SISSY
SQUAT
 MPEG:
Sissy Squat - Side View
CORRECT FORM
| 1)
Stand without holding any weight. You can either touch a wall
or hold onto a pole. Performing a sissy squat without holding
onto something and maintaining correct form takes a lot of
balance and coordination.
Keep your
feet positioned shoulder width apart and your toes pointed
slightly outwards.
2) Focus
your eyes ahead of you on the wall or in a mirror. Slowly
and under control, lower yourself by bending first at the
hips. Your knees will begin to bend after this. Keep your
spine very straight and erect.
Keep your
over the middle of the foot, not your toes or heels. Keep
your knees aligned over your feet.
|
 |
  
At the bottom
of the descent, your knees should not be in front of your toes.
Doing so will create excessive forces at the kneecap.
3) As you explode
upward, push through and straighten the hips. Push straight upward
and keep your back/lower spine straight the entire time. Do not
lock your knees at the top.
5) Inhale as
you descend, exhale as you push back up.
MUSCLES
USED
SAFETY
CONSIDERATIONS/PRECAUTIONS
What makes the
sissy squat unique is the fact that you can train your quadriceps,
hamstring and gluteal muscles while they are in their most lengthened
state. With this comes a bit of risk. When your knees are completely
bent during this exercise, your knee is at a bit more of a risk.
The bottom line
is you should not do this exercise if you have any history of knee
problems. Furthermore, be sure to look for any signs of pain or
discomfort in any area other than the muscles being worked. Pain
in the knee joint is a sure sign that it is unable to handle the
compressive loads that accompany this exercise.
There is one
very common flaw with most people's technique that centers around
which joint you allow to handle the majority of movement. Any
squat should start and end with the hip joint. This means that
your hip joint needs to be strong and flexible enough to handle
bending to almost a 120 degree angle.
If you are unable
to bend the hip to this level, then one of two things will commonly
happen:
1) The knee
will bend further and more importantly, translate forward. This
forward translation will cause a significant increase in forces
produced in and around the knee (in the menisci and the patellofemoral
joint).
2) Bending at
the lower back. Flexing the lumbar spine will cause increased pressure
in the posterior portion of the lower lumbar discs and may result
in damage there.
Both of these
compensatory mechanisms for not bending at the hips will occur to
prevent you from falling backwards.
Keep your
feet shoulder width apart with your toes pointed slightly outward.
There is no research to suggest that the position of the foot will
force you to use your inner or outer quadriceps anymore than keeping
your feet pointed slightly outward. In fact the research shows that
you will get more overall quadriceps muscle activity if your
feet are in neutral or slightly pointed outward (1-3)
What turning
your feet excessively inward or outward WILL do is place an unusual
amount of stress on your knee ligaments, which could stretch them
out and make it more likely for you to injure them later.
EFFECTIVENESS
The sissy squat
will definitely allow the gluteals and 3 of the 4 quadricep muscles
to be in a maximally stretched state at the bottom of the movement.
If you are a bodybuilder, it is important to train these muscles from
every angle. The sissy squat will allow you to do this with the resistance
of your body weight. The
sissy squat will be most effective when placed at the end of a leg
routine. Since you should only be using your body weight as resistance
(for the safety of your knees), you will fatigue faster when performing
this after you have done all of your other leg exercises.
HELPFUL
WITH TRAINING FOR
Bodybuilding
REFERENCES
1. Signorile
JF, et al: Effect of foot position on the electromygraphical activity
of the superficial quadriceps muscles during the parallel squat and
knee extension. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 1995,
9(3): 182-7.
2. Ninos JC, et al: Electromyographic analysis of the squat performed
in self-selected lower extremity neutral rotation and 30 degrees of
lower extremity turn-out from the self-selected position. JOSPT May
1997, 25(5): 307-15.
3. Signorile JF, et al: The effect of knee and foot position on the
electromyographical activity of the superficial quadriceps. JOSPT
July 1995, 22(1): 2-9. |
