Relearning Squats

Of all the lifts I have learned, squats were by far the most difficult for me. Even after doing them for almost 6 months, they are still a struggle for me.

I have pretty weak hips, a perpetually tight lower back, and knees that can sometimes be prone to strain and pain. Squats activate all of these areas so like….they are hard as hell for me.

When I first tried to squat, I couldn’t even do the motion without falling over. While I was able to conquer the falling over part of squats and actually use the bar, I still struggled with getting deep enough in my squat.

This was something I knew but didn’t want to admit. Nate came to the gym with me recently and confirmed what I had been denying for a while.

I wasn’t getting deep enough and the exercise wasn’t doing me all the good it could be doing.

Cue me getting a little grumpy but knowing he was right.

So on one of the days in the last two weeks that I didn’t go to the gym, I decided that I wanted to work a little on my squats. I asked Nate how to do squats with the kettlebells we have and he showed me and I proceeded to do them.

Nate is very gifted when it comes to joint movement. His hips and knees are bendy and flexible in ways that I can’t believe. As he was watching me squat, he couldn’t figure out what my hips and knees were doing.

Thankfully, he managed to work it out and give me some cues for my body to help me know when I was doing the squat properly. This was one of those things that I knew I needed to do, but I sooooo didn’t want to.

As I’ve mentioned before, I can sometimes get a little tense and fighty when it comes to lifting things. I get self-conscious and then worried about asking for help with it. After Nate was able to correct me and guide me into the right body cues, my squats got so much better.

And the thing is, I knew that would happen.

I just didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t figure out how to fix my squat and that was dumb. There was no reason for me to be so touchy about it.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that admitting that you need help when you are learning a new exercise or a new way of eating is okay. Especially when it comes to lifting because with lifting you can really get hurt if you don’t do them correctly.

So the next time you can feel that you are maybe doing something wrong (and yes, you can for sure feel it), ask for help! Find a good Youtube video. Utilize the people at your gym.

Getting help doesn’t make you weak, In fact, it helps you get stronger. And that’s the most important thing.