. Don’t push your arms out, it stresses the erectors. And here you want them to stabilize. You want to work your quads more.

8. Landmine squat

Another superb variation that doesn’t require you to load the spine with a barbell. Not in the traditional way at least.. And that to many people is crucial.

You can do it facing the bar holding the end of it in a goblet squat fashion, you can do it with your back turned against the bar. Just rest the end of the bar on your shoulder and have your back against the plate. Be careful before you squat all the way down. You don’t want to fall on your ass.

Another way is when you rest the tip of the bar on your belt and cup it underneath with both hands. This way you don’t have to keep the bar at eye level or load one shoulder more than the other. No straining the arms. Just make sure it’s sitting safely on your belt. Kinda like a landmine Zercher hybrid.

When you face the bar, you work the quads more. With your back against the plate and your feet placed a bit further out (under the knee joint, depending on height and femur bone length) you load the hamstrings more. Your glutes will work hard regardless.

9. Jefferson squat

Started doing this one recently and I must admit it’s a lot of fun. Positioning yourself on top of the bar might take a little while to get used to. You can keep a relatively narrow stance or a wide stance. The trick is to squat low enough so you get your back as straight as possible.

Personally I don’t stand wider than my shoulders. In my first session ever I pulled 440lbs and if the stinky slimy bars at my gym had even basic knurling I’d have pulled 485 for sure. No chalk allowed, bar started slipping at 440 so I stopped there.

Try to do it as strict as you can and don’t go too heavy. Do sets of 5 and if your flexible enough to be able to maintain position, try a heavier set for 3 reps or less. I was sore for days after the session. Hits your glutes, quads, hamstrings, erectors.

10. Bottom up squat (or concentric squat)

One of the hardest and most demanding variations in terms of maintaining proper form.

You start at the bottom of the lift so it’s only concentric phase. Get into position, brace, and stand up. Hardest part with this one is foot placement. I’ve had to move the bar backwards as I’m setting up underneath it before I stand up with it. It can be tricky!!

So be very careful. Obviously you want to start with just the barbell. Have that proper position secure before you lockout. Also works with a safety bar, since some people hold the bar all the way out and a regular Barbell might force them to hold it closer. Since the bar will be resting on the pins. Safety bar also removes the stress from the shoulders. 

Try to have the bar set at parallel at the highest. You want to have a full posterior chain activation. If you’re a beginner and can’t squat that low yet, start higher and gradually lower the pins. 

A few tweaks:

* Squat with pause at the bottom

By pausing the squat while at the bottom, you take away the bounce that occurs between eccentric/concentric phase. You basically deny yourself the advantage of momentum and elasticity.

Great for increasing stability, builds your time under tension. Forces your slow twitch muscles to activate since you didn’t use the bounce to come back up. Also amazing for knee extensor conditioning and strengthening.

If you train alone and squat heavy in order to bring up your maximum weight, paused reps are amazing. Obviously you have to go lighter.

Throw in a light 3 x 5 at the end of your workout. But remember to stay light. If your max is 400lbs, work with 200 and see how it feels. If you have already done a heavy volume session, start with one plate per side.

* Safety bar

The safety bar is a very useful tool for people who train the squat often and/or compete. It takes away the stress from your rotator cuffs and shoulder blades since you don’t have to hold it like a regular bar.

It will have you stand straighter since it’s padded and it sits a bit higher on your neck. I’ll bring the handles up a bit and force the padding a bit past my traps. It just sits better.

It definitely makes the squat harder if you are a low bar squatter. I use very low bar so it’s even harder. Nonetheless we want to train our weaknesses so a higher bar position will have me stand straighter and close my stance a bit.

And that’s a weak point for me.

Terry Eleftheriou for Conjugate Iron 2020

https://linktr.ee/terryconjugateiron