Dr. Stefanie Cohen, DPT- Are you folding over in the squat?

By Dr. Stefanie Cohen, DPT- THE STRIPPER SQUAT: how quadriceps or hamstring dominance affects your movement Folding over in the squat is a common technical error I see often. Essentially the lifter goes down to the bottom of the squat with good form, but then during the concentric or upward portion, their chest collapses down, and the hips shoot up. . During the upward portion of the squat, your quadriceps muscles work to extend the knee joint, while your hamstrings and glutes work synergistically to extend the hips. When there’s coordination and balance of strength, the angle of the chest remains the same and the hips rise simultaneously. . Three reasons why you look like a stripper when you squat: 1. Over reliance on one muscle group: for some it’s the quads, for some it’s the hamstrings. In order to figure out which one it is, pay attention to the angles at the hip and at the knee. If the knees extend faster than the hips you’ll most likely be stuck above parallel in almost a good morning position, that means your quads are overpowering and you need to add extra work for your posterior chain. If the hips extend faster and you end up folded at the bottom of the squat, your quads need some extra love. 2. Lack of motor control or coordination between the two: faulty movement patterns that have been ingrained over time, or simply the inability of both hamstrings, glutes and quads to work together to achieve the task. 3. Inability of the back extensors to maintain an upright torso . Additional suggestions: besides working on improving the strength ratio between the muscles in the front and back of your body, adding pin squats, pause squats and zercher squats to improve the timing, pattern and coordination of the movement might be beneficial.