Are you sick of having a stiff, lower back, tight hips, and feeling terrible when you do squats?

Squats are great exercise… But only if you do them right. And the more time you having to the bar or the more time you sit at a desk, the more important it is to warm up is.

Your four crucial exercises you need to build strength and muscle with your squat without beating the snot out of your joints….

In only three minutes.

Properly prepare for a squat we need to mobilize, activate, and stabilize muscles through your hip, knee, ankle, and trunk.

Steph one starts with your ankle.

If your ankles are stiff, you won’t be able to get in what we call Active dorsiflexion, meaning your knees will not go forward at all during the squat.

This means less quad development, and from a technique perspective, you’ll be more likely to go up on your toes and lose stability.

Exercise #1: Split Squat W/Pause

Single leg exercises like the split squat snuff out muscular imbalances. In this case, you build joint Mobility and stability through your hip, knee and ankle.

The split squat forces more stabilization so muscles in your hips and groin must work harder as well as what we call the lateral subsystem.. a combination of exercises in your trunk and hips to help stabilize your pelvis.

Exercise #2: The Inchworm

Inchworm is a great exercise to improve hamstring and lower back flexibility while warming up your upper body at the same time. Walk your hands out gradually, keeping your ABS braced, then keeping the range of motion through your ankle.

That means, without bending your knees, walk. Your feet up as high as you can. Once you get to the top position that you can get to, walk your hands back out and repeat. Five reps is the sweet spot for inchworms.

Exercise #3: Bodyweight Squat

Five second pauses on the bottom of your Body weight squats is a great way to warm up. This reinforces owning every inch of the. Rep, mainly the bottom of the rep where injuries are most likely to occur. Perform five to ten squats with a. Three to five second pause on the bottom of each rep.

This is a great way to both warm up and reinforce optimal joint position for your squat.

Exercise #4: The Toe Grab Squat

The toe grab squat or the Sumo squat with a toe grab is a great exercise to groove your squat mechanics, improving mobility all the way through your hip and ankle. Before you get into a squat routine. Due to the wider stance and your elbows going inside of your thighs, you can push against your thighs, creating a better stretch all the way through your groin.

You can also do a variation of this exercise with a more narrow stance. And that would eliminate the Sumo portion. When we use a more normal or narrow squat stance, you can improve active range of motion through your ankle by keeping your heels flat and pushing your knees forward.

Both variations are great exercises for improving squat mechanics before any lower body training day.

Exercise #5: Lateral Squat

Lateral squat is a great way to. Improve joint mobility and flexibility, specifically through your groin. Descend into a squat, push your hips. Back to maximize the stretch and get.

As deep as you can while keeping your heels flat on the ground throughout the entire movement.

Exercise #6: Sumo-Squat with T-Spine Rotation

The Sumo squat with rotation is a great exercise to improve ankle, hip and thoracic mobility. While using a wider stance. Squat with your knees pushed out, you’re going to rotate. Up following your hand with your eyes under control, improving thoracic mobility.

Hit five to six reps per side, controlling every inch of the movement so you can gradually improve mobility.

Find out in our latest YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g_Qu_gubSw