Shout out to Julie who suggested this topic 🙏!
When you’re building or testing your strength, there are few things more frustrating than a missed rep. I coulda/woulda/shoulda had it mannnn. What gives?
This is a big topic, because the potential reasons you could miss a lift across all movements are many (to fit in one book even). So let’s ground ourselves by narrowing things down to the Back Squat for now, as it is the most important lift for strength training, and the number of the things that could go wrong are fairly well known.
Common reasons for missing a back squat are (listed from more common to less):
- Not Strong Enough Yet: AKA using too high of a % of your max today. You simply acted too big for your britches by reaching for a weight that you haven’t had time to build towards. You see this often in individuals who are not on a progressive program at all, just going for RMs (rep-maxes) each time they squat, and letting their ego guide the weight selection. It usually doesn’t choose wisely ;).
- Improper Technique: You’re doing it wrong! That’s a joke, but if you’ve never been taught how to squat properly, the number of mistakes you could be making are… a topic for another blog post. Weight shifting to toes, weight shifting to heels, squatting high, squatting too low, knees caving in, bending at the knees first, losing your midline, pelvic tilt, looking up, looking down, too wide a stance, too narrow a stance, bad arm/hand position, poor breathing and bracing patterns… The list goes on! Don’t guess. Get movement educated.
- Inconsistent Technique: I went through this yesterday with a client who was using too much speed to drop into the squat (a front squat in this case), which worked up until 90%, then it didn’t. This was a great moment for a lesson, because by slowing things down is his setup and descent, he came back and made the lift. This is generally hard to do at PR levels, thus validating the more consistent technique.
Now, this isn’t generally limited to improper cueing or self-talk. As you get “amped,” your perception of your body and the movement changes, so the whole psycho-social-physical person must be considered here, which opens up the conversation to… whatever the person says is on their mind. E.g. “I’m scared of the heavy weight” is just the start. - Inconsistent Lifestyle Factors: Couldn’t sleep last night? Missed a meal or three? Stressing over something at work or at home. These things absolutely affect your performance, especially peak performance if you’re pushing your limits. Your daily maximums fluctuate based on these factors, even if you feel like the same old you during your warm-ups. The peak performance just won’t be there if you’re not recovering like a champ. It’s not your fault, but it is yours and your coach’s responsibility to adjust your training plans accordingly.
- Muscular Imbalances: If you are choosing your weights wisely and progressively, this can appear as a consistent hip shift backwards (or forwards) in the sticking point. Usually it appears early as weights go up, and gets more amplified at higher percentages. Typically athletes with longer femurs (upper leg bones) will shift backwards (tipping their chest further forward) then is ideal for heavy lifting, as it creates additional torque when the bar Center of Gravity (CG) moves forward of the body’s CG (always midfoot).
There can also be weak glutes, hamstrings, quads, and spinal erectors. We will go over some correctives below, but it’s important to not get too sidetracked here: the answer is usually more squatting the right way, and maybe 1 or 2 accessory exercises.
The interesting thing about imbalances is that it usually intersects with improper and/or inconsistent technique. The more you learn to move a certain way, the more certain muscle groups are (relatively) strengthened, and others (relatively) weakened. A vicious cycle. - Inconsistent Environment: Forgot your weightlifting shoes or belt today? Skipped your *very effective warm-up* due to time constraints (*groan*). Squatting on an uneven surface? Are your kids yelling at you in the background? Some gym bro is giving you unsolicited advice again? Other environmental distractions? These can all swing your daily max 5-10% easily.
Ok, now that we’ve talked about some common causes for underperforming, what can we do about it?
Here is the general process I go through with all my clients. Note that it’s a continuous loop, and rarely are we “one-and-done”:
Movement Development Loop:
- Assessment: What’s going on? This is a gross assessment of a video (hopefully), or detailed verbal recollection. E.g. “Ok you tipped forward and had to put the bar in the spotter arms.”
- Seeing/Identifying: What’s the real problem? AKA Why did that happen? This is the heart of the matter. If we get this right, what follows is pretty straightforward. If we call this wrong, it can send you tumbling down a rabbit hole, wasting your time and being frustrated by the same problem recurring next time. This is where that saying “you pay me for the years not the minutes” rings true, because an experienced coach will be able to call a fault’s cause correctly by watching 1 or 2 reps, while someone brand new, even with the best intentions, will need to do significant research before they can move forward with confidence, if at all (*throws hands up*).
- The Right Tool: What does this call for? If we identified the real problem/Why correctly, this is textbook material. The fixes for each common problem above are well-defined thanks to biomechanics and decades of collective lifting wisdom (largely available for free now on the internet). You can check out the books Starting Strength, The Squat Bible, Olympic Weightlifting: Cues & Corrections, and many others. Honestly most of this information is still best learned in real life by working with an experienced weightlifting coach. So find one near you, and take notes! The magic is in seeing and implementing.
- Implementation: How does it fit in the overall plan? What should we consider modifying? This is strategic planning, as we are generally solving one small part of an entire week’s (or more) plan, with multiple priorities. Time is usually the limiting factor, so we strive to be concise in whatever additional exercises you are going to do.
I prefer to write accessories that can be done in 10 minutes or less, and cycle through the body (e.g. arms, core, squat-specific) so that you can give a solid 90% effort on each with modest rest between each (30-60 seconds), maximizing time efficiency. - Short-term Efficacy / SMTM (Show Me The Money): is it having an immediate effect? This is the quick check on the Seeing/Identifying step. We should see a small but meaningful improvement within a week, which indicates we are on the right track and can continue with this tool for at least several weeks. If not, back it up!
- Keep Going | or… New Problem is revealed: Re-Assess, Identify, etc. Usually we zoom in to solve a small part of the problem, then zoom out and.. something else appears :). Our work is ongoing!
And now for some specific scenarios and off the cuff fixes!
Squats: struggle above 90%
- Physical: not strong enough
- More squats / weekly frequency (2x-3x per week)
- Get on a smart program!
- Lifestyle: overstressed / under-recovered
- Monitor Sleep Quality / Increase Protein / Increase Total Cals / Reduce Other Training
- Psychological: Intimidated by heavy weights
- More heavier squats, reduce volume: This is a program-level customization
- 100%+ Walk Outs: Practice unracking, walking out, holding for 10-20 seconds, then re-racking 100%+ weights. Obviously do not attempt to perform a squat here. The goal is to normalize the feeling of unracking this weight level that we usually don’t touch very often.
Squats: struggles with consistently getting below parallel (esp. w/ heavier weights)
- Back off the peak weights, we’ve got to build a better foundation
- Pause Squats: Take the timing/speed and variability out for now
- Squat target progressions with up to 70%: Set a box height/target to keep you honest and reduce guessing. Progress it over time.
- Direct mobility work (e.g. hip flexors, ankles, etc.)
Squats: struggle at a particular point in the lift (e.g. right above parallel)
- Box Squats at precise height of sticking point: generate force from a dead stop
- Anderson Squats / pin squats (start on pins): generate force from a dead stop
- Negative squats to pins/blocks (finish on pins/blocks): practice lowering a weight you can’t concentrically squat yet (very niche use, not for most people)
- Accommodating Resistance: Switching up squat variations
- Direct Muscular Work: 3-5 sets of 10-15 reps, work up to 85% perceived effort, then add small increments week by week (e.g. 5-10 lbs). This is to build specific up muscle groups and make them ready to recruit on the main lifts
- Glutes: RDLs, Glute Hip Thrusts, Banded Deadlifts or Squats (carefully!)
- Quads: Handle Squats, Russian Step-ups (w/ or w/o weight), Front Squats, Pause Squats
- Hamstrings: Glute Ham Raises (scaled), RDLs, Single Leg RDL, Band Curls, GHD Hip+Back Extensions
Hopefully this gives you some quality info and ideas to get started on fixing your blank!
As you can see, the paths we can take with just the squat and its many facets are… many! But the overall Movement Development Loop is solid, and you can apply it to almost any movement. Experience seeing and implementing is the key.
As with many things in life, start where you are with what you have. If you’re smart, you’ll treat your movement like your education and practice being as a good student as you know how. Then, get out there in the real world and surround yourself with people that know more than you, and take notes!
Coach Mauricio