THE SETUP: G.R.O.U.N.D.

Meld the bar into your back. Become a rigid column. GROUND yourself into the floor.

Get under the bar.

With the bar racked around nipple-height, center yourself on the bar and plant your feet directly under it around shoulder width. With a short, sharp exhale, squeeze your glutes and tuck your ribs a bit.

Rack your back.

Duck your head in front of the bar and grip it as narrowly as you can with straight wrists. Pull your elbows down and in toward your ribcage, so that the bar is resting on the flexed muscles of your upper back. With a tight grip, pull the bar down and apart while digging your upper back into it so that it feels like an uncomfortable and immoveable part of your body.

Out and down.

Draw a deep nose breath to inflate your belly, then inflate your obliques and lower back with a sharp mouth gasp. Flex all of your core muscles out and down to create a rigid trunk through which the movement generated by your legs will transfer entirely into the bar.

Unrack explosively.

Drive your hips forward forcefully and press the floor away until the bar is completely free of the rack. Now pause just long enough for the bar and plates to stop moving.

Narrow slide, wide step, plant.

Slide your non-dominant foot straight back one foot-length. Shift your weight onto that foot just enough to step your dominant foot back the same distance and slightly outward. Than shift your weight onto your non-dominant foot just enough to then plant your dominant foot outward. The width and angle of your feet will vary based on your body, but they should be about hip width, flared out about 30 degrees.

Dig your feet in.

To balance your weight evenly through your heel. big toe and little toe, think of trying to sink your feet into a sandy beach. Dig the heels and balls of your feet in, then try to grip the sand with your toes while you twist your heels down and together.

THE MOVEMENT: B.O.U.N.C.E.

Stay balanced over mid-foot and the way back up will be a mirror image of the way down: straight back, knees over toes, chest and hips moving together.

Breathe in.

Recover any breath (and tension) you lost during the walk out with a quick inhale. This position is the only place you’ll inhale or exhale throughout a set - whether it’s 1 rep or 20.

Open the groin.

Push your hips back just enough to open your groin, without moving the bar.

Unlock the knees.

As you bend your knees to descend, push them outward to ensure they track over your toes. They should follow this same path on the way up so that the bar stays balanced over your mid-foot throughout the lift.

Neutral spine.

Descend at a speed where you can maintain balance over your mid-foot and tightness throughout your trunk. For balance, your torso will naturally lean slightly forward, which is fine so long as you maintain that same angle throughout the rep. For tightness, ensure your back is flat from your tailbone through your neck.

Chest and hips.

After your hip height passes below your knees, you will feel the stretch in your legs and hips reach such a peak that you cannot go any lower without rounding your back. As soon as you feel this ‘bounce’ pushing you back up, drive your feet into the floor and your traps into the bar.

Erupt through the bar.

Like lava erupting through the mouth out of a volcano, you must generate maximum pressure from down low to accelerate through the top of the rep.