Whether you're an athlete, or trying to gain muscle, lose fat, get stronger, quicker, or more powerful, squats are the one exercise you don't want to miss.

With so many variations in technique, the squat can be included by almost anyone in their workout program. 

The squat is an exercise that trains the muscles in the thighs, hips and glutes, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and tendons throughout the lower body. This move is considered essential for increasing size and strength in the legs and glutes, and despite their popularity, often result in injuries of the knees and lumbar spine if correct form is not used.

To minimize the chance of injury, it is important to focus on positioning of the feet, hips, shoulders, as well as any muscular weaknesses that impact your form.

Whether you are using a squat rack, smith machine or free weights, it is important to make sure you have proper alignment. Stance variations determine both the results of an exercise and the safety of your knees during the exercise. While each person will have their own physiological best stance, purposely altering some variable will cause different muscles to be activated on different planes of movement.

The correct stance to use when squatting is your normal athletic stance, which is a few inches wider than your hips and shoulders. To find your stance, you can simply leap into the air a few inches and see where your feet comfortably land. Bodybuilders may use a stance closer together, while power lifters may use a wide stance, both providing a different desired effect.

Point your toes slightly outward, which is better positioning for the knees. By doing so, quads are more efficiently activated, and those adductors (inner thighs) won't be over or under recruited. This will help to avoid any problems associated with patellar (knee) tracking, and other issues associated with ligaments and cartilage.

Keeping your knees behind your toes is not a myth, but it is a fact of real concern for patellar health. By keeping your hips back as you squat, knees will remain behind the toes. Don't be afraid to stick that booty out.

If your knees turn in as you squat, this could be a sign of weak quads, while knees that turn out as you squat could be a sign of weak hamstrings. Neither of these is good for the ligaments in the knees, so make sure to incorporate isolation exercises that strengthen the weak areas, such as extensions and hamstring curls.

Avoiding muscle imbalances is one way to be proactive about injuries. When hamstrings and quads contribute equally to a squat, you will have fewer hamstring pulls, quadriceps tears, and improper tracking of the patella. The rule of thumb is that quads should be equal to or slightly weaker than hamstrings.

Don't forget to spend 5-10 minutes warming up before jumping into these squats. It's important for all muscles, joints, and other tissues of the legs and core to be warmed up before the big challenge. When you are finished with your workout, stretching is just as important to gain/maintain flexibility. Many low back problems are traced back to tight hamstrings and knee problems are traced back to tight quads.

Be smart, train smart and take all the necessary steps to protect your body from injury while you are performing one of the best lower body exercises for overall strength and fat burning efficiency.

Shelly Greenfield is a certified fitness trainer and writes a weekly fitness column for the Post-Bulletin. Her topic next week is Tone N Tan Fitness of Stewartville.

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