We currently live in a very anterior dominant world; a lot of work in the gym is completed on the front portion of the body with the posterior chain being treated as a second thought. Not to mention that most clients work in environments that are conducive to an anterior dominant imbalance. Introducing the overhead squat early into client training programs is an excellent strategy to help rectify imbalances.
Commonly, imbalances in the fitness industry are dealt with as they arise – this approach inevitably leads to stalling in training, and therefore delays goals. On the other hand clients don’t wish to spend 30,40,50, 60 pounds an hour completing stretching and mobility drills. The obvious solution is the use of a movement pattern that ticks the boxes of corrective exercise, and also promotes improved strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, joint health and significantly raises the heart rate. Introduce the overhead squat!
Is your client ready for the overhead squat?
Not everyone can jump straight into overhead squats; years of poor posture, limited movement, poor trunk stability, and quite possibly years of including poor form exercises will limit what you can do with a client to start with. If the client is unable to perform a body weight squat, carried out with a neutral spine maintaining a normal lordic curve, the exercise must be delayed until such time. Flexibility is not a long term project like many would have you believe – simply pausing at the point where the from breaks down and holding for 6-8 seconds while stretching is enough to ease the client into the movement pattern. Simply increasing the depth of the movement over a couple of weeks is generally sufficient. This has the added bonus of improving the client’s body awareness – and it’s a very straining task – flexibility, muscular endurance and postural strength can all be ticked during this exercise.
Other limiting factors of the overhead squat would include shoulder injuries or knee injuries. Both will require clearance from a physiotherapist or relevant practitioner.
Introducing the overhead squat and progressions
Below are the key points and progressions for the overhead squat:
- Initially the movement should be performed with a wide snatch grip, or as wide as required to allow the bar to remain over the crown of the head. This can be progressed over a number of weeks by gradually reducing the grip width. Reducing the grip width without excessive internal rotation of the glenohumeral joint will require the client to have an upright torso, which means there is excellent mobility in the hips, knees and ankles.
- Initially squat depth is not the major concern. Yes research does suggest that full squats are more effective for overall strength developent and I’m not arguing that point. What needs to be the focus is increasing the squat depth maintaining excellent posture – squats with poor posture are significantly worse than partial squats with excellent form. Each week progress the depth, using pauses where the form breaks down, and short intense PNF stretch protocols between the sets is an excellent strategy. Most clients should be able to open up the hips and ankle joint within a couple of weeks.
Problem solving
- If the client rotates the glenohumeroal joint inwards exsesively, strain can be placed upon the shoulder potentially leading to an injury. To check for this issue observe the elbow joint; it will commonly turn backwards if the glenohumeraol is inwardly rotating. To solve this issue pause the client at the point of rotation and cue the client to forcefully inwardly rotate the elbow and hold for 6-8 seconds, move the client down lower into the squat and repeat the pause where necessary. The internal rotation of the elbow will ensure that the external rotors, middle and lower traps are working, key muscles involved in scapula stability. Interestingly research has shown that around 70% of rotator cuff injuries occur in individuals with scapula instability.
In conclusion
There is no reason 99% of your clients shouldn’t be completing overhead squats, once the movement pattern has being taught correctly and the client is injury free. The overhead squat has the benefit of:
- Developing trunk stability
- Promotes good posture
- Assists in devloping scapula stability
- Strengthens the shoulder joint as a whole
- Develops the middle and lower trapezius
If the client is new to the gym and has no reason to not overhead squat, it would significantly benefit all other squat variations if this squat was included first.