Kinesiology THURSDAY – Playing with the squat
The squat is a fundamental movement that should be mastered for pain-free living. By tweaking the squat, you can get different results. Let’s dive in.

The barbell back squat emphasizes the gluteus maximus due to the natural forward lean that occurs with the barbell on your back.

A similar thing occurs when you squat and reach forward. This squat is also glute dominant.

But when you hold a weight in front, it changes the mechanics of the squat, making it more quad dominant. This is because the trunk has to remain more upright to balance the weight, decreasing the amount of hip flexion occurring as you squat.

Squatting on your toes or with a block under your heels minimizes the contribution of the posterior lower leg muscles (soleus, tibialis posterior, FDL) in decelerating dorsiflexion, placing more emphasis on the quads.

Single leg variations of the squat call into play the gluteus medius of the stance leg as the pelvis has to be stabilized. And if you reach with your non-weightbearing leg behind you, it causes your torso to tilt forward, making this squat glute dominant.

But if you stand on one leg and reach forward, your trunk will naturally lean back, causing the squat to be quad dominant.

I played with this variation earlier this week. The walking half squat. Both walking forward and backwards seemed quad dominant, but backwards walking increased the quad load more.
Why does this matter?
Squatting is fundamental. Tweaking the squat not only adds variation but allows your body to adapt to different stressors. Strong glutes and quads play a huge role in eliminating knee and back pain. So play with the squat.
Because nobody has time to be in pain.
Until next time…

Kind Regards,
MoveWell Academy
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