Many people that the squat is all about lower body strength. Well it’s not, it requires massive amounts of balls, back strength and trunk strength. You may be able to leg press 200kg but then you struggle with your body weight when it comes to squatting
Getting tight through your back is crucial for back health and developing a big squat. I would say at least 1 in 3 people I see at powerlifting meets could avoid missing their lift by simply getting tight through their back. I see people just place the bar on their backs and their upper back starts rounding instantly. The minute they hit depth they fold forward. They miss the squat not because of leg strength but because they haven’t got tight.
Just arching and keeping your chest up isn’t going to cut it when you’re near a max effort squat (will address this in a later post) or squatting for reps and getting tired. You need to get tight engage your whole back including your lats, rhomboids and traps.
Falling forward in the squat is going to cause your bar path to stray and throw the weight forward on to your quads and away from your hips. Big squats require a balance putting too much load on any one area or muscle group generally leads to getting pinned and injury as well as looking like a twat on You tube.
Get tight and crush your squat
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