Exercise
Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press
The Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press is a full-body exercise that builds leg strength, shoulder endurance and coordination.
Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press
The Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press is a compound bodyweight exercise that combines a deep squat with an overhead arm press. This pairing links lower-body strength with upper-body stability in one continuous movement.
The exercise mainly targets the quadriceps and glutes during the squat, while the shoulders and arms work to press and hold the arms overhead. The core helps keep the torso upright and stable, allowing the movement to stay controlled and balanced.
The Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press is commonly used in conditioning workouts, warm-ups, and full-body training sessions. It is especially useful for improving coordination, mobility, and muscular endurance without requiring external weight.
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How to Perform the Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press
- Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, toes pointed slightly outward, and raise your arms to shoulder height with elbows bent.
- Brace your core by drawing your navel toward your spine while maintaining a neutral back position and keeping your chest lifted.
- Inhale as you begin to bend at the knees and hips simultaneously, lowering your body as if sitting back into a chair while keeping your arms at shoulder height.
- Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground or as low as your mobility allows, ensuring your knees track in line with your toes and don't collapse inward.
- At the bottom position, check that your weight is distributed through your heels and midfoot, not your toes, with your back still neutral and chest upright.
- Exhale as you push through your heels to begin standing back up, simultaneously raising both arms overhead in a press motion with palms facing forward.
- Extend your arms fully overhead as you reach the top position, with shoulders away from your ears and elbows soft but not locked.
- Lower your arms back to shoulder height as you prepare for the next repetition, maintaining proper posture with your chest up and core engaged.
Important information
- Keep your heels planted throughout the entire movement; if they lift, you may need to improve ankle mobility or not squat as deeply.
- Make sure your knees stay aligned with your toes and don't cave inward, especially during the ascent.
- If you experience shoulder discomfort during the overhead press, try turning your palms to face each other instead of forward.
- Focus on maintaining a tall spine throughout the exercise; avoid excessive forward lean which can strain your lower back.
FAQ - Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press
This compound exercise primarily targets your quadriceps, glutes, and front deltoids (shoulders). It also engages your hamstrings, core muscles, triceps, and upper back as stabilizers and synergists throughout the movement.
Beginners can start with a partial squat depth and press lighter weights or no weights at all. You can also separate the movements initially, mastering the squat first, then the overhead press, before combining them into one fluid motion.
The most common mistakes include rounding your lower back, rotating your hips instead of keeping them square, rushing through the movement, and not hinging properly at the hips. Focus on maintaining a neutral spine, moving with control, and keeping your standing knee slightly soft rather than locked.
Increase difficulty by pausing for 1-2 seconds at the top of each rep, slowing down the eccentric (lowering) phase, or performing drop sets when you reach muscle failure. For advanced lifters, you can also try performing the movement without holding onto support to engage more core stabilizers.
For optimal results, include the Bodyweight Single Leg Deadlift 1-3 times weekly, performing 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions per leg. This frequency provides enough stimulus for strength development while allowing adequate recovery, especially if you're also doing other posterior chain exercises.
Bodyweight Full Squat With Overhead Press
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