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This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPFe6m-8WGQ
Mike: If you find yourself unable to squat due to limited leg motion or pain, then this is for you.
Brad: That's right. Today we're going to take a deep dive in breaking down the mechanics of a squat and showing you a certain method that's going to give you the strength and the ability to do it properly. Alright, so the first thing we need to address is range of motion, particularly in the knees as well as the hips.
Brad: If you're going down and your knees are not able to flex without pain or tightness, as well as your hips flexing, that must be addressed. So we're going to talk about how to do it and assess it.
Mike: So to check yourself, all you're going to do is take one leg and bring it up as far as you comfortably can. If you're painful and can't lift past 45 degrees, this is going to be a very limiting factor on your squat range of motion. So what you want to do is bring it straight up. Now notice for me personally, I can only flex up so far. I start to get some musculature hitting and I can also feel like I can't push up anymore because the shape of my pelvis and my femur are hitting. But if I simply bring my leg out to the side, look how much more range of motion I have. So when I squat, I want to find a stance that is a little wider out for me and I can probably get more depth.
Brad: Another thing to look for with this is not only finding out what works for you like Mike did, make sure you compare one leg to the other and you may find one knee comes up all the way very easily, the other one doesn't so then you're going to focus the stretching on the tight or painful one. Alright, another joint that needs to be assessed for proper adequate range of motion is the ankle. Let's take a look at it.
Brad: So when we're standing here, weight bearing and we start to bend forward into the squat, you can see the ankle must, we call that dorsiflexion or go upwards, if you will. If that joint is tight, that can be the sole purpose of being unable to do a squat successfully. So we've got a test that we use against the wall. It's very simple and it's very succinct on how you can test yourself. Mike, let's check it out.
Mike: To test to see if you have good ankle mobility, we're going to perform a five inch wall test. So you'll need a wall and to stand five inches away, I have a rule here measured out, ready to go. I'm going to place one foot the toe line there, and I'm going to try to touch my knee to the wall while keeping my heel down.
Mike: I have tight ankles, I cannot get all the way there, but I still have somewhat decent mobility when I do a squat. Now if I do the other leg, you may notice a difference too. Mine are both equal, but some people may only be able to get partway with one versus all the way with the other. This is a limitation in your ankle mobility. So we're going to show you a couple stretches that could help with this.
Brad: Right and this may be very likely, particularly if you have a history of an ankle injury, serious sprain, something of that nature. So let's show us some stretches on how that can be improved.
Mike: So when you're performing the five inch wall test, if you're feeling tightness in the back of the ankle and up the calf, we need to stretch the calves. If you feel tightness or pinching in the front of the ankle, we'll show you a different stretch to do after this. So to stretch the calves, we're just gonna stay at the wall. I'm going to be stretching my left calf here, bringing it back, keep my legs straight, and then I slowly start leaning forward while my heel is still on the floor and I feel a good stretch. Hold this for 15 to 30 seconds, repeat on both sides and notice that my feet are facing straight ahead forward. When you start turning out, you're going to feel a little more stretch in your hip, not as much the calf. So it's important to have good form with this.
Brad: Good! So think about relaxing the upper body, breathing relax while you do this, it'll help the stretch. So should we continue on with the, if you feel tightness in the front of the ankle?
Mike: I think so.
Brad: All right, now if you have that tightness or that pain in the front of the ankle, this may be a good option. Actually, you could do both stretches regardless, and it's going to give benefits or help. So what I like to do on this one is on a firm chair so you have two armrest like this chair to make it safe, you're going to have, you're going to put the foot on, you have to have shoes on. Do not do this with stocking foot or barefoot. Much better with shoes so do it right. Put the four foot here so the ankle has plenty of room. And then I'm going to hold onto the armrest for the chair for stability. And I'm going to just bend the knee. So you actually get knee range of motion and hip with this and the ankle so you get all three in one and use your body weight, relax and breathe, push. And I actually do a little noodling when I'm this with this to help my hip range of motion. So again, this is a multi-unit stretch.
Brad: Mike, you have anything else to add on that? You're doing it on the stairs, which I like that as well.
Mike: I think you're looking for multi-joint stretch.
Brad: Multi-joint, yeah.
Mike: So on the stairs, you have a little bit more options of height differential. If you want to go high or up, you certainly can try. But if I really want to work on my ankle, I'm probably going to pick the lower step. Try to get that knee to go over the toe, stretch the hip. When I go up to a higher step, I'm still getting a stretch in the front of the ankle, but I'm getting a little bit more hip and hip flexor on this side. This is also a good stretch to do.
Brad: Yes, all right, let's go to number three.
Mike: So now we're going to progress to strengthening the hip muscles. If you have a lot of knee pain, this will just kind of isolate the hips more. So we're going to do first is hip abduction. Hold onto a rail or a cane or something for support if you need it. If you don't, you don't have to. We will show a progression of this in a second. So first we're just going to do hip abduction, which is kicking out to the side. Notice my pelvis is staying pretty level with this. I'm not leaning over to kick up higher. Keep your foot facing forward the whole time. Go as far as you comfortably can out and then back in. Try to do 10 to 15 repetitions on one side. Make sure and switch, do the other.
Mike: Obviously where I'm at, I don't want to kick the stair so I have to turn around. Now to work the back buttock muscle, you're actually going to kick straight backward. Notice I'm keeping a nice upright posture with this. I'm not teetering over like this to get more range of motion. Feel that gluten hamstring kicking in with this exercise. Again, 10 to 15 repetitions.
Brad: Alright, if you want more resistance or you need more resistance, and you have some resistance bands, you can use the band. They usually come with an ankle band that's Velcro. Put that around your ankle. Attach the other end around the leg of a chair, a handrail, something that's very strong and sturdy. I'm using the wall anchor and I'm not actually using this. I'm going to just put it around my ankle like this. It's just another option to get resistance, something for balance. And simply good tall posture mechanics are the same as what Mike mentioned. So we'll work it that way. And naturally, you're going to do the other leg and just turn around and do that.
Brad:And as far as doing the glutes for hip extension, face the wall. This is nice. You can use a wall for balance, keep a straight leg. And I'm staying up tall and not bending and doing this compensation, which we don't want. You'll feel that glute muscle kick in very well with resistance. It works really good. Make sure you do both legs with this. So Mike, you have another option if they have the little baby loop bands.
Mike: Yes, if you happen to have loop bands and not the exercise bands like that, you can certainly use these for the exercise. You just put it on both sides. You're going to stabilize and kick out to the side. Again, hold on to support if needed. It's going to be a lot more challenging, especially to keep your posture when you have resistance. Again, you're going to go sideways 10 to 15 on each side and then you're going to do backward kicking as well. This is working my balance if I don't hold on to anything like this.
Brad: There you go. Another multitasking episode. Now if you can put the loop in up by your knees, that'll reduce the resistance or the intensity and it works fairly well too.
Mike: Yep. Just makes it a little bit easier.
Brad: Yep. There you go. All right.
Mike: Now the final exercise we're going to do is actually a squat with just a shallow mini squat. We're going to show an easier version first and get to a little more advanced. Notice, I have a loop band around my legs again. This is going to help keep good placement and engagement in my buttocks and hip muscles. I have a yoga ball against the wall. This will be the easiest if you happen to have one. You don't need it, you can just do it against the wall as long as your wall isn't too sticky and your shirt slides well. So I'm going to step out a little ways away. I'm going to squat down partly. And while I'm doing this, I'm maintaining this band position. So I actually have to push my legs out. So if I'm actually squatting down to show what I'm doing, I'm pushing out like this and then coming back up, keeping those glutes engaged the whole time.
Mike: This can help prevent any issues some people may be having with knee cave because some people might squat down and they come back like this and then it goes up. So if you have something to think to push against that can help with this. So just do five to 10 repetitions. Go down as far as you feel safe.
Brad: Yeah, and I would mention you can put a chair or a cane to hold onto next to you.
Mike: And you can certainly just do this against a wall. I can slide down fairly well and do this. Just do mini squats. Over time when you feel safe, you can try working on your range of motion and your depth like this. Obviously, if you don't feel safe going down here, you don't have to.
Brad: That's right. And now the advanced version, if you don't want to be up against the wall or you don't have a ball and you feel relatively stable, you go up and I actually like to have something to at least hold onto and bring your feet out and we're going to do the same thing. Mike mentioned, all the same mechanics with the knee, up tall and we're squatting down and again, go as far as you feel comfortable. Don't go too far so that you can't get back up. Bad situation. And again, five to 10 reps, I'd like to work up to 10 reps. By the eighth and ninth, 10th reps, you know you're feeling some burns, some muscle fatigue and that's going to get you stronger for your squats.
Brad: Alright, now if you don't have any problems with range of motion in your hip knees or ankles, you do not have to do those stretches. If it's just strength that you really need, work the strengthening exercises we just showed. Make sure, again, the goal is 10 repetitions, fatigue by the end. But do not do them every day as hard as you can. You need to let your legs have time to rest and relax. Otherwise you get some pretty sore muscles, particularly if you've been sedentary. But there is an answer and there's one thing we do wanna talk about is how you can deal with sore muscles after aggressive workout.
Mike: Yes, we have the Bob and Brad Air Compression Leg Massager so there's not actually needing massage in here. It's more of a compressive force.
Brad: Alright, so these leg massagers are nothing new. They've been around for a few years and they actually work by applying pressure systematically to help circulation. And we're going to talk about it in a little bit more detail, Mike.
Mike: So these massagers start at the feet, work up to the calves, and then into the thighs. It compresses that way so it'll help bring the fluid back up into the trunk where it needs to be going. It can also help release muscle tension, pain, and soreness, promotes blood flow and can effectively eliminate swelling.
Brad: Right and adjust these so it's not overly tight. You can adjust the good ones like we have. They actually feel very good. When you're using, it should feel like a real relaxing and enjoyable experience. However, if you have some medical issues, for example, if you have chronic swelling, edema, lymphedema, heart problems, you need to check it out with your doctor to make sure this type of treatment is okay. If you're healthy and you're exercising well without any problems, it should be just fine. There are some precautions so talk to your doctor if you have any conditions and do that before you would use them.
Mike: So this foot massager also comes with a handheld remote which can adjust the intensity of the massage, how much inflation you're feeling and it also has a heat feature and a timer feature with a few different mode options as well. And the girth of the calf range is a 19 inch max and up at the thighs, it's 27 inches max. So you can adjust, you know how tight or loose it feels on you, but that's the maximum measurements.
Brad: Alright, so good luck with improving your squats. If you follow these instructions, I'm sure you're going to progress. Mike, anything else or other things to watch?
Mike: If you want to check out other videos on leg strengthening check out our video "One Life Changing Exercise For Stronger Legs (50+)."
Brad: Oh good. Nice work.
Mike: I'm just going to sit in these for a while.
Brad: Yeah. Enjoy Mike. Enjoy.
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