How To Warm Up For Squats

Hey everyone!! Uncle Randall is here to show you how he personally warms up for a heavy day of squats.

The Rear Foot Elevated Quad/Hip Flexor stretches the quad and hip flexor at the same time per leg. Get into a lunge position with the back leg on a stable bench. Find your balance and feel the stretch deep into your quads which extends into the hip flexor as you lean backwards. Rock back and forth to make it into a more dynamic stretch and also to ease the quad into a further stretch as the muscle loosens. Each leg should hit about 12 to 15 reps.

The cat cow is a great thoracic region stretch and helps with your bracing. Breath in deeply and push your thoracic region upwards, creating a hump. The air you take in should fill the belly and not your chest cavity. Hold that position for 1 count before breathing out slowly into a hyperextension of your lumbar region. Repeat this move for about 10 reps.

The third stretch activates your knee extensors as well as stretches the calves, quads and hamstrings dynamically in 1 movement. You should also feel a slight stretch in your lats and shoulders during this movement.

Finally, rolling the lumbar and thoracic regions of the spine loosens tension in that region to prepare for proper bracing during the squat. But it also feels good as you get to release air pockets from the spine and get the “pop” sound which is extremely satisfying.

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