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You Move Too Much Setting Up the Back Squat

Coaching by Danny Lehr with Tom Kallas1:17

The fault

Excess upper body movement while getting set under the bar.

Why it happens

Every bit of movement during the setup is tension you are giving away before the rep starts. The breath and the brace only work if the torso is still when you take them.

The fix

World record holder Tom Kallas, at Caffeine and Kilos HQ, on setting up still and breathing correctly under a back squat.

That's one fault. There are sixty-four.

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Taught by Danny Lehr. Competed in Olympic weightlifting 2010 to 2019, won the 2019 Masters World Cup. Coached these lifts under Glenn Pendlay and Dave Spitz.

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Guest coach

Tom Kallas

This fix was filmed with Tom Kallas. See every episode they appear in.

About this fix

Originally published as "Back Squat Breathing with Tom Kallas", part of The Lifting Fix, the free weekly technique series Danny Lehr started filming over a decade ago. He gave every episode away then, and they are still free here. Danny Lehr competed in Olympic weightlifting from 2010 to 2019 and won the 2019 Masters World Cup. More about Danny Lehr.

Transcript

the special guest with me Tom Kallas. Tom's a world record holder in the squat. He just sat in me last weekend, got first overall, broke into American record and so while we were squatting today at Catheryn Acuil's headquarters, he's given Charlie and myself some tips. The problem we have, we would walk the bar out and we'd go to get set, get nice and tight.

and the bar will be jiggling all over the place. And so Tom's already yelling at us a little bit and fixed that for us. So he's going to do a good example, bad example. So you'll see as he walks the bar out, he's going to first kind of do it a little bit wrong, which a lot of people do.

When they go to get set, they move around their body, and boom, you see the bar bounce all over the place. Just wiggling. What you want to do, walk it out, just pull the bar down to the back's height, takes a deep breath, boom, and just push it out instead of pushing it up. So that's it right there.

That's a tip. When you walk out your back squat. When you walk out the back squat, take your deep breath to get set. It's not jiggle, jiggle it straight out so the bar stays tight.

Alright? There you go. Now everyone keep going. Stay tight.

P. R. your back squats.

More squat fixes

Your Elbows Drop and Your Midline Gives

Losing the front rack partway through the squat.

A Loose Grip Lets Your Upper Back Break

Fingertips only on the bar, which lets the upper back round under load.

Your Squat Depth Is Limited by Your Ankles

Not getting to depth, and blaming the hips for it.

Want the rest of this category?

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