Daily Maestroism

DM #66

Thursday, December 22nd, 2016

A little #tbt for your ?. Yesterday I posted a video about a drill to help improve your torso angle at the bottom of the squat, but ya gotta remember that movement is not a one-size fits all approach. Check it out ?? #Repost @themovementmaestro with @repostapp
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Just a little follow up to my squatting posts from last week (or whenever it was that I posted them?). As stated in DM #66, the ratio of your torso to femur length (amongst other things) will dictate what you look like at the bottom of a squat.

When it comes to squatting, those folks with shorter torsos and/or longer femurs, will have a difficult time maintaining a super upright position when squatting, especially with a loaded back squat. Conversely, the person with a longer torso, or relatively shorter femurs, will have a much easier time creating that beautiful upright torso we all champion as the ideal (loaded) deep squat position.
The reasoning behind this is simple physics. When squatting, the weight must remain centered over your midfoot for balance and ideal positioning. As we squat, the distance from our midfoot to our butt must be counter-balanced by leaning forward to allow the base of the neck (where the barbell is resting) to remain over the midfoot. For the person with long femurs, this means they must lean forward more in order to cover that longer distance and counterbalance that weight. On the flip side, the person was shorter femurs is able to stay more upright as there is a shorter distance from their midfoot to their butt.
Same thing goes for the setup with an olympic lift. The picture above demonstrates exactly this. Brenda (on the left) and I (right) are the same height, but my legs seemingly start at my throat, whereas Brenda’s anthropometrics set her up nicely for squatting and lifting the heavy things (don’t worry, I get her in the cardio WODs ?). My longer relative femur length necessitates more forward trunk lean in order to keep the bar and my shoulders over the proper place on the foot. It's all physics, baby. SOHCAHTOA for the win.

Like it? Repost it. Don't understand it? Hit me up and get #Maestrofied.
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