The squat is the best exercise for building power, strength and muscle size, demanding as it does the cohesive use of so many muscles at the same time, from the arches of your feet to the stabilizing presence of arm muscles. Engaging the legs, trunk muscles and back, it is a fantastic core workout, and as such allows you to lift incredible amounts of weight. However, when handling high amounts of weight it is crucial that you have proper technique, and one of the most important aspects of squatting is knowing how to support the barbell with your body.

Before you begin to squat you need to practice with an empty bar. Do not load it with weights before trying to lift it, because that is the quickest way to develop bad habits and injure yourself. Instead stand before the empty bar, making sure that it is at sternum level. Many Olympic lifters will squat with the bar high up on their traps, almost at their necks, but you don’t want to do this, because the higher the barbell is up your back, the greater the torque on your lower back and the less safe the exercise.

You want to take an even grip on the bar, with your hands as close together on the bar as you can get them while still remaining comfortable. The benefit of a close grip is that it causes the muscles of your back to bunch together, creating a solid cushion on which to rest the bar and preventing it from resting on bone. Raise your elbows high, place your thumb over the bar so as to ensure a straight wrist, and then come up beneath the bar so that it is pressed against your bar. It should press right into your back just below the bone you feel at the top of your scapulas, and you should secure it in place by lifting your chest and elbows at the same time.

In order to unrack the bar, you always want to step backwards away from the supports, never forward. This is crucial, because when you’re done you never want to have to step blindly backward to rack the bar, causing all kinds of problems if you miss.