Your Position

From an upright standing position, arms are at your chest with your elbows pulled through the chest, depressing and retracting the shoulder blades and extending the trunk, working together with the pelvis posteriorly rotated and extending the hips. Arm action can involve push-pull as in pictures on next page, push-pull with arms extended, push-pull with med ball to floor & overhead, push-pull  to floor & overhead with arms extended, extended

Abdominals are engaged to maintain the ideal positional relationship between the ribcage and the pelvis for the above action to occur.

Target Muscles

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Start the squat with the hips driving back and knees bending simultaneously, as you descend push the arms forward and in front of you without rounding the shoulders.
2. Once at or close to 90 degrees, feel the glutes and hamstrings engage to stop your descent and work together with your quads and hip flexors to return to standing.
3. Extend the knees, hips and trunk at the same rate as you pull your arms back through the chest as you extend to stand.

Common Errors and Their Correction

Trunk may flex too far forward, resulting in possible low back and knee tightness/pain.  Focus on the hips driving back, with the low back extended and abdominals engaged.  Moderate the depth of the squat to ensure that the glutes and hamstrings are engaged.

Hips, knees and trunk may flex without the center of gravity changing elevation.  Focus on engaging the abdominals in order to prevent the hip flexors from taking over.