Probably the most common mistake seen with the overhead squat is a forward tip of the torso during the downward phase of the squat. This is typically due to limited mobility of the hips or ankles, or a weak core, and is obvious when the barbell shifts forward in front of your body as you squat down, throwing your center of gravity off balance, placing you at risk for dropping the barbell.
The goal is to keep the barbell "stacked" over your feet throughout the movement, which means your torso must remain upright. If you feel like you're off-balance, or if you notice in the mirror that the barbell has shifted in front of your shoulders, reduce your range of motion and focus on keeping your core tight. Even if you just squat down a few inches, pressing your hips back as you try to "sit" on your ankles, you can gradually increase your range of motion with time.
It's better to start with a small range of motion and proper form than risk injury by leaning forward as you squat. Knee valgus, or the inward collapsing of the knees as you squat, is a common issue seen with all squat variations.
It's often due to a lack of engagement of the glutes, particularly the glute medius. Watch yourself in the mirror as you perform the exercise. If you notice, especially as you transition between the downward and upward phase of the squat, that your knees collapse toward your body's midline, you need to focus on engaging your glutes to "pull" your knees outward to keep them aligned with your toes as you move through the squat.
Performed with proper form and an appropriate level of resistance, overhead squats can be appropriate for almost everyone. The challenge, of course, comes with the fact that this is a full-body exercise that requires coordination, control, a baseline level of strength, and good mobility and stability of all the major joints and muscle groups. If you're going to try the exercise for the first time, significantly reduce the weight you would use when performing a traditional squat, or simply use a PVC pipe or broomstick to get accustomed to the movement.
Watch yourself in the mirror, and if you notice any of the common mistakes, reduce your range of motion and focus on keeping your shoulders and core stable as you gradually develop greater mobility through your shoulders, hips, and ankles. If you experience any sharp or shooting pains, stop the exercise. You can always perform other squat or lunge variations to develop strength through the same muscle groups if those exercises feel more comfortable to perform.
Overhead squats are challenging because the weight is placed above your head, changing your normal center of gravity. This requires your core to become more engaged to help stabilize you. Remember to use a lighter weight than you would for other types of squats.
Practice with bodyweight using a broomstick to get the motion correct before adding load. Overhead squats will certainly engage and challenge your abs and entire core. This squat variation offsets your normal center of gravity, causing you to brace and tighten your core to stabilize your body. Using your core in this way will increase strength in your abdominals. Incorporate this move and similar ones into one of these popular workouts:.
Get exercise tips to make your workouts less work and more fun. Dewar M. USA Weightlifting. October 17, In the beginning, I dabbled in CrossFit workouts sparingly and often there was an exercise called the overhead squat I could not properly perform.
Naturally, because I struggled with it, I decided it was stupid, pointless, unsafe and not a functional exercise that I needed to perform. So I skipped it. You may believe all the myths I once believed about overhead squats. Now, fast forward 14 years. The overhead squat has become one of my favorite movements and the truth is that overhead squats are the king of full body exercises and are a necessity in your fitness routine.
Below, is just a short list of the benefits you will see when you include overhead squats in your routine. Sometimes corrective exercises work, but only if they are done with a program that is holistic. There are countless corrective exercises available from the past, but you should focus on a process rather than a set of movements. During World War II, the government made an enormous effort to prepare young men for war, and corrective exercises in the form of additional training were prescribed to those who screened poorly.
The military minds knew, because of a big enough sample size, that those who were not prepared would face problems in boot camp or later in combat.
In order to improve soldier health, they literally went back to the fundamentals during basic training and leaned on sport and physical education. Simple well-rounded movements, track and field, gymnastics, swimming, and even recreational games were planned and integrated. The results were mixed, as the entire operation was so large not all programs were on the same page.
Conventional exercises like seated horizontal rows are great because they place athletes into a posture that is extended and arched, while isometrically bracing during heavy pulling.
Less-conventional exercises such as pikes with physioballs and prone lift-offs can be modified so they are more effective and less likely to force an illusion of success. Neutral grip or bilateral vertical pulling is also part of the equation, as those patterns are mirrored in overhead squatting.
My article on using the Quantum for overhead squatting and pressing went into barbell options, but dumbbells are perfectly fine for starting out. Video 2.
One stretch that I think is underrated is the breathing snatch hang, which is far more useful for athletes to get mobile and integrate their diaphragm than using flexion. Countless athletes fail to improve their overhead squat because they look to corrective exercises rather than connected drills. The last recommendation is just putting in the time and practicing. I wish everything was easy and the recommendations above would make athletes instantly become instructional video models, but anything that is worth doing requires sweat and time.
Every other day or so, doing a set or two of weighted and modified overhead squatting patterns will improve your mobility. The key is to see the deficit between conventional and overhead squatting and learn to connect an overhead grip and work on reaching that standard. Some coaches have claimed that overhead squats made regular squats easier, but I disagree. I believe that good squatters help all squatting, but upper body mobility and strength are the keys to unlocking the movement pattern for skilled lifters.
I do agree that back squatting becomes much easier, and those athletes who only front squat will see their back squat improve because of elbow position not interfering with depth. I agree. The real point is the rate of advancement, as the rush of polishing an overhead lift will be different from athlete to athlete. Athletes who score really poorly—meaning they are in pain with very little symmetry and depth—will need to work with a sports medicine professional.
If they are indeed injured and not rehabilitated properly, they need therapy, not wannabe corrective exercise. My line in the sand is fairly simple: You need to be able to squat 90 degrees with your body weight. More than that and I am thrilled, but less than that makes me cautiously optimistic.
Programming overhead squats is a potential organizational nightmare, as each athlete is likely different. So, with limited time, you can run out of minutes in the session before even starting to address overhead squat quality and loading. Programming is about goals, time, and options. Good planning means you know what to expect and have enough flexibility to adjust to unexpected changes. Based on the last few years, I have found that the exercises, progressions, sequences, and loading protocols work well.
The table below is a good start, but feel free to experiment as much of what I have learned was just me trying to do a better job with the same exercises and training modules, while better organizing the process. Figure 2. Designing training is similar to gourmet cooking, but far more complex.
Wrapping up the training program, coaches need to be honest with the simple fact that all of this takes time. My biggest pet peeve with corrective exercises is that they seem to instantly work like magic on video, but rarely do we see a panoramic video of all of the beautiful overhead squats after months of treatments. Adding the movement pattern to warm-ups or finishers is a great idea, rather than just staying stuck doing the same dynamic stretches and mini-conditioning bursts at the end.
This position adjusts according to your individual profile of strengths and mobility. However, you should take time to figure out the stance that works best for you. How do you know which stance is best for you? Here are some important principles:. As you begin the movement, as any squat, you need to elect your torso position. This is going to be required to sit into a deep squat with a strong and active lower body. The correct torso position is a balance between intentionally inclined to remain constant, and upright enough to keep the bar locked in a stable overhead position.
The best way to get familiar with this is a very gentle hip hinge at the start of the movement. The key points are to keep the hips and torso moving as one, rotate the knees out, and send the hips back slowly.
As you lower yourself in the overhead squat, the focus should be on keeping your knees out, torso stable in position, and remaining active throughout. The overhead squat has a larger requirement on deliberate movement on the way down, so you need to really focus on it. Keep your weight distribution stable throughout the movement as you squeeze down into the bottom position. This is a matter of balance and stability and it comes from practice and repetition.
This is also one of the reasons we recommend always pausing or slowly descending with overhead squats. The familiarity with the position is the main factor in the value for long-term training or carryover to the snatch. The bottom position requires all the postural focus and intention that every previous step has demanded.
It requires you to consistently and actively apply pressure to the bar and the floor. The intention and practice of the movement are all you can do. Try to make the bottom position perfectly stable: no movement anywhere. The important points are simple: keep the chest up, apply pressure through the floor, and maintain balance with the barbell.
Remember, however, that if you have to take a step to correct yourself in an overhead squat you may as well have missed the rep.
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