How To Do Half Squats: Tips, Technique, Correct Form, Benefits and Common Mistakes

Many powerlifting purists believe using half squats is improper, as doing so compared to a complete squat is viewed as 'cheating'.

What is a partial squat, then? In a partial squat, sometimes known as a half-squat, the knees are not bent more than 120 to 135 degrees. During half squats, the glutes are worked more intensely, and often higher weight is used. Half squats can help you overcome obstacles, overload exercise and gain confidence.

To fully benefit from squats, you may believe you must at least squat parallel to the ground. It's true that performing a deeper squat, to parallel or below, engages more of your lower body muscles than a shallow squat does.

Going deeper is also more difficult, and we know that difficulty brings about transformation. However, half squats also have some benefits.

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How to Do Half Squats Properly?

Use the following instructions to perform half squats. Consult a personal trainer or other workout professional for advice if you need to change your form or if your anatomy requires it.

Here's how half squats are done:

• Start by standing with your feet hip-to-shoulder distance apart and toes pointing forward or slightly outward.
• As you start to sit back and bend at the knees, brace your core. To prevent rocking in either direction, maintain an even weight distribution between your two feet.
• As you descend down, engage your glutes, and hold your chest and head up till your legs form 45-degree angles, or you hit your limit of motion, which is when your toes or heels lift off the ground, your back arches excessively, or your chest falls forward.
• To get back on your feet, push through with both. You want to maintain a neutral spine throughout the action, so make sure to keep your glutes engaged, and refrain from arching your back.
• Using your glutes to raise your hips back to their standing position, stop short of locking out your knees as you straighten your legs by engaging your quadriceps.

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Benefits of Doing Half Squats

Contrary to what many people think, half squats have a lot of benefits. Incorporate the half squat into your routine for the following three reasons:

1) Strengthened glutes

Depending on the range of motion performed, various muscle groups will be stressed more during squats. As only the top half of the range of motion is targeted by partial squats, we must comprehend the muscles that produce top-end strength.

A scaling effect occurs as you stand up from the bottom of a squat, using more glutes and fewer quads. As a result, the glutes get largely loaded if you just squat through the top half of the range of motion, as in the partial squat.

2) Improved jumping

When an athlete assumes power posture, their knees and hips are bent at angles resembling those of a half squat. They assume a very athletic and explosive stance that frequently enables improved sprinting and leaping abilities.

Even while half squats don't offer the same benefits from the entire range of motion as conventional squats, they can still be used to strengthen the athletic power posture.

3) Building muscle mass in lower body

By enabling you to become stronger in the short term and use greater weight for your full range squats in the long terms, partial squats can indirectly boost muscle. growth

To become stronger, you can utilise partial squats, which produce more force than complete squats.

The process of gaining muscle and altering your body's composition does not require a lot of force generation. The total amount of effort done is more important for muscular growth, in other words, using a weight that seems difficult while performing a great volume of motions.

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Tips to Remember Before Doing Half Squats

Here are some tips to keep in mind in order to get the most out of partial squats:

1) Keeping heels on the ground

For a solid base of support, keep your heels firmly planted on the ground during the entire action. Make sure to sit back into the squat rather than leaning forward if your heels are rising. You can get a better sense of what this 'sitting back' should feel like by setting a chair behind you and sinking into it.

While having slightly inclined toes is acceptable, if you find yourself wanting to turn them out further, it may indicate that your ankle mobility is restricted.

2) Keeping your chest up

You can avoid leaning forward by keeping your head and chest up and by not looking at your feet. Tightness in the chest and shoulders is probably to blame if you feel like your head and chest are falling forward.

You may increase your flexibility, and maintain a strong upper body during squats by including some daily upper body stretches.