# Barbell Back Squat: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: adductors, hamstrings, lower back
- Equipment: barbell
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/barbell_back_squat/d75e9b46a8/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Rest the bar on your upper back, not your neck.
2. Grip it a little wider than your shoulders and squeeze your shoulder blades.
3. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned out slightly.
4. Push your hips back and bend your knees until your thighs are parallel or lower.
5. Drive up through your whole foot until you stand tall.

## Cues

- Chest up, eyes forward.
- Knees follow your toes.
- Hips and shoulders rise together.

## Common mistakes

- Letting the knees cave inward.
- Lifting the heels or tipping onto the toes.
- Shooting the hips up first so the chest drops.

## Starting position

High-bar position: the bar rests on the upper trapezius, below the bony bump at the base of the neck, not on the neck itself. Hands grip the bar a little wider than the shoulders, wrists straight, forearms roughly in line with the trunk, shoulder blades squeezed together. Heels about shoulder-width apart, toes forward or turned out a little. Whole foot flat, weight spread between heel and forefoot. Stand tall with the bar directly over the mid-foot. Chest up, head neutral, gaze straight ahead.

## The movement

The hips break back and the knees bend forward at the same moment. The knees track over the 2nd and 3rd toes and may pass the toes a little. The bar travels in a vertical line over the mid-foot. The trunk leans forward only as far as the shins do, so seen from the side the back and shins stay roughly parallel. On the way up, shoulders and hips rise at the same rate.

## End position

Bottom: the hip crease sits level with or just below the top of the kneecap, so the thighs are at or a little past parallel. Keeping the bar over the mid-foot with the load on the back puts the trunk at about 35–45° from vertical, close to the shin angle, as [3] asks.

## Tempo

2 s down, 0.2 s pause at the bottom, 1.2 s up, about 1 s standing. The descent is about twice as long as the ascent, inside the 2:1 to 4:1 range in [3].

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | 0.9–1.2 × | [1] [2] [3] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 10° | 0–20° | [3] [4] |
| Depth: hip crease vs top of knee | 2 cm below | 0–6 cm below | [1] [2] [3] |
| Trunk lean vs shin lean at the bottom | parallel | within 10° | [3] |
| Knee position, front view | over 2nd–3rd toe | inner knee never inside the inner ankle | [3] [4] |
| Heel lift | 0 cm | 0 cm | [1] |

## Sources

1. [ExRx, Barbell Squat](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat)
2. [ACE, Back Squat](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/11/back-squat/)
3. [Myer et al. 2014, Strength Cond J, "The back squat: a proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4262933/)
4. [NASM, The NASM Guide to Squats and Deadlifts (PDF)](https://trainer.nasm.org/hubfs/NASM_Free%20Guide_Squats%20and%20Deadlifts.pdf)
5. [Front Sports Act Living 2024, "Impact of the deep squat on articular knee joint structures" (scoping review)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11618833/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/barbell-back-squat