A barbell squat with the bar across your upper back: you sit down between your hips until your thighs are at least parallel, then stand back up. It trains your legs and hips and teaches you to brace your trunk under load. Because the bar loads your spine, set up safely first and add weight only once your reps look the same every time.
Set up & unrack
Squat in a power rack. Set the bar hooks just below shoulder height and the safety pins slightly below where the bar sits at the bottom of your squat. Test the pin height with an empty bar first.
the bar touches down on the pins only if you sink a little past your normal bottom.
Grip the bar a little wider than your shoulders with straight wrists, duck under, and set it across your upper back below the neck. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the bar into your back.
a solid shelf of upper-back muscle under the bar, nothing pressing on your neck bones.
Stand up to lift the bar off the hooks, take a few short steps back, and set your heels about shoulder-width apart, toes straight ahead or turned slightly out.
your whole foot flat and your weight balanced over the middle of it.
Take a big breath (most of a full breath), hold it, and brace your trunk before you start down. Hold it through the rep and breathe out once you're standing again.
your midsection tight all the way around, chest up.
Descend
Start by pushing your hips back, then bend your knees and lower at a steady, controlled speed. Don't drop or bounce into the bottom.
sitting back and down between your heels, in control the whole way.
Keep your knees in line with your toes and your heels down. Your knees can travel forward past your toes as long as your heels stay flat.
knees pushing out over your feet, the floor 'spread' under you.
Keep your back flat and your chest up; from the side, your trunk should stay roughly parallel to your shins.
your torso and shins leaning at the same angle.
Lower until the tops of your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, hips level with or slightly below your knees. Only go as deep as you can while your back stays flat.
a controlled bottom position with your back still neutral.
Drive up
Drive through your whole foot and stand up, letting your hips and shoulders rise at the same rate. Lead with your chest and keep your knees out.
hips and chest coming up together, not your hips shooting up first.
If you miss a rep, keep your hands on the bar, sink a little lower and set the bar on the safety pins, then step out. Never throw the bar off your back. With spotters, use two, one at each end of the bar, who only touch it if you miss; stay with the bar and help them rack it.
a calm, planned miss instead of a scramble.
Feel it
A good rep feels balanced over your mid-foot from top to bottom: heels down, knees tracking over your toes, trunk tight, and hips and chest rising together. If your heels lift, your knees cave, or your back rounds, take weight off and fix the position before adding load. Stop and see a qualified professional if a squat causes pain.
Fix-its
- Knees cave inward Cue "knees out" and "spread the floor". Practise bodyweight squats with a light band just above your knees, pushing out against it. Check this from a front-on video; it can't be seen from the side.
- Heels lift Cue "sit through the heels". Try toes-up squats (lift your toes off the floor as you squat) to keep weight back, and add calf stretching if your ankles are tight.
- Back rounds or trunk tips far forward Brace before every rep and keep your trunk parallel to your shins. Lower the weight, slow the descent, and only squat as deep as you can with a flat back.
- Hips shoot up first out of the bottom Cue "lead with your chest" and "rise with the shoulders". Box sit-to-stands help you drive hips and chest up together.
- Stopping above parallel Squat to a box set at parallel height so you learn where depth is. If you can't reach it with a flat back, work on hip and ankle mobility rather than forcing it.
Drill
- Box sit: squat down to a box at about parallel height, touch it lightly, sit up tall and stand. Lower the box over time as you control depth.
- Band squats: bodyweight squats with a light band just above the knees, pushing your knees out against it.
- Toes-up squats: lift your toes off the floor and squat, to learn to keep your weight back over your heels and mid-foot.
- Tempo squats: lower much slower than you come up (for example a 5-count down) with a light bar to build control at every depth.
- Self-check: film 10 steady reps from the side (depth, trunk angle, hips vs chest) and again from the front (knees). If a fault shows on 2 or more reps, keep the load light and drill that fault before adding weight.
Sources
- Myer GD et al. — The back squat: a proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance, Strength Cond J (2014)
- Myer GD et al. — The back squat: targeted training techniques to correct functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance, Strength Cond J (2015)
- NSCA — TSAC Module 3.0–3.3: Exercise Technique (Back/Front Squat key points and common errors)
- American Council on Exercise — Exercise Library: Back Squat
- Barbell Logic — Complete Guide to Barbell Safety
Last checked 2026-10-25.