Squat deeper and optimize your health and performance with Lift Clinic’s team of physio, chiro, RMT and strength coaches!
This post will focus on the reload techniques used to improve the range of motion in the deep squat pattern.
We squat every single day to sit down, pick things up, and use the restroom! The ability to get into a deep squat also ensures your body can tolerate reps and reps of extreme positions involved in sports. Example: digging a low ball in volleyball, squatting down as a back catcher, or setting up a good start position off the blocks as a sprinter.
If you haven’t already, check out our previous posts on deep squat assessments and deep squat resets where we show assessment and hands-on treatment techniques for the spine, hips, knees, ankles, and feet.
For any given movement pattern, our treatment approach follows 4 major steps:
- Assessment
Techniques used to test ranges of motion and find the root causes of limitations
- Reset
Hands on treatment techniques used to improve & restore limited range of motion
- Reinforce
Exercises or self treatments that help maintain the gains made from the reset techniques.
- Reload
Exercises that develop strength, resilience, and coordination for the desired movement pattern.
5 exercises to reload your deep squat gains:
1) Half kneeling dorsiflexion calf raise
This exercise helps us develop strength in the end range of dorsiflexion so our calf muscles and achilles tendon can build resilience in a lengthened position.
2) Hip Romanian Deadlift (RDL) airplane
Hip strength, stability and mobility all in one exercise. After loading the hips, the rotations allow us to work on active control of internal and external rotation in the hip.
3) Single leg plus balance
This dynamic balance exercise helps us work into different ranges of ankle mobility including dorsiflexion, inversion, eversion under load.
4) Wall sprinters
A plyometric exercise which allows us to train our hip flexors under high velocities required in sprinting.
5) Cable hip rotations
This is one of many variations of cable rotations which allow us to train full body rotation. This helps us groove a transfer of force between the upper and lower body.
What's next?
Congratulations, you’ve completed the final component of treatment and exercise for the deep squat. Now that you can perform at 100%, go on and use these new mobility and strength gains to chase your goals!
If you haven’t already, check out our assessment, reset, reinforce, and reload posts on neck flexion and full body rotation. Also stay tuned for the next movement pattern in this series!
See what our clients have to say
I came in for a physio appointment with Diana a few months back with some pretty bad back pain and hip pain that was preventing me from doing my job to the best of my abilities. Within my first initial assessment, Diana was immediately able to pinpoint where my problem areas were and not only did hands on treatment to provide immediate relief, but educated me on how to strengthen so that I could continue to reduce my body pains and prevent any similar future injuries.
