Overhead Squat: tips to improve it
If there is a movement that challenges the CrossFit athletes is, without a doubt, the overhead squat.
Mastering this movement will not only improve your training performance, but will also reduce the risk of injuries considerably.
My name is Ales Fausand as a physical therapist specializing in CrossFit, I will guide you through a complete road map to achieve and perfect your overhead squat in this CrossFit tutorial.
Requirements for the overhead squat
Often, we associate a good overhead squat pattern with good mobility, and while mobility is of course essential to develop it, there are other essential requirements to perform this movement safely and efficiently.
We should think of these capabilities as the legs of a table, so that if one is missing or deficient in relation to the others, the table will be defective. These capabilities are:
Below we will break down each of them analytically and propose specific exercises to develop them and achieve the desired overhead. squat.
Movility for Overhead Squat
Mobility is the first capability you should be aware of to be able to perform this movement.
This ability will allow you to not only be able to meet the movement standards required in CrossFit, but will also allow you to perform the exercise without feeling stiffness in the joints or muscles.
At the level of mobility, the overhead squat is one of the most demanding movements in the world. that exists in CrossFit, since the following requirements are needed to be able to perform it are solvency:
Shoulder flexion and external rotation
In order to carry the bar overhead, we will need good mobility in these two joint directions.
Bending alone is not enough.
Having a good external rotation will ensure a good position of the humeral head within our joint and a correct position of the scapulae to perform the movement safely.
One of the tests I use most often with my athletes is the following:
Sitting, and with the pelvis and the entire spine against the wall, we will bring the shoulders towards flexion, trying to touch the wall, stopping the movement when we feel that any part of our spine begins to detach.
We would consider a sufficient mobility for the overhead squat when in this test you are able to stick your wrists to the wall without taking off any part of your back.
To assess external rotation, we will use the following test:
Lying face up on the floor, legs bent, we will also support the entire back and supporting the elbows on the floor we will try to bring the hands backward in external rotation of the shoulder.
We would also consider the test good when we are able to keep your wrists close to the floor without taking off any part of your back.
In order to work mobility in both flexion and external rotation of the shoulder, I propose the following two exercises:
Flexion with pike in wallball
External rotation + press on foam
Remember to perform the mobility exercises concentrated and looking to reach the maximum of your joint range, including a short pause at the end of that range.
Thoracic extension
The next important aspect in the mobility of the overhead squat is the extension of the thoracic spine, which will allow a more vertical position of the trunk and will also facilitate the flexion and external rotation of the shoulders.
In a large number of athletes, the lack of thoracic extension is what causes this movement pattern to fail.
Assessing whether the mobility in thoracic extension is adequate for the overhead squat is complicated in isolation, so to assess it we will use a video test.
We will record ourselves doing the following:
Sitting next to a wall, we will support a foam roller at the height of our thoracic spine.
Next, we cross our arms to block the movement of the shoulder girdle and bring our head backwards with the aim of touching the wall but without extending or flexing the neck.
We would consider a adequate thoracic mobility when we are able to touch the wall with the head and we have seen in the video that the movement leaves the thorax, without compensations of other areas of the spine.
To work on thoracic extension mobility, two of my favorite exercises are as follows:
Thoracic wall extension
Thoracic wall rotation
Hip flexion and internal rotation
The mobility of the hip is fundamental not only to be able to break the parallel and comply with the movement standards, but also to be able to perform an anteversion of the pelvis that facilitates lumbar extension, which will allow us to maintain the verticality of the trunk during the movement.
What is the problem?
If our mobility in hip flexion or internal rotation is deficient, breaking the parallel means bringing the pelvis into retroversion and the lumbar spine into flexion, which will cause our movement pattern to collapse and the bar tends to go forward, making the movement very complicated and inefficient.
In this case, there is no better test than simply performing a squat (without weight).
We would consider adequate hip mobility to perform the overhead squat when we are able to break parallel without having to flex our spine and also do not feel excessive tension or pain in the front of the groin.
We could complete this test with an isolated evaluation of hip internal rotation.
To do this, we sit on a box, with our thighs fully supported and try to bring our foot outward, making a rotation with axis in the knee and without lifting the thigh. We must be able to achieve an angle of about 30 degrees of opening, noting that we do not compensate the movement with the pelvis or lumbar spine.
Dorsal ankle flexion
A good dorsal flexion of the ankle is what will allow us to bring our knees forward following the axis of the hips, thus facilitating their flexion and requiring less internal rotation of the hips.
In addition, it will allow us to keep the entire foot supported during the movement, preventing the heel from leaving the ground to achieve a more stable and efficient movement pattern.
Lunge test
To evaluate this ability, the best test is undoubtedly the lunge test, which consists of the following:
We place ourselves near a wall and then we will advance one foot. The test is performed by bringing the knee to touch the wall without lifting the heel off the ground, so we have to find the maximum distance at which we are able to achieve it.
If that distance is equal to or greater than our fist, we would consider the test good.
In order to work on ankle flexion mobility, I propose these two exercises:
Assisted dorsiflexion with Kb
Eccentric ankle dorsiflexion
Once you've reviewed your mobility requirements, it's time to move on to the next step: end-of-range stability and strength.
Stability and strength at the end of the range
Having good mobility, if it is not linked to these capabilities, can be dangerous for our joints, since they will support through the soft tissues (joint capsule, ligaments, etc.) all the load to which we are subjecting them.
What is the problem?
Often, I see athletes who are able to perform a perfect overhead squat with a plastic or wooden spike, but when they add a certain load, they start to shake and lose a very large percentage of the movement quality.
If this is also your case, you should definitely check your stability and strength at the end of the range.
In view of the fact that these capacities will be important in the overhead squat, fundamentally, the stability and strength at the end of the range in the shoulders and shoulder girdle, and the lateral and anteroposterior stability of the lower body.
Shoulder and shoulder girdle stability
Both the shoulder musculature and the shoulder girdle musculature will have to perform a very powerful isometric work (muscle contraction without movement) at the end of the articular range of shoulder flexion and thoracic extension.
This contraction is what will ensure the correct position of the bar above our head and that it remains fixed, facilitating the movement of the lower body to be able to perform the squat pattern.
What is the problem?
A clear symptom of a lack of stability in the shoulders and shoulder girdle is that the bar tends to move forward very early in the day. and that tremors are observed during the overhead squat.
To work on these capacities, exercises with load that require a powerful contraction of the musculature at the end of the range and in the specific position of the overhead squat with respect to the upper body are very effective.
The progression would be to perform exercises with the same characteristics but in squat position.
Here are some examples:
Bumper lift in good morning position
Bumper hold in prone position
Overhead squat resisted with rubber
Pulls with band in squat position
Lateral and anteroposterior lower body stability
Although less frequently than the previous point, lower body stability is also one of the problems I observe in athletes who do not have an efficient overhead squat pattern.
What is the problem?
This problem is what we can see when, when performing the overhead squat, the shoulders and shoulder girdle are perfectly stable and aligned but there is a movement of the legs or pelvis forward and backward, which is not very noticeable in the overhead squat. even forces you to take your heels off the ground. to balance the movement or cause a backward fall.
An exaggerated knee valgus (the knees go inward) can also occur, causing the lower body to collapse and resulting in movement failure.
To work on lower body stability in the overhead squat pattern, we will add an external element that destabilizes us and perform the entire movement pattern trying to overcome that instability.
These exercises would be for example the ones indicated in this case:
Overhead squat with pike and miniband on knees
Overhead squat with pike and band on rack (previous)
Overhead squat with pike and band on rack (rear)
You should select the exercise depending on what your stability problem is, the first one being for lateral stability and the next two for anterior and posterior stability.
Proprioception
Proprioception is the sense that allows us to perceive the location, movement and action of the different parts of our body.
It encompasses a set of sensations and information that reaches our brain, including the perception of the position of joints and their movement, muscle contraction or effort.
This ability will be decisive in the execution of a good overhead squat, because if we do not know how we have to move each part of our body and how to contract the necessary muscles to achieve the necessary stability, the mobility and strength at the end of the range we have will be useless.
A priori, proprioception work may seem more like a game than conscientious work aimed at improving our movement, but it is precisely the lack of this work that leads most athletes I have been able to advise to have movement patterns that are not as efficient as they would like.
Both to analyze if your proprioception is good and to work on it, the star tool in this case is going to be the feedback.
There are several types of feedback that can help us in this case. I list them below in the order that in my opinion they are most practical or relevant:
Video feedback
This method is extremely simple and effective in improving our movement patterns.
Through the videos we can simply observe how we are moving to increase our awareness in this regard.
(For example, in an overhead squat, by watching a video we can see how there is a lack of anterior stability of the lower limb. We would already know what we need to work on).
It is also useful to specifically assess our proprioception in specific aspects by means of some exercises.
(For example, we are going to perform an overhead squat trying to stop the movement at 90º of hip flexion. We perform several repetitions and then check with the video if we are meeting the goal or if we fall short/long.
The work would be to repeat this exercise until achieving 90º is a norm).
This use can be applied to a wide range of exercises and is especially useful when working on technique.
We often make the mistake of recording ourselves only when we do heavy repetitions and light repetitions are just as important, if not more, to improve our proprioception.
In addition, there are applications such as WL Analysis that allow us, through the recordings, to analyze the lines of movement and even the speed of execution, which allows us to have objective measurements to know if we are improving our movement with the different exercises we are performing.
External load feedback
As you will see, this type of feedback is very similar to the exercises to work stability, and is that the principle on which they are based is the same: overcome an external resistance to where we want our movement pattern to go.
By demanding a muscular contraction from our body, the information sent to our brain is infinitely greater, so selling an external resistance will greatly improve our proprioception.
This type of exercise should be done in a slow and controlled way, trying to perceive what is happening in the different parts of our body.
A good example exercise would be to perform a resisted overhead squat with an elastic band on the shoulders.
Instant result feedback
This type of feedback is faster than the previous one and will help us to analyze our proprioception and work on a very specific aspect of the movement pattern.
It encompasses several types of stimuli:
- Visual (For example, putting a laser on the knees to check that the laser goes straight in front of our eyes when lowering into a squat),
- the tactile (For example, put some drawers on the sides of the bar so that it touches when we reach 90 degrees).
- or the auditory (which could simply be a partner telling us "so much for that" when he sees that we are losing shoulder stability).
I'm sure you've received some similar feedback in your box without knowing that it was something very powerful for improving proprioception.
How many times has your coach said "That's it!" when you've gotten a move right?
This type of feedback, applied systematically and conscientiously, greatly improves your proprioception.
Movement pattern (technique)
As in the vast majority of movements that we must perform in CrossFit, the movement pattern (or the technique as we also usually call it) will be the key piece that will combine all the previous points to achieve the desired efficient overhead squat.
The movement pattern is extremely important, however, we often focus on it too early.
If we do not first have the necessary requirements for mobility, stability, end-range strength and proprioception, our attempts to achieve the movement pattern we desire will be in vain.
In this sense, we must understand that the movement pattern we perform is based on a series of neuronal connections in our brain that keep that "movement map" in order to do it more automatically and save energy.
Therefore, if we try to perform the overhead squat when we do not have sufficient capabilities, we will probably be teaching our nervous system to perform an incorrect pattern that will be more complicated to correct.
If we talk specifically about the overhead squat, it is not a technically complex movement and depends largely on having the previous capabilities worked.
Once we achieve this, the movement will become much easier.
That said, there are several ways to improve our movement pattern:
How to improve Overhead Squat technique
One of them is to use the same systems that we use for proprioception, but in this case based on the complete movement.
1.- Analyze your movement
Through the analysis of our movement, either by ourselves or by external indications, we can apply small corrections to improve our technique.
2.- Works with tempos and pauses.
The second, and from my point of view the most effective, is to add modifications of the movement through tempos and pauses. These types of modifications are very useful in order to improve our movement pattern in specific ranges or phases of the movement.
If for example in your overhead squat pattern you feel that the descent (or eccentric phase) is very difficult and yet you go up with ease, it would be convenient to perform a 4-0-0 tempo in some sets (e.g., a 4-0-0 tempo in some sets).4 seconds downhill, pause and climb as fast as possible).
I also observe in many athletes a difficulty in stabilizing the bar over their head in different ranges of motion.
If, for example, the problem is observed in 90º of hip flexion, we can add 2 seconds of pause in that particular position when lowering or raising, to work specifically on that range of motion.