Getting more from your squats at Pilates

Find your 'hip hinge '

If you've had anything to do with a personal trainer, a physio or a gym, you'd certainly have found yourself squatting in some capacity. It is an amazing way to get great bang for your buck when it comes to an all body strengthening exercise.

An excellent squatting technique is essential in so many ways:

• Safe squatting can become a valuable everyday movement pattern for each and everytime the body needs to lower itself towards the ground. Think lifting, sitting and bending required in everyday.
• Squatting is amazing to waken and strengthen important muscles about the pelvic girdle and hip regions. This can include the big powerhouse muscles of the butt and thigh and the deep stabilising muscles about the deep trunk, including deep hip and spinal postural muscle systems.
• Strong legs can strongly underpin the trunk and give your back all the support it needs in everyday activity.
• Good squat technique allows you to be more efficient within the movement, allowing for bigger weights, bigger strength gain and less injury risk.
• Squatting gives your knees great muscular support when done correctly. Perfect you runners and cyclists needing good support and balance about the knees.

This amazing tip borrowed from US physio Zach Long will have you learning the best way to squat. I love it. Making the drill this simple makes you understand the importance of the hip in a safe and effective squat. As we say in class, 'focus on how far the hips shift back relative to your heels', or 'feel the weight in the heels' or 'make sure you can see all of your toes over your knees.'

Give this a try:

• Grab a long foam roller, placing it on its long end, just in front of your toes.
• Drop into a squat without your knees translating forward and knocking over the roller.
• Feel and focus on the hip hinge, rather than the knees coming forward.
• Remember all of your safe 'Pilates cues' such as maintaining pelvis and spinal neutral, tracking your knees straight towards the third toe, widening through the sit bones, exhaling on the effort or movement.
• Easy!
• Brilliant!

For further reading and training ideas on squatting and the 'hip hinge', check out this great blog. Zach has HEAPS of other really cool tips for those of you into your gym and weights.

Read more: www.thebarbellphysio.com/best-hip-hinge-fixes