How to Improve Your Squat: Movement, Mobility, & Workouts That Work

Some people walk into the gym, load up their barbell, and squat perfectly on day one. But for the rest of us non-blessed gymgoers, improving the squat can be a months or years-long endeavor. 

If you’ve found yourself stuck on squat strength or technique, you’ve probably started doubting yourself—thoughts like, “How much should I be able to squat?” start creeping in. If you’re in a rut on how to improve squat performance, you’ve come to the right place.

Why Proper Squat Form Matters

One of the best techniques for mastering squats is to, well, master squats. Specifically, your technique. Squat form is not a one-size-fits-all thing; squats utilize all the major muscles and joints in your lower half. The way you’re built will naturally affect how you perform squats in the gym.

Failing to master your squat technique is a detriment on two fronts:

• You’ll move less efficiently for your body, reducing how much weight you can use
• You may put yourself at risk of injury by using improper technique

With that in mind, let’s go over how to increase squat weight—safely.

Best Techniques for Mastering Squats 

Let’s set the table. We’re talking about free-weight barbell squats here; squat alternatives and variations have their place, but working with the barbell is the ultimate test of strength, stability, and coordination. 

These technical tips may apply to other squat variations as well, but our focus here is on mastering the barbell back squat. 

Personalize Everything

Your body isn’t built exactly like anyone else’s. Your squat technique should be equally personal. Stance width, toe angle, grip width, and bar position are all worth tweaking. 

• Stance width: Should be between hip and shoulder width, generally. Shorter people may do better with a closer stance, while tall folks often need to go wide to accommodate longer legs. 

• Toe angle: Turning your toes out and driving your knees to the side will make your squat more hip-dominant and less dependent on ankle mobility.

• Grip width: Gripping the bar as close as possible requires more shoulder mobility, but will make your torso sturdier, helping to wedge the bar in place on your back.

• Bar position: “High bar” squats require you to place the bar up on your traps, while “low bar” squats, often used in powerlifting, put the bar on your rear deltoids. The former generally works better for shorter people, while tall lifters benefit from a lower bar and a more inclined torso.

Bear in mind—outside of powerlifting competitions, there are no hard and fast rules to squatting. Adjusting these variables helps customize the movement to your body, but there are certainly tall, long-legged folks who squat best with a narrow stance and high bar position. 

Make It Ritual

Squats have many moving parts, and the lift technically begins before you ever start sinking down. Approaching the bar in the rack, getting under it, and walking it out are all part of the “ritual” of squatting.

Whether you’re working with the empty bar or a 1-rep max, strive to consciously repeat the exact same motions from start to finish. When these actions are consistent and automatic, you can focus on effort instead of worrying about each step of your technique. 

Bracing Matters

When you squat, your torso has a crucial job to do even though its muscles aren’t moving the weight. Proper bracing, meaning how you inhale, hold air, and clench your abdominals, makes all the difference in stability, especially at heavy weights.

To breathe properly for squatting, you should:

• Take a breath while under the bar and hold it while you unrack and step out of the rack.
• Exhale, and take a new breath before beginning your descent.
• Hold that breath and brace your trunk the whole way down.
• Exhale your second breath only after coming out of the hole as you return to a standing position.

Holding your breath through movement and exhaling as you finish the concentric portion of the squat is called the Valsalva maneuver. Research tells us it improves safety and helps you produce more power. 

Utilize Cues

Cues are verbal or mental reminders. When lifting weights, they help keep your technique “on track” so you can remain in control of the bar while pushing hard. Cues are also contextual and prescriptive—they’re meant to quickly address issues, and are not required if you’re already doing everything right. 

Most people don’t do everything right when they squat. Here are a few common squat cues that apply to squat form problems:

• “Chest up”: Helps you maintain an upright torso and avoid bowing over too much. Try this if your squat ends up looking more like a good morning or deadlift.

• “Spread the floor”: If you squat with a wide stance and your toes turned out, this cue can help you produce force out of the hole and keep your knees tracking over your toes. 

• “Push against the bar”: If you find your weight shifting onto your toes as you squat, think of pushing your upper back against the bar to stay balanced.

• “Full foot”: Similarly, reminding yourself to push into the floor with your heels and toes equally can improve balance. 

How To Improve Squat Depth (Can You Go Too Deep?)

In the gym, people rightfully deify a deep squat. Squatting “ass to grass”, where your thigh passes parallel to the floor and your hamstrings make contact with your calves, is mighty difficult for most people.

Generally speaking, when it comes to squatting, deeper is better. Here are exercises to improve squat depth and how to address the relevant joints.

Hip Mobility for Squats

Squats require the head of your femur to rotate within the socket of your pelvis. That’s hip mobility in action. Many people find themselves experiencing a pinching sensation in the front of the hip, which inhibits them from going lower.

To remedy it, try this resistance band drill:

However, you may simply have a physical obstruction that you can’t improve with physical therapy. Playing with stance width and toe angle can help you identify where your hip is most flexible. 

Ankle Mobility for Squats 

To squat deep, your knees need to travel forward, usually past your toes. Don’t worry—modern exercise science research has rebuked the myth that this is bad for your knees (as long as you maintain good form elsewhere).

If you have stiff ankles, you need to stretch out the tough, elastic tissue in your calf and heel. Standard stretching helps, but loaded stretches work wonders:

You can also artificially improve ankle mobility by using weightlifting shoes, which have a heel wedge, or putting small change plates under your heels. 

Can You Go Too Deep?

When it comes to squat depth, can you have too much of a good thing? Most people struggle to squat deep at all, but on the other end of the spectrum, excessive depth may negatively impact your goals. 

Past parallel, research is conflicted on whether muscle activation continues to increase across the board. This might be because ultra-deep squats engage the elastic qualities of your tendons and ligaments, which help you “bounce” out of the hole, rather than relying solely on muscular strength. 

More range of motion also requires more control. If you’re hypermobile, you may want to deliberately cut your depth around parallel and focus on building patient, steady strength. 

Preventing Knee & Back Pain on Squats

The simplest way to prevent knee pain on squats is to, well, not squat. Remember—unless you’re competing in a strength sport, no exercise is a must-do. Squat variations like goblet squats or hack squats may not aggravate your joints, so it’s worth testing things out.

That said, squats are cool, fun, and impressive. But they shouldn’t be painful. Practical strategies for preventing pain on squats include:

• Prioritizing form, ensuring that your back is flat and your feet stay fully planted on the floor.
• Slowing down your movement speed so your squats aren’t ballistic or bouncy.
• Using knee sleeves or a lifting belt to keep your joints warm and help you brace harder.

An ache here and there is one thing. If you’re experiencing consistent joint pain while squatting, you should consult with a physical therapist who has a pedigree of working with weight lifters. 

Programming to Improve Squat Strength & Mobility

Technique buttoned up? Great. Now what? You need a squat workout that actually works. Luckily, how to improve squat weight is the same as any other exercise. Apply progressive overload and be patient.

• Start with a basic strength training scheme of 5 x 5 with about 75% of your 1-rep max. From here, add 5 pounds per week until you reach failure or your technique deteriorates. 

This is a simple linear progression for beginner squat strength training. After a few weeks or months, look into a dedicated strength training routine like Starting Strength, StrongLifts, or 5-3-1.

Squat Techniques for Mobility

Your programming can also improve squat mobility. Think of it like this; lifting weights is a form of loaded stretching. Some muscles lengthen, while others contract. Spending more time in those lengthened positions improves flexibility.

For the squat, there are two sure-fire ways to boost mobility while still working with the barbell:

• Tempo squats, in which you descend at a snail’s pace, taking 5 or more seconds to reach the bottom.
• Pause squats, where you deliberately stop moving at the bottom.

You can incorporate these tweaks during your warm-up sets, or as variations on another day during the week when you aren’t doing regular heavy squats. 

Depth Is King

When it comes to squats—whether you're tackling a back squat, pistol squat, split squat, or other variation—technique matters just as much as weight. In some cases, more—your squat technique signals you’ve put in some serious sweat equity in the gym. If you take the time to get it right, it can be just as much of a badge of honor as the number of plates on the bar. 

FAQs

How deep should I go when I squat?

Generally speaking, when performing barbell squats you should aim to squat down until your thigh is at least parallel to the floor. Going deeper requires extra mobility, particularly in your hips.

How do I improve squat strength?

Like any free-weight movement, applying progressive overload is key to improving squat strength. Work in low-to-moderate rep ranges (think 3 to 6) and with moderate weight, focusing on good form and standing up explosively. Strive to add a few pounds to the bar each week.

References

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2. Enes A, Oneda G, Leonel DF, Lemos L, Alves F, Ferreira LHB, Escalante G, Schoenfeld BJ, Souza‐Junior TP. The effects of squat variations on strength and quadriceps hypertrophy adaptations in recreationally trained females. Eur J Sport Sci. 2024 Jan 30;24(1):6–15. doi: 10.1002/ejsc.12042. PMCID: PMC11235860.

3. McCormick JB, Drusch AS, Lynch DJ, Seeber GH, Wilford KF, Hooper TL, Allen BS, O'Connell DG, Mena-Iturriaga MJ, Cooper KJ, Sizer PS. The Effect of Volitional Preemptive Abdominal Contraction on Biomechanical Measures During A Front Versus Back Loaded Barbell Squat. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2023 Aug 1;18(4):831-844. doi: 10.26603/001c.84306. PMID: 37547830; PMCID: PMC10399089.

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5. Rojas-Jaramillo A, Cuervo-Arango DA, Quintero JD, Ascuntar-Viteri JD, Acosta-Arroyave N, Ribas-Serna J, González-Badillo JJ, Rodríguez-Rosell D. Impact of the deep squat on articular knee joint structures, friend or enemy? A scoping review. Front Sports Act Living. 2024 Nov 19;6:1477796. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1477796. PMID: 39640505; PMCID: PMC11618833.

6. Straub RK, Powers CM. A Biomechanical Review of the Squat Exercise: Implications for Clinical Practice. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2024 Apr 1;19(4):490-501. doi: 10.26603/001c.94600. PMID: 38576836; PMCID: PMC10987311.

Jake Dickson holds a B.S. degree in Exercise Science and is a NASM-CPT. As a health & wellness writer, Jake focuses on making fitness practical and accessible for any audience. Off the clock, you can find Jake at the gym or unwinding by the beach.

This article was reviewed by Rosie Borchert, NASM-CPT, for accuracy.