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Hi, David Weck here.
Today, I want to share with you the WeckMethod approach to squatting. We believe that squatting is one of the most important exercises that you can do. Basically, the better you can squat, the better you can do everything else.
The squat is not a universal one-size-fits-all exercise; there's not just one way to do it. Depending upon your anatomy, injury history, abilities, other limitations, you're going to squat the way that you're going squat. Today, we use this WeckMethod approach and I'm going to share with you how we find this "neutral" squat.
There are people who propose you should only do it with your toes forward, some people only have the toes out, certain depths, certain widths, etc. They're all choices and they have to be individualized.
Here's how we go about defining your neutral so that we have a zero on the map so we can be strategic about how we vary the squat, depending on our goals and unique abilities.
I'm just going to be using paper towels on smooth wood flooring here. The key to this is that movement is all about rotation. Rotation is not just twisting your body, it’s also the rotary action that goes through all the joints [learn more about Rotational Movement Training].
When you squat, there are rotational forces that happen in your feet that go up to your hips. When you take away all of the friction, like when I'm on this sliding surface, my body is going to resolve all that rotation and I'm going to get to a depth where I'm just going to find out where I no longer need to apply any rotational forces to the ground because this has shown me where that position is. Basically, we define this squat by depth and the form of the lower back, knees and feet. You want to get as deep as you can with good form through the lower back, knees and feet. That's going to represent your fundamental flexibility, your functional flexibility.
On this sliding surface, you notice your toes are going to slightly go out, but you're also going to find a position where you can come to a depth and you no longer have to apply any rotational forces to the ground; it has all been resolved. The key to this is that you have to keep the center of your knees right over the second toe. You're going to have that knee alignment there, you don't want it to go too far inwards or outwards. When I'm up, I want to find that nice sliding surface, I'm going to go down and define that neutral position, I'm going to come up and get rid of the sliding surface.
Now that I'm back on a gripping surface, I want to memorize that neutral and have that as my zero point. Go down and feel what that feels like when you have that neutral: good form with no collapse. Test it and see if that feels stronger or weaker with weights, or however you want to do your squat, see if it feels more dialed in or not with body weight, test it as a gauge for yourself. You now know where your neutral is.
From here, we can strategically start to coil, corkscrew and harness these rotational forces to the ground and that's going to help translate more power through hip extension. From my fundamental neutral, I'm going to strategically bring the toes in another five degrees or so. I can grip the ground, so when I pull myself into that squat while keeping the knees nice and wide, feel the rotational force and use that rotational force. Bring it in another five degrees once more and squat again. You can feel how that augments your ability to create more stability through hips, really keep the lower back solid and nice, no pressure through the knees, feet aren't collapsing. That's how we're going to improve the squat.
With WeckMethod, we try to wipe the board clean, define neutral and strategically dial it in to find out what's absolutely the best for you and only you, because you're unique and your anatomy will determine, ultimately, the top level of your squatting. You just want to max out your potential and that's going to give you your best form, function, health and performance.
That's a little about the WeckMethod approach to squatting. Check out weckmethod.com for many more tips and more information on how we train the body and how we train the squat.
