Pause squat
- Position a barbell securely across your upper back, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and brace your core tightly.
- Descend into a full-depth squat under control, maintaining an upright chest and keeping your weight balanced evenly across your feet.
- Hold a complete standstill at the bottom position for a prescribed pause (typically 2 to 3 seconds) without letting your muscles relax.
- Drive explosively upward through your heels to return to the starting position, exhaling as you lock out the repetition.
Tips
- At the bottom of the pause, keep your muscles actively contracted rather than sinking into your joints, so that you are ready to drive upward the moment the hold ends.
- Keep your chest upright and your torso angle consistent from the start of the descent through the entire pause, rather than allowing your torso to lean further forward as you hold the bottom position.
- As you drive out of the bottom, push through the full surface of both feet rather than shifting your weight onto your toes, to keep your hips and chest rising at the same rate.
Common mistakes
- Relaxing the muscles and settling into a passive stretch at the bottom turns the pause into a rest rather than a controlled hold, and the upward drive then starts from a collapsed position.
- Using a bounce or a subtle countermovement at the end of the pause to initiate the ascent bypasses the controlled start that defines the exercise.
- Cutting the descent short and pausing above parallel means the prescribed bottom position is never reached.
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