How to Increase Your Back Squat

Decrease the weight on the bar to begin corrective exercises so you can focus on your body position and the muscles you need to be engaging to ensure a proper squat. Don't remove five or 10 pounds from the bar. Remove all of the weight and just use an empty bar at first. Olympic lifting coach John Broz starts his newer athletes with empty barbells (45 pounds) or broomsticks for the first two weeks of training. This is so the coach and the athlete can focus on proper technique. You should do the same.

Reduce tightness in your shoulder girdle to improve the bar position on your upper back. Lack of mobility in your shoulder girdle will cause your elbows to flare out and behind the bar during the lift. Instead, your elbows should be underneath the bar and you should feel as if you are bending the bar across your back. If you are not in the proper position, you cannot engage your lats to keep your torso upright. As a result, you end up hunched over and doing your squat with a rounded upper back.

Stretch between squat sets to increase your flexibility so you can maintain the proper shoulder position. Place a medicine ball against a wall at chest height. Face the ball and lean into it, then roll the ball around the area where your upper chest meets your shoulder. Allow the ball to massage each shoulder for 30 seconds between each lifting set.

Increase your speed to take advantage of the acceleration coming out of the bottom of the squat to go past your sticking point. Start with several sets of three reps at 70 percent of your normal load. Focus on dropping your rear end to the ground while keeping your heels on the floor. Rebound from the bottom position and explode upward.

Focus on maintaining proper head position. Head position ties directly into your upper body's posture. Many lifters have a tendency to look up or down, which pulls the body out of alignment. Load a bar with a light weight and get in your starting position with the bar on your back. Start with your chin parallel to the ground and focus on a point in the distance. Pull your shoulder blades back and arch your lower back. Squat to slightly below parallel and pause. Drop your chin down as far as it will go, and you will feel your lower back lose its arch. Then roll your head back to parallel again and feel your lower back return to its correct position. This arch is the arch you need to keep throughout the entire range of motion for the squat to take advantage of your body's full power.

Once you can complete three sets of 15 reps for exercise with proper form, gradually start adding weight during each training session. If you started with a broomstick, move to an empty barbell as your next progression. From the empty barbell, increase the weight by 10 to 15 percent for each workout as long as you can maintain strict form. If your form slips, reduce the weight to the point where your form returns. Then start increasing the weight again. For example, if you are moving up from the empty barbell, add five pounds to the bar (two 2-1/2-pound plates). Stay with that weight for the remainder of your workout. As you get closer to your maximum weight in the ensuing weeks, you will need to make smaller increases as the weight gets over 150 pounds. If a 10-percent increase, or 15 pounds, is too much of a jump, start using 5-pound plates.