Bigger Leaner Stronger

by Michael Matthews

  It also helps to imagine you’re gripping the floor with your toes and feet, like an eagle clenching its claws.

  As you continue to ascend, drive your hips forward by squeezing your glutes, and push the bar toward the ceiling until you’re standing tall.

  Begin exhaling once you’ve passed the hardest point of the ascent (the first couple of feet).

  Here’s how the sequence looks:

  You’re now ready for the next rep.

  Six Tips for Better Squatting

  1. If you’re having trouble keeping your knees in line with your toes, do the following mobility exercise every day.

  Without a bar or weight, squat down to the bottom position, and place your elbows against your knees and touch the palms of your hands together.

  Use your elbows to press your knees out and into the proper position (in line with your toes), and hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a minute or so of rest. Repeat this several times.

  If you do this simple exercise every day, you should notice a marked improvement in your ability to maintain proper knee position when you squat in the gym.

  2. Don’t squat on a Smith machine unless you have no other choice.

  The Smith machine forces you into an unnatural movement pattern that can be very uncomfortable, and research shows it’s less effective than the free weight barbell squat.8

  3. If you can’t keep your lower-back in a neutral position as you descend because it begins to round, it’s possible that your hamstrings are too tight or your that back isn’t strong enough.

  This is known as “butt wink,” and in many people, it can be resolved through daily hamstring stretching (standing with one leg crossed over the other and then touching your toes, and reversing and repeating, works well).

  As your hamstrings loosen, you’ll find it much easier to keep your lower-back in a neutral position until you hit the very bottom of the squat, when your pelvis naturally rotates down a little.

  Don’t stretch before your squatting, though, because this can sap your strength.9 Save it for after your lower-body workouts, when your muscles are nice and warm.

  If you’re confident hamstring tightness isn’t the problem, it’s possible you need to strengthen your back muscles.

  In this case, you just need to be more mindful of making sure you don’t add weight to the bar until you can maintain a neutral lower-back throughout each rep of each set.

  Over time, your weaker back muscles will catch up to your stronger leg and hip muscles.

  4. Don’t squat with plates or blocks underneath your feet.

  This doesn’t make the exercise more effective and isn’t a worthwhile variation to include in your workouts. That said, by elevating your heels while squatting, you can improve your form and range of motion.

  Some people’s hips are built in such a way that it makes it harder to safely and comfortably reach the bottom of the squat with good form. By slightly elevating your heels, you can change the mechanics of the squat enough to work around this limitation and perform the movement properly.

  The best solution for this is to get a good pair of squat shoes, which have slightly elevated heels.

  In fact, you should do this regardless of how comfortably you can squat, because the wrong shoes can make it significantly harder to progress.

  Anything with a soft or unstable sole, like running shoes, shouldn’t be used when squatting because it doesn’t provide a solid, stable base through which you can transfer force into the floor.

  Shoes with flat, solid soles and rigid, slightly elevated heels are much better because they allow for maximum force transfer. They also make it easier to maintain your balance as you descend, and they engage your hamstrings and glutes as you ascend.

  5. Use the Valsalva maneuver to control your breathing.

  The Valsalva maneuver is the process of forcefully breathing out against a closed windpipe. This traps air in your lungs and creates pressure inside your abdomen, known as intra-abdominal pressure, which stabilizes your torso against heavy loads.

  Research shows that this increased intra-abdominal pressure allows you to lift more weight than you could with continuous breathing, and probably reduces the risk of injury as well.10

  That’s why the Valsalva maneuver is a useful technique for all exercises, not just the squat. Here’s how to do it:

  Take a deep breath of about 80 percent of your maximum lung capacity. Your belly should feel “full” but not so much that you have trouble keeping your mouth closed when the rep gets hard.

  Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, and without letting any air escape, try to breathe out. You should feel your abdomen, back, and jaw tighten.

  Start your descent.

  Once you’re past the “sticking point” (the most difficult point) of the ascent, breathe out as you finish the rep.

  Repeat for each rep in your set.

  An important caveat: the Valsalva maneuver increases your blood pressure more than continuous breathing.

  A number of studies show that this isn’t inherently dangerous, and holding your breath is instinctive when lifting heavy weights, but if you’re hypertensive or have a preexisting heart condition, you should talk with your doctor before using the Valsalva maneuver.11

  Furthermore, if you use the technique and experience chest pain, dizziness, or other red flags, you should stop using it and talk with your doctor.

  6. Use helpful cues as needed.

  Cues are short reminders athletes use to draw their attention to particular aspects of their performance, typically whatever they struggle with the most.

  Here are some of my favorite cues for good squatting:

  Keep your chest up.

  Throw the bar off your back.

  Grab the floor (with your feet).

  Force your hips under the bar.

  Push the floor apart.

  Bend the bar over your back.

  You don’t have to memorize these cues or chant them as you squat, but if you’re struggling with a particular portion of the movement, one of them may help you correct the issue.

  The Barbell Deadlift

  If I could do only one exercise for the rest of my life, it would be the barbell deadlift.

  Mark Rippetoe said it best in an article he published on my website Muscle for Life (www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-look-strong-deadlift):

  The deadlift works just about every muscle group you want to develop, from your upper-back muscles down to your calves, and it forces you to get strong the right way, with the bar in your hands balanced on your feet.

  If you want to look strong, you have to get strong. And strong you’ll get from the deadlift.

  Few people argue that the deadlift isn’t an effective strength and muscle builder, but some claim it’s bad for your joints, and especially your lower-back.

  This seems plausible at first glance because it places a lot of stress on the lower-back, but is that actually bad? Let’s see what the scientific literature has to say.

  The first study we should review was conducted by scientists at the University of Valencia to determine the most effective way to train the paraspinal muscles, which run down both sides of your spine and play a major role in preventing back injuries.12

  Researchers split 25 people into two exercise groups:

  Group one performed bodyweight exercises like lumbar extensions, forward flexions, single-leg deadlifts, and bridges.

  Group two performed two weighted exercises, barbell deadlifts and lunges, using 70 percent of their one-rep max.

  Muscle activity was measured using electromyography—a technique of measuring and analyzing electrical activity that occurs in the muscles when they contract—and the deadlift most activated the paraspinal muscles, and won by a long shot.
<
br />   The researchers’ conclusion, then, was that the deadlift is a remarkably effective way to strengthen these muscles.

  Another insightful study on the matter was conducted by scientists at the University of Waterloo to determine how much strain the deadlift put on the back—the lower-back in particular—and how likely it was to produce injury.13

  The researchers recruited four elite-level competitive powerlifters and had them do two exercises:

  Leaning as far forward as possible, bending over from the waist and then returning to an upright posture (fully flexing and extending their backs).This allowed the researchers to measure the limits of the powerlifters’ natural range of motion.

  Deadlifting a weight close to their one-rep max, which worked out to 400 to 460 pounds.

  The researchers used real-time X-ray imaging (called videofluoroscopy) to watch the lifters’ spines while they completed both tasks.

  Many deadlifting injuries occur because of too much low-back bending, which can pull vertebrae out of position, pinch and compress intervertebral cartilage discs, and strain low-back ligaments.

  So the scientists measured each of those things—how much the participants’ vertebrae moved, how much their spinal discs were pinched and compressed, and how much their low-back ligaments were stretched.

  The examination found that the deadlift was completed within the weightlifters’ natural range of motion, and that there were no signs of excessive vertebral shifting, pinching of the intervertebral discs, or pulling of the low-back ligaments.

  Thus, the researchers concluded that the deadlift is a fantastic exercise for strengthening your entire back, including your lower-back, and doesn’t force an unnatural range of motion or put excess strain on your spine or joints.

  As with the other exercises in this chapter, poor form is what has given the deadlift a bad name among some.

  For instance, how many people have you seen who round their lower-backs while pulling? This is a major no-no, as it shifts much of the stress away from the powerful erector spinae muscles (which run alongside your spine) to the vertebrae, intervertebral discs, and ligaments.

  Perform the lift correctly, however, and you have little to worry about and much to gain. Let’s learn how to do that.

  The Setup

  The deadlift starts with the bar on the floor, not on the rack or safety arms or pins.

  Walk up to the bar, position your feet so they’re slightly narrower than shoulder width apart with your toes pointed slightly out, and move the bar to the point where your shoulders are in line with or even slightly behind it.

  This will put the bar somewhere between against your shins and over the middle of your feet. For taller or skinnier people, it’ll probably place the bar against their shins. For shorter or thicker people, it’ll place it somewhere around the middle of the feet.

  Proper bar position is important because it allows for maximum leverage as you pull it up and back. If the bar is too close to your body and your shoulders are too far in front of it, you’ll have to move it forward on the way up to get it over your knees. If it’s too far from your body, you’ll feel like you’re going to fall forward and won’t be able to drive upward through your heels.

  Next, stand up tall with your chest out and take a deep breath of air into your belly (as opposed to your chest), bracing your abs as if you were about to get punched in the stomach.

  Then, move down toward the bar by pushing your hips back, just as you do in the squat. Arch your lower-back slightly and keep your shoulders down as you wedge yourself into what’s essentially a “half-squat” position.

  You should feel considerable tightness in your hamstrings and hips as you get into this position. This is desirable because as soon as your hips rise, your shoulders will be able to follow, and the weight will immediately start coming off the floor.

  Don’t make the newbie mistake of bringing your hips too low with the intention of “squatting” the weight up. The lower your hips are in the starting position, the more they’ll have to rise before you can lift the weight off the floor, which wastes movement and energy.

  Next, place your hands on the bar with a double-overhand grip (both palms facing down) just outside your shins, and squeeze it as hard as you can. Keep your shoulders back and down and press your upper arms into your sides as if you were trying to crush oranges in your armpits. Your arms should be completely straight and locked, with enough room on the sides for your thumbs to clear your thighs as you ascend.

  Make sure your head is in a neutral position. Don’t look up at the ceiling or down at the ground.

  Here’s how you should look:

  You’re now ready to ascend.

  The Ascent

  Start the pull by forcefully driving your body upward and slightly back, onto your heels. Push through your heels, and keep your elbows locked in place and lower-back slightly arched (no rounding!).

  Ensure that your hips and shoulders rise simultaneously. Don’t shoot your hips up and then use your back like a lever to raise your shoulders. If your hips are moving up, your shoulders should be as well.

  The bar should move up your shins, and once it rolls over your knees, push your hips into the bar. As it begins to move up your thighs, you’ll feel your hamstrings and hips working hard as you continue to stand.

  The entire way up, keep your head in its neutral position in line with your spine, your lower-back slightly arched, and your core tight. Also, try to keep the bar on as vertically straight of a path as possible because any deviations are just going to slow you down and make it harder to maintain good form. The bar shouldn’t move noticeably toward or away from you.

  At the top, your chest should be up and your shoulders down. Don’t lean back, hyperextend your lower-back, or shrug the weight up.

  Here’s how this movement looks:

  You’re now ready to descend.

  The Descent

  The next half of the deadlift is lowering the weight back down to the floor in a controlled manner. This is basically a mirror image of what you did to stand up.

  Begin by pushing your hips back, not bending at the knees, letting the bar slide straight down your thighs. Continue pushing your hips back, lowering the bar in a straight line until it has cleared your knees, and then drop it to the floor.

  Your lower-back should remain locked in its neutral position the entire time, and your core should remain tight. Don’t try to lower the bar slowly or quietly. The entire descent should take one to two seconds or less.

  You’re now ready for the next rep.

  Many people don’t stop to reset in between reps and instead use the tap-and-go transition, which has you maintain tension as you tap the weights to the floor and immediately begin the next rep.

  This is fine if you’re warming up, but I prefer the stop-and-go method for my hard sets. This method has you fully release the weight to the ground and reset your bottom position—including your breath—before starting the next rep. This is harder than tap-and-go, but that’s good, and it’s safer as well.

  The Romanian Deadlift

  As a part of Bigger Leaner Stronger, you’re going to do one variation of the barbell deadlift: the Romanian deadlift.

  At first glance, the Romanian deadlift looks like a lazy or downright dangerous version of the regular deadlift. Ironically, it’s not a one-way ticket to snap city but rather one of the single best exercises you can do for developing your hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, and even forearms.

  The main differences between the Romanian and conventional deadlift are:

  You can start with the bar in a power rack instead of on the floor (but don’t have to).

  Your legs remain fairly straight, bending only slightly at the knees to lower the bar.

  You lower the bar to just below your knees or when your lower-back
starts to round, and no further.

  Why the “Romanian” deadlift, you’re wondering?

  The story goes that in 1990, a Romanian Olympic weightlifter named Nicu Vlad was in San Francisco demonstrating an exercise that looked like a cross between a stiff-leg and conventional deadlift.

  Someone in the audience asked what it was called. He shrugged and said it was just something he did to strengthen his back. The US Olympic weightlifting coach was there and suggested they call it the Romanian deadlift, and it stuck.

  Let’s go through technique.

  The Setup

  There are two ways to set up for the Romanian deadlift:

  From the rack

  From the floor

  If you start from the rack, you’ll want the bar to be just below where you’ll hold it at the top of the movement, or about midthigh.

  If you start from the floor, then all you have to do is set up the same way you would for the conventional deadlift.

  Most people prefer starting from the rack because it makes it easier to load the bar and doesn’t force you to waste energy pulling it off the floor at the beginning of each set.

  To set up, walk up to the bar so that it’s over the middle of your feet, position your feet about shoulder width apart with your toes pointed slightly out, and grip the bar with a double-overhand grip.

  Next, take a deep breath, raise your chest, and press your upper arms into your sides as if you were trying to crush oranges in your armpits.

  Lift the bar off the rack (or floor), take a baby step back if you’re coming from the rack, and bend your knees slightly. Fix your gaze on a spot about 10 feet in front of you.

  You’re now ready to descend.

  The Descent

  To descend, allow your hips to move backward as you lower the bar down the front of your legs.

  As the bar drops down in a straight line, keep your knees at more or less the same angle as when you started. Once you start to feel a stretch in your hamstrings, you can allow slightly more bend in your knees.