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The back squat is one of the main compound movement. It activates quads, calves, glutes, hamstrings, core, upper and lower back.
Things to remember in back squat:
- Learn to control and activate your core muscles!
- Keep your core tight!
- In the beginning, concentrate to your mobility rather than adding more weight. Deeper you get in your squat more muscle activation you get! So use only a bodyweight or a barbell to get yourself comfortable in the deep squat position. Adding too much weight too early will strict your range of motion and you will lose most of the muscle gain!
- The range of motion in the squat depends on your mobility and strength.
- If you have good mobility but you lack strength (normally women), the range of motion will get shorter when you add too much weight! The body is preventing you to go in the position where it knows that you won’t be able to come up and that’s why it will stop before your quads are passing the horizontal level.
- Same thing happens when you have bad mobility and your progression is driven too much by the weight you lift (usually men). Too poor mobility is blocking you from going under the horizontal level, you add more weights anyway and after that too big resistance makes you shorten to the movement even more!
- So in both cases, the main thing is to build up the squat from bottom to top! Get your ass to the grass first and learn to keep your core tight for the entire rep! Start from your mobility/core and add more weight when you see you can control your posture easily in the lowest position.
Great series of videos to make your mobility better for squatting:
Fix Your Squat By Dr. Aaron Horschig of Squat University :
How To Squat: