Movement Analysis

Mitch Swartz
10/20/2019

List of Teaching Ques for the Barbell Squat

Before the lifter begins descending with the weight:

1) Feet shoulder width apart: The heels of the feet are positioned directly below the outsides
of the shoulders (this is referred to as shoulder width).
2) Feet angled slightly outward: The feet angle outwards from the heel at 70 degrees.
3) Elbows adjacent to the trunk of the body: from the point where the hands grip the barbell,
the elbows should not be pointing at the floor, they should be pointing outwards away
from the trunk of the body at close to a 60-degree angle.

As the lifter descends with the weight:

4) The hips move backwards: As the lifter descends, the hips move away from the starting
position of the squat.
5) The knees bend outwards: As the lifter descends, the knees bend outwards at 70 degrees
on both legs.
6) The chest is kept facing forwards: As the lifter descends, the front of the chest is kept
facing forwards and does not point directly down at the ground. An acceptable angle
would be anywhere from 55 to 65 degrees. The trunk of the body remains almost vertical,
no more than a 35-degree variation from the starting position.

As the lifter reaches the bottom of the movement:

7) The knees remain facing outwards: The knees remain pointing outwards at a 70-degree
angle on both legs.
8) The chest remains facing forwards: The chest remains pointing forwards at a 55 to 65-
degree angle.
9) The hips are parallel to the knees: At the bottom of the movement, the joint of the hip is
parallel to the joint of the knee on both sides, resulting in proper depth for the squat.
In this image, we see the lifter preforming teaching ques 1, 2, and 3. As shown by the green line,
the feet are shoulder width apart. The two green arrows on the bottom of the lifter shows the feet
pointing outwards from the heel at 70 degrees, and the green arrow at the top of the lifter shows
the elbows pointing outwards from the trunk of the body at a 60-degree angle.
In this image, we see the lifter preforming teaching ques 4, 5, and 6. The green arrow at the back
of the lifter shows the hips moving outwards away from the starting position of the lift. The two
green arrows attached to the knees of the lifter show the knees bending outwards at 70-degree
angles as the lifter descends. The green arrow attached to the top of the lifter shows the trunk of
the body pointing upwards and the chest facing outwards as the lifter descends.
In this image, we see the lifter preforming teaching ques 7, 8, and 9. The knees are still facing
outwards at a 70-degree angle, as shown by the green arrows at the bottom of the lifter. The
green arrow at the top of the lifter shows the chest remains facing outwards and the trunk of the
body remains almost vertical. The line attached to the joint of the knee and the joint of the hip
shows the hips at a parallel position to the knees, meaning the lifter has reached appropriate
depth for the lift and can now proceed with ascending back to the starting position.