Tip Solid Walk-Out Solid Squat Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Solid Walk-Out Solid Squat Five things to pay attention to before you do your first rep by Christian Thibaudeau May 22, 2018August 18, 2019 Tags Powerlifting & Strength, Squat, Tips, Training Not getting tight and solid before unracking the bar is responsible for more missed heavy squats, injuries, and bad performances than everything else. See, most people just unrack the bar without thinking too much about it; they stay soft or at least don't make a conscious effort to get tight. Then they walk back in that weak position and try to establish tension before squatting. By that time it's too late. First, unracking the bar without being tight will make the bar feel a heckuva lot heavier, which can psych you out, and walking backward with that suboptimal tension is dangerous. Plus it's harder to assume a strong setup right before squatting if you didn't start that way. So before you take the bar out of the rack make sure that: You're squeezing the life out of the bar with your hands. You're trying to crush your ribcage with your elbows to engage the lats. You're squeezing both shoulder blades together. You're contracting your abs as if you were going to get punched in the stomach. Then you unrack the bar, but do it like you mean it. The lift starts when you unrack the bar. Show the bar who's boss. Whether you have the empty bar or a max effort weight, set up exactly the same way and with the same intent. Practice With Cluster Sets By the way, that's why I love cluster sets for squats. For clusters you do a set of several reps with 10-20 seconds of rest between reps. You rack the barbell after every rep. It will give you the opportunity to practice the setup and unracking of the bar several times in a set. That's on top of the other benefits of cluster training. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training The Tabata Method The T Nation article that ignited the whole Tabata craze. Check it out. Metabolic Conditioning, Metcon, Training Dan John August 24 Training A Comeback for Lat Pulldowns Pulldowns are only for people who can’t do pull-ups, right? Well, maybe not. Here are a few very effective ways to do it. Back, Bodybuilding, Training Michael Boyle April 11 Training Tip Make Your Core Work More Effective Name your favorite ab exercise performed on the floor. Got it? Now, here's a clever way to make it even better. Abs, Tips, Training Calvin Huynh November 9 Training Tip A Great Reason to Do Whole-Body Workouts They increase the amount of a growth-regulating protein almost twice as much as an upper body/lower body split. Here's the science. Training TC Luoma October 27