The overhead squat is the glamour movement. Its a really technical movement and is a difficult one to get right, but just like any technical achievement, when you get it right you get that sense of ‘nailing it’ that only comes from consistent and concerted effort. When you perform it correctly for the first time it almost deserves a lap of honour around the studio floor because quite frankly - it does feel that good. When your shoulders open up and you feel perfectly at ease in the bottom part of your squat and its just an easy stand up from there, there is nothing quite like it.
The Overhead Squat (OH) is similar to the snatch lift in Olympic Lifting. Indeed it was used primarily as a training tool for the competitive weightlifter, encouraging the ability to achieve the bottom end range of motion for the barbell Snatch. Its a synchronistic maximal movement that tests mobility, co-ordination and balance.
Keeping in mind the purpose of this Top 4 list of movement patterns, we are not wanting to to turn everyone into a behemoth olympic lifter. We are talking about a range of movement pattern that is a great indicator of open joint spaces and the ability to work across a movement pattern that should be encouraged for all people. Adding weight to the lift is the extreme end. But performing the movement, without so much as bar is still a worthy movement goal as it shows that we not only have a full range of motion in our major joints, but we have the ability to be stable and balanced in that position as well.
There are two ways of performing the overhead squat:
weighted with a bar or dowel
against a wall without any bar or dowel
Performing the overhead squat with a bar makes for a good resistance implement that you can push against with your shoulders. In a way performing the position without a bar makes it harder as you have to maintain the position overhead ‘without’ a platform to push against which requires slightly more use of the rhomboids and lower trapezius as well as the lateral rotators of the shoulders. Both have advantages and whilst one is more power driven the other is more range of motion driven.
If you are using a bar, getting into the overhead press position is as vital as the squat itself. Good technique involves locked out elbows, extended wrists (not neutral as is often prescribed in other barbell movements) and a good alignment of the bar over the top of the ears, not the crown of the head. This is just slightly further back than most people will consider normal. There can be a risk of pushing the head to far forward which will result in the chest moving forward and collapsing downward. This overhead position, especially for a beginner is better off attempting with a dowel stick of PVC pipe to give the arms something to pull against that helps to lock out the arms, create awareness of the line and extend the shoulders.
Descending into the squat is the eccentric and control stage of the movement. Allowing the hips (or butt) to ease backwards is a good indication of the first part of the descent. It’s like sitting down in a chair. You don’t want to excessively push backwards, but gently allowing the pelvis to swing backwards means that you won’t be tucking your pelvis underneath you (which flexes the lumbar spine and puts you in a compromising position). Think of the sacrum (bottom triangle of the spine) pointing 45d towards the floor. It’s not pointing straight down but behind your feet encouraging a gentle extension of the lumbar.
The difficult part of the descent is to maintain the overhead position of the arms. There comes a point where in the controlled descent that you naturally will want to bring the arms forward of the head as your shoulder extension ROM is challenged. You must work against this, trying to keep the overhead alignment plumb in the descending line. This is where a coach or training partner can help as they can give you feedback on your overhead alignment. Keeping the bar in alignment with the mid foot is the goal here.
The other point to watch is that the knees are always tracking over the toes. Specifically the knee should follow the 2nd digit. Any deviation of the knees out of this alignment poses great risk of wearing articular surfaces and compromising the structure of the knee. This is a fundamental basic of any knee flexion in any position.
Likewise, heels should ALWAYS remain in contact with the floor. You may sometimes see people performing the squat with lifts under their heels to enable a more solid base and platform. Forget plates for this, you may as well go and put on a pair of high heels if you are going to perform this movement with plates under your heels. What this is telling you is that your ankles do not have the Range of Motion to be able to sustain deep flexion - so fix this. Don’t create a false platform with bad technique as raised heels will not enable good balance and will through excessive load onto the quadriceps which is not going to be functional for the movement. Some blogs and posts promote use of this to create functional squat ability. Generally for powerlifters vs olympic lifters whose aim is to squat as much weight as possible. This is sports specific as Olympic Lifting and Powerlifting have two distinctly different criteria. However, for the purposes of functional mobility this is not the ideal for the Top 4 Movement patterns. We want to encourage maximum ROM and stability in these positions so in this instance, we would encourage a feet flat position.
At no point in the descent should the lower back be in a flexed position. Any rounding of the back in this movement is dangerous to the spinal alignment and can result in injury. Perfecting this move WITHOUT weight is vital to understand the intricate biomechanics and ‘feeling’ of where the bar is relative to the feet, the hips relative to the shoulders and the knees relative to the toes.
The bottom position is where the OH Squat is the most impressive. You have multiple flexions/extensions in all of the major joints. Ankles, knees, hips, back, shoulders and wrists. Its a beautiful feeling to be able to hit this position and hold it. The extension of the shoulders is where most people fail in this move and this is why this movement pattern is so vital. It asks so much of the major joints and exposes restrictions immediately. Even before we put weight plates on, doing this movement is such a primary movement goal as it asks such maximal range of motion in a most co-ordinated and composite fashion.
Ascending out fo the OH Squat is the power movement. This is where you exert maximal strength through your buttocks and quadriceps and entire lower chain of muscles to drive yourself back up to the erect standing position. Trainers talk about the hips and chest rising together. This co-ordination is vital for control as if the hips move too quickly this drives the chest forward and that results in over balancing. The eccentric control should slow and consistent whereas the concentric drive of the ascend should be a powerful, forceful movement utilising strengthe and power to drive the body up.
Now the value of the OH Squat in training is not necessarily for muscular development and recruitment of strength. Some people believe its a great activator of core strength which is not necessarily true. There are other exercises which are much better at this. It’s not going to give you massive thighs or necessarily improve your vertical jump or power squat, but it will leverage the muscular systems involved in these actions to be able to perform better and be more co-ordinated and ultimately recruited.
The value in this movement is mobility, balance and recruitment. Mobility in the joint spaces which we have mentioned, the balance of muscular activation which translates directly to training further movements such as a power squat or an overhead press and the recruitment of kinetic chains in the body - the system that enables the body to convert movement energy into power.
This last point is fundamental as getting the whole body to co-ordinate together in synchronised harmony to perform complex movements is a skill that translates directly to being able to ‘do more stuff’. Its great to have strong quads or strong gluteals, but being able to utilise that powerful aspect in a co-ordinated fashion that allows you to push things, or leap higher, run faster or spring longer is a fundamental basis of the foundations of movement. There are so many variations on the squat itself and how to manipulate certain elements of it so that you can perform technical moves or sport specific motions.
Lastly, I would like to point out that training the overhead squat as a movement potential is ultimately beneficial. It can be a functional screening of muscular restriction and can also expose where we may need to spend some more energy on gaining range of motion (plates under heels for example). And as a movement exercise you don’t need to be pushing heavy weights to be performing this movement and gaining the ultimate benefits of it. Slowly using this movement up against a wall is a great way to warm up the body and the main joints before activity. It’s also a great way to develop co-ordination and actively dynamically work your joints before sports. The Wall OH Squat is a great way to train your body to turn on and be ready for what you are about to do later.
