Why You are Failing on Squats and How to Fix It

Is there a certain point in the squat that you consistently fail at but you don’t know why or how to fix it?

This article will discuss common failure points and the accessory exercises that will target and develop these weak spots allowing you to blow through sticking points and plateaus.

The first thing you must do in the squat is to push your butt back. If this feels unnatural and you are unable to do it and maintain balance, you probably have underactive glutes.

In todays’ society, most folks are sitting all day which wreaks havoc on glute strength since they are completely relaxed in the seated position. Couple this with the fact that while sitting, most people have terrible posture and round their back while their hips are pushed underneath, and you have the perfect recipe for insufficient glute activation.

To fix this, we’ll use the exercises below as accessory movements, warmups, pre-exhaust sets, or some combination thereof on lower body day.

1. Glute Bridge
2. Hip Thrust
3. Sled Power Walking (Long strides, pull through the heel)
4. Sled or Cable Pull Throughs
5. Reverse Hyper
6. Sumo Stance Belt Squat
7. Glute Ham Raise
8. RDL or Goodmorning

These exercises are listed in order of effectiveness, in my experience. In other words, you’ll have a much easier time activating your dormant glutes with a hip thrust than with a good morning where the lower back and hamstrings could take over.

Next, your chest must stay up. If you find yourself rounding over/chest rolling forward and losing the upper back tightness, guess what? Your upper back and erectors need work.

The exercises below will fix this, again, in order of effectiveness.

1. Any chest supported row w/ elbows flared to target the upper back
2. Upright Row (I like to do these on the cable machine with handles or a rope so I can take a couple steps back and target the mid/lower traps with a somewhat horizontal plane instead of the purely vertical like is done with a barbell or dumbbells.)
3. Reverse Hypers (for the erectors)
4. Power Clean/Snatch
5. High Pulls
6. Back Extension (On GHR or 45 degree back extension)

Finally, if you are getting stuck in the hole and/or your knees are caving in coming out of the hole (very common problem), your glutes, hips, and abductors (responsible for keeping the knees out) are weak. Since we already covered the glute/hip complex, now we’ll look at exercises to keep the knees from caving in.

1. Abduction Machine
2. Hip Thrust or Glute Bridge w/ a mini band around the knees
3. Sled Power Walking Sideways
4. Belt Squats w/ a mini band around the knees

While this list is not completely exhaustive, it should cover the most common failure points and give you a good idea of what lifts you need to be abusing to progress and blow through your sticking points.