Hey Steve.
What would you say is the most challenging aspect your clients face in ' learning ' to do squats properly - i.e. the most difficult aspect of squats they have trouble grasping or the biggest mistakes they continue to make ( assuming they think they already know how to do squats ) ?
The largest problem is working with people who have been squatting before. Chances are they learned from someone who had no idea what the hell they were talking about. Now they've been doing an exercise for months if not years incorrectly, and once motor patterns are learned in the brain, they're a hard thing to correct/change. Much, much harder than teaching something new from scratch.
Bad form builds upon itself.
By that I mean, using improper mechanics usually over-develops a certain muscle or group of muscles and under-develops another. The problem becomes perpetual and worse the more they perform what they call a squat, making it harder to correct.
That's the most common problem I see in gyms.
Beyond that, with raw novices you have the basic/usual suspects found in a predominantly sedentary population; tons of kintetic chain imbalances. Weak/underactive glutes, tight calves and ankle complexes, and poor lumbar stabilization are probably the most common, which really do a number on squat form.
Most people think they can't get deep in their squats b/c of poor hamstring flexibility. That's rarely the case since they don't actually go through a ton of length change in a typical squat (simultaneous knee flexion = shortening / hip flexion = lengthening).
Other than those issues, it's a matter of how well the coach can cue the squat. You have to know what to say and where to touch a person so that their mind understands and can control what their body should be doing. For example, most think it's simply a matter of bending the knees to go down. No. And that's why the box squat is useful.... it's about sitting BACK with your hips and butt while maintaining upper body tightness. From there, the knees will follow, assuming efficiency of the kinteic chain.
BTW, nice to see you over here.
