…continued – Squats
Step under the bar and position it below your traps and on your rear delts. This position may be a little awkward at first, but once you get used to it you’ll find it to be the most comfortable and secure. Don’t rest the bar on the top of your traps. This is not only painful on your traps, but it is not secure and certainly not a good idea when the weight gets heavy.
With the bar positioned correctly take it off the rack. You should take one step back into position with your feet about shoulder width with your toes pointing straight ahead.
Max-OT Tip:
You should expend as little energy and time as possible getting into position once the weight is on your back. It should be a one step process. I see so many people, even experienced powerlifters, that take the bar off the rack and walk two or three steps back, then move their feet into the right position and then take a couple of deep breaths. This is not what you want to do.When you have three, four, five, or six hundred pounds on your back the last thing you want to do is waste a bunch of energy before you even start squatting. And you certainly don’t want to be taking several steps to get into position.
Once in position keep your head up and descend slowly. Now here is another very important part about squatting – how low should you go down? You want to squat down until your quads are parallel to the floor. For some it’s difficult to tell when their quads are parallel to the floor. A good rule of thumb is, you are not sure if you are going to parallel or not then most likely you are not. Go deeper.
