A barbell rests across your upper back while you squat down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, then stand back up. It trains your legs, hips and trunk together, and because it loads your spine, how you set up and brace matters as much as the weight. Learn it with bodyweight or a light bar first, and always squat inside a rack with the safety pins set just below your lowest point.
Set up
Set the safety pins first, then the bar. Squat once with an empty bar to see how low it goes, and set the pins slightly below that point. Put the bar in the hooks just below shoulder height so you can unrack it without going up on your toes.
Get under the bar with your hands a little wider than your shoulders. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and lift your chest so the bar sits on the muscle of your upper back, not on the bony top of your neck. Keep your wrists straight and pull the bar down into your back.
a firm shelf across your upper back, with your upper back tight.
Stand up to lift the bar out, take a few short steps back, and stop. Set your heels about shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward or turned out slightly. Look straight ahead, with your head in line with your spine.
Brace
Take a big breath, most of a full breath, and hold it. Tighten your stomach around that air so your trunk feels firm all the way round. Keep holding it until you are standing tall again, then breathe out.
your midsection is rigid, like a full can.
Sit down
Start by pushing your hips back, then keep bending at your hips and knees together. Lower at a steady, controlled speed. The way down should take noticeably longer than the way up, and you should not drop into the bottom.
you are sitting down between your hips, not folding forward at the waist.
Keep your knees in line with your toes and your whole foot on the floor. Your knees can move forward past your toes, as long as your heels stay down. Don't let your knees fall inward. Keep your chest up and your back flat, with your shins and torso at roughly the same angle when seen from the side.
Go down until the tops of your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, with your hips level with or slightly below your knees. If your heels lift or your lower back starts to round before you get there, stop at the lowest point you can hold cleanly. Depth comes with practice and mobility. Don't force it under load.
Stand up
Drive up through your whole foot, with your hips and shoulders rising at the same rate. If your hips shoot up first, your chest drops and the load moves onto your lower back. Keep your back rigid and your knees tracking over your toes until you are standing tall, then breathe out.
push the floor away, with chest and hips rising as one piece.
If a rep stalls, don't drop the bar off your back. Keep your hands on it, squat down under control until the bar rests on the safety pins, then get out from under it. If you have spotters, use two, one at each end of the bar, and agree beforehand when they will step in.
Feel it
Tight before you move: upper back squeezed, breath held, stomach braced. A slow, controlled descent with your feet flat and your knees following your toes. At the bottom your chest is still up and your back still flat. On the way up, your chest and hips rise together. If your form changes from rep to rep, the weight is too heavy.
Fix-its
- Knees cave inward Cue 'push your knees out' or 'spread the floor' so they track over your toes. Drop the weight, and practise bodyweight squats with a slightly wider stance until your knees stay out on every rep.
- Hips shoot up first (chest drops on the way up) Cue 'lead with your chest' and 'rise with your shoulders'. Your hips and shoulders should keep the same distance apart all the way up. Lighten the bar until they do.
- Heels lift off the floor Cue 'keep your heels down' and grip the floor with your whole foot. Practise squats with your toes lifted to keep your weight back. A small heel lift, such as a plate or a heeled lifting shoe, can help if your ankles are stiff.
- Not reaching depth Squat to a box set at parallel height and touch it lightly, without sitting down and relaxing. Cue 'sit up tall' and 'sit as if into a chair'. Lower the box gradually as your depth improves.
- Lower back rounds at the bottom You are going past the depth you can control. Stop just above the point where your back starts to round, keep the brace tight, and work on hip and ankle mobility before going lower with weight.
Drill
- Bodyweight or dowel squat check: 10 continuous reps with a broomstick across your upper back. Film from the side and the front. If a fault shows on 2 or more reps, fix it before adding weight.
- Box squat to parallel: set a box at your parallel depth and touch it lightly on each rep while staying braced. Use it to learn how deep 'parallel' feels.
- Toes-up squats: lift your toes off the floor and squat with bodyweight to train keeping your weight over your heels and mid-foot.
- Empty barbell in the rack, pins set: repeat the 10-rep check with the bar. Add small amounts of weight only while every rep looks the same, and film from the side to check depth and that your hips and chest rise together.
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)
- American Council on Exercise — Exercise Library: Back Squat
- Barbell Logic — Complete Guide to Barbell Safety
Last checked 2026-10-25.