For the next two months we will be working on Overhead Squat mobility, not strength directly. It is very important to make sure that you can get into proper positioning before loading the bar. Once you have the mobility, the strength will follow.
Form
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, and your arms raised above your head completely straight, holding either a very light barbell, or a pvc. Squat down in a controlled fashion, as low as you can go, then return to the starting position. Perform five repetitions. You can either ask someone to assess your form, or video yourself from different angles.
Feet and Knees
The two most common lower body imbalances seen during the test are pronation of the feet, rolling of the ankles and buckling of the knees. If your feet roll inwards, and your ankles are shaky, this indicates that you have tightness in your calves. This is also the case if your heels rise off the floor. Knees buckling is a sign of weak glute muscles and tight adductor muscles on the inside of your thighs.
Back and Hips
When performing the overhead squat, you should aim to keep a neutral spine, meaning that your back remains flat. If you excessively arch your back, it’s likely that you have tight hip flexors, and if your back rounds, your core muscles are either weak or under-active. When assessing the hips, look for any weight shifting to one side or the other. This will highlight any imbalances between the two sides of the body. Another common trend with the hips is a forward lean, this is also likely tight high flexors.
Arms
The vast majority of people who perform the overhead squat assessment find that their arms fall forward to some degree. This is caused by excessive tightness in the chest and shoulders and weakness through the upper back, which usually results from sitting in front of a computer 40 hours per week.
Fixing the Issues
You can certainly carry on with the wods after doing the test, but you should make adjustments/modifications to it to fix your imbalances and the movement. Make sure you stretch your tight muscles daily, and don’t do too much work on them — rather, try to scale the movement or reps and strengthen the weaker ones. So if you found your arms dropped forward due to tight pectorals and a weak upper back, you should stretch your chest as often as possible, reduce the amount of pressing and pushups that you do and do more exercises for your rhomboids and lats, such as ring rows, and wall angels.
CLASS CANCELLATION: There will only be a 9:00am class downtown on Saturday. If you are wanting a later workout, please attend the First Aid for Gulu Fundraiser.
