2 Super Easy squat mobility drills
Better Squats in Just 5 Minutes!
Alec Enkiri | 7/11/22
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Mobility work doesn't have to be fancy or overly complicated. Sometimes the simplest drills are all most of us need to prepare our bodies to move well under load. This increases compliance as well as efficiency (because it saves you time!). Over time consistently spending 5 minutes on something simple like this is going to have a much more profound impact than doing a bunch of fancy prep drills sporadically.
With that, here are a two quick and easy ways to prep your lower body for a solid squat session. Now am I saying these are the ONLY mobility drills ALL OF YOU will ever need to squat well? No, I'm not, but many times they can be because they help to mobilize all of the key joints involved in the movement. So let's go over the drills shown in the video real quick.
In the first drill I drop down into a deep squat position while holding onto the squat rack. This does 2 things: it allows me to sit back into the hips and it helps me to stay balanced. With this freedom I'm able to pry around a good bit and really get the hips loose and mobilized and ready to occupy this position under load.
You'll notice that while I'm down there I'm bouncing and bobbing around, leaning over to each side, and really trying to create mobility where I feel any restrictions. This is the most important part about this. You aren't just squatting down and sitting there. You are squatting down and then actively prying around to free up range of motion in the hips, in terms of flexion, abduction, and even rotational components. So remember this is an active drill, not a passive one.
In the second drill I've got the bar on top of my thighs. This is a little trick from the Olympic weightlifting world. You can even put a small amount of weight onto the bar for this if you need to, but basically what this is does is it creates a slight counterbalance effect. This counterbalance allows you to sink into a clean, deep squat position, and from here you can pry around and free up range of motion in the hips just like with the first drill.
You can sit back and sink into a nice deep squat to get the hips limbered up, but you can also use the weight from the bar to help drive the knees forward and really get those ankles loosened up and mobilized as well and ready to execute a nice squat pattern. Lastly, you can also use the bar itself as a self myofascial release tool and dough roll those VMO's just above the knees there, which can have a pretty profound impact on knee mobility. So with this one simple drill you re able to prep the hips, knees, and ankles to move limberly through that loaded squat pattern.
If your squats have been feeling stiff or tight lately, give these 2 drills a try before your next session. Spend 2-3 minutes on each one then move in to your regular bar warm-up, and I think you'll notice a pretty big difference in your squats after that. Good luck everybody!
-Alec
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