How to Use a Squat Rack + How to Squat | BEGINNER'S GUIDE

Hey guys, today I'll be showing you literally everything you need to know in order to squat like a boss. From how to set up a squat rack to how to squat with proper form. Let's get started. This here is what we call a squat rack. They come in many shapes and sizes, but if you know how to use one, you probably know how to use them all because they all generally work the same. The silver bar up top here that we place on our shoulders when squatting is called a barbell and usually weighs 45 pounds. It rests on the weight rest slash barbell drop. The silver bars on the bottom here are the spotter bars. They're here for your safety whenever you're in the middle of a squat. You can just leave the barbell on the spotter bars instead of bringing it back up to the top. We'll go over how to adjust everything in a minute. On the sides of the squat rack, you'll find these black circular things called plates. On the side of every plate, it'll say how much it weighs. Like this one here is two and a half pounds. At the top, you have two and a half pounds, then 25 pounds and 45 pound plates at the bottom. On the inside, we have five pounds at the top and 10 pounds underneath it. Also note that the bars that the plates are resting on have designated numbers that tell you the weight of the plate that belongs on the bar. The 10 here lets you know that 10 pound plates belong here. Many plates will have their weights written in kilograms as well as pounds, but these ones don't. To adjust the height of the spotter bars, you'll want to turn it upside down in order to tuck a little lock inside the bar. Otherwise the bar won't move. From here, simply slide the bar out. To put the spotter bar back in, slide it into your desired height and make sure to turn it right side up so the lock is released back out. You'll want to adjust the spotter bars at a height that is just below the barbell when you squat. That way, you can easily set the barbell onto the spotter bars if you need to. If the bars are too high, you won't be able to get a full range of motion when you squat. Typically, the shorter you are, the lower you'll want the spotter bars and the taller you are, the higher up you'll want them. To adjust the barbell rest, remove the barbell from the barbell drop and place it on the spotter bars. Then, locate the pin behind the back side of the barbell drop and push it up and out. This one did not want to be moved. This will allow you to move the barbell drop. Then, simply pull the barbell drop out and insert it into your desired height. To lock it back into place, insert the pin back into its place from the top. Once you've adjusted both sides, put the barbell back up on the rest. You'll want to have adjusted the barbell drop so that when the barbell is resting on it, the barbell comes to about armpit height. This one comes a little bit lower than I'd personally prefer, but the one above it is too high and if you have to choose between it being too tall or too short, always choose a shorter option. The reason you'll want the barbell to come to about armpit height when it's resting on the barbell drops is because you want to be able to simply squeeze your glutes in order to bring the barbell up and out of the barbell drops. This uses less energy than tiptoeing the barbell out of the rest. If you have to tiptoe in order to lift the barbell out of the rest, it's too high. This may not make a huge difference when you're first beginning, but once you start lifting heavier, it can definitely make a dramatic difference. From here, you'll want to add plates onto the side of the barbell if you want. Otherwise, feel free to use just the barbell. There's no right or wrong amount of weight to start using. The only wrong amount of weight to use is a weight that compromises your form. Good form is always more impressive than lifting heavy. I always recommend starting with the lightest amount possible, in this case just the barbell, and once you're comfortable using that weight with good form for 12-15 reps, then add more weight. Slide the plates onto the ends of the barbell through the center hole of the plate. To lock the plate in place so it doesn't shift when you're squatting, use one of these barbell collars. They won't slide on by themselves, so you have to expand the collar by pushing the handles together and then sliding it on. When you can't slide the collar on any tighter, release the handles to lock the collar into place. Now you're ready to squat. The first part of form we'll talk about is where the barbell should be positioned on your back. There are two different positions, high bar and low bar. High bar is when the barbell is placed on top of your shoulders slash trap muscles, and low bar is when the barbell is placed behind your shoulders slash traps. High bar is probably more common and the one I'd recommend using if you're new to squatting, but both are good use of form and at the end of the day, the one that you should use is the one that feels the most comfortable for you. If you're feeling pain from the barbell, it's likely because you have the barbell too high up and it's on your neck instead of on top of your shoulders. This is easily fixed by lowering the barbell off of your neck and onto your shoulders and traps. It might feel a little awkward, but it'll definitely be less painful. By doing this, you'll also avoid having to use a barbell pad. Not that there's anything wrong with using a barbell pad for squats, but friend to friend, I feel like I should let you know that using a barbell pad can make you look like a noob to some people. Again, don't let other people's judgment influence what you want to do. Do whatever is most comfortable for you. But yes, your neck does not have a lot of meat or cushion on it, which is why it's painful to place a barbell right on it and why you'll want to place it on top or behind your shoulders instead. You might feel some pressure from the weight, but shouldn't feel any pain. When you approach the barbell, place your hands on the barbell first. You want them to be as close to your shoulders as possible. There might be some unique circumstances where people opt for wider hand positioning, but that's typically seen with more advanced lifters and not something I'd worry about right now. The reason you want to place your hands as close to your shoulders as possible is to concentrate all your strength and power into the center. When you place your hands wider, you distribute power out and you have less control coming from the center. There's no need to place your hands on the grips of the barbell. Simply position your hands right outside of your shoulders. Once I place my hands on the barbell, they never move. I then go under the barbell and position the barbell onto my back in either a low or hard bar position. I personally use a low bar position, but again, do whichever is more comfortable for you. Once I'm ready to go, I contract my glutes, which pushes my hips forward and lifts the barbell out from the rest. Again, you don't want to tip toe in order to lift the barbell up because it wastes unnecessary strength that you could have used for the actual squatting. It's another one of those things that might not make a big difference now, but will when you get into heavier weights, so you might as well practice good form now. From here, I take one step back with one foot and then follow with the other foot. I actually did quite a bit of adjusting here, which you want to minimize to again, preserve strength for the actual lift. You also want to restrict the number of steps back you take to just three for the same reason. Preserve as much strength as possible for when you're actually squatting. Feet should be positioned about shoulder width apart, and whether you want to point your toes straight ahead or out to the side will be up to your body and personal preference. You just want to make sure that your knees are pointing in the same direction as your toes when you're down in a squat. Right before every rep, I take a big breath in and contract my core. Go down as deep as you can without rounding your back. Then, to go back to starting position, return your glutes to push your hips forward and go back up and exhale. Again, inhale and contract your core as you go down and contract your glutes and exhale to return back to the top. When I say contract your core, the best way I can really explain how to do it is to flex your abs at the same time you expand and push your stomach out. Doing this helps to stabilize your core and back and reduce risk of injury. It's really one of those things where you just gotta do and practice in order to understand and get better at. A few other things I want to note are, my head moves with my spine in order to maintain a neutral spine and I am never looking in just one spot. I go from looking straight ahead at the top of the squat to down at the bottom of the squat and then back up again. My feet remain flat on the floor at all times. My heels or any other part of my foot are never coming up off of the floor. There's no need to squat super low. Simply go as low as you can without rounding your back. The more you squat and work on your flexibility and mobility, the deeper you'll be able to squat. My knees point in the same direction as my toes when I'm in a full on squat. If you find that your knees are caving in, play around with your foot positioning to see if something else might work better for you. There are some instances where knees caving in is actually necessary but again, that is typically only the case for more advanced lifters who are lifting multiple times their body weight. I am also performing one solid movement. My entire body moves together in one unit at all times. My upper body is not lowered down first and then I bend my knees after. The squat is a single fluid movement. It is not split up into separate movements. My arms are parallel to my back and they should always line up together. When you're done and are ready to re-rack your weights, walk up to the barbell drops and place the barbell back down. I know we just went over a ton of stuff so let's review before we get into the things you should avoid doing. Once the machine is adjusted to meet your body's needs and you have added weight if you want, place your hands on the barbell just so that they're right outside of your shoulders. Bring yourself under the barbell and place the back of your shoulders on the barbell in a high or low bar position. Then squeeze your glutes to push your hips forward and bring the barbell up and out of the rest. Take up to 3 steps back and adjust your feet if needed. When you're ready, inhale and contract your core, lower yourself down into the squat as low as you can without rounding your back, then contract your glutes to push your hips forward and exhale to return back to starting position. Head should follow my neck, feet stay flat on the floor at all times, and knees point in the same direction as my toes. Next let's go over a few mistakes to avoid. As always, before you start laughing and pointing, make sure that you are not the one making these mistakes. We have correct form on the left and incorrect on the right. First my hand's positioned too wide. As you can see in comparison to the left where it looks very controlled and concentrated, the right looks like I don't have control over my body or the barbell. On top of this, the bar is on my neck, not my shoulders, causing my neck to tilt up in pain and basically compromising all of my form. I am not keeping my feet flat on the floor with heels often rising up and my knees are also caving into each other. Here I've chosen a foot positioning that is too wide, not allowing me to achieve a full range of motion. My knees are still caving in. Here it appears that I've chosen a weight that is too heavy for me, not allowing me to squat all the way down. As always, good form is always more impressive than lifting heavy. From a side view, we see again that the barbell is placed too high on my neck. I'm also separating the movement into two separate ones by leaning forward first and then bending my knees. The squat is one single fluid movement. Here I'm sticking my booty out and not maintaining a neutral spine. I know you have a very nice booty, but I promise you'll get more booty gains by doing the exercise correctly versus looking good while doing it. Maintaining a neutral spine is important because it decreases the potential of unnecessary strain on your back. You'll also see that my back is rounding out at the bottom of the squat, which is actually okay as long as the rest of your spine is neutral, but this is not the case here. Here my shoulders are rounded and I am not executing a full squat. I often find that this is the case when 1. The bar is on your neck and not your shoulders and 2. When you're using weights that are too heavy for you. I cannot emphasize enough that it will always be more impressive to see someone squat 0 pounds with perfect form than to see someone squat 2 times their body weight with bad form. From the back view again, the barbell is up too high on my neck instead of my shoulders, causing them to cringe up and elbows to point straight behind me, shoving the barbell even deeper into my neck and causing more pain. My knees are caving, feet are coming up off the floor, and my back is rounding. Always remember that we all start at the bottom and make mistakes, but the more you practice and educate yourself, the better you'll become and that's the only way to progress. One last thing I'd like to point out is the kind of shoes you should be wearing. Really anything that has a flat sole is optimal for squats because it provides an even surface for your feet, whereas running shoes for example are soft and not flat and provide poor support for your feet for squats. I personally like Nike Romaleos like I'm wearing here, but I'll also leave a list of other good squat shoes to check out. Like you wouldn't go running in heels or play basketball wearing cleats, there are specific shoes for specific functions, so make sure to wear flat-soled shoes when squatting, which will really help you look like you know what you're doing, even if you feel like you don't. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video today guys. If you found it helpful, make sure to give it a thumbs up and of course share it with a friend who might also find it helpful. If you haven't already, subscribe to my channel and turn that notification bell on so you don't miss out on other helpful videos just like this. I also have videos on how to do deadlifts, RDL, and good morning and many more. Check out my exercise form playlist. And don't forget to like me on Facebook and follow me on Instagram for daily workout and fitness tips. I'll see you guys all again next time.