Lighter Day today for work on basic skills.

 Body weight squats, or air squats as the CrossFitters call them.

 If you can't keep your torso upright or close to it at the bottom position or if you can't get the fold in the hips lower than the fold in the knee you need to practice these.

When squatting with no weight or the weight held in front of you your torso should be as close to vertical as possible. If you are holding a heavy kettlebell or barbell you will fall over!!

Find your stance by jumping, where your feet go on landing is your foot position for squats. It should be about hip width. Your toes may point outward slightly. Now extend your arms straight out in front, parallel to the floor & keep them there throughout the squat movement.

Keep your abs tight and focus on pulling your self down. The hips should go down, not back. Lift the chest look straight ahead not up. If necessary check yourself in a mirror or video tape yourself. You should feel this in your hamstrings as well as your quads. Make sure the knees are aligned with the feet. Do not allow the knees to collapse inward at any time!

 If you can't get the hips below the knees, you fall over or you lean forward, go to a door frame or something else your can pull against and using the door frame for balance only squat while holding as lightly as possible. You should be able to get all the way down.

Now that you are down move your hips around, get comfortable, contract your hamstrings while taking a deep breath and then relax and exhale you should be able to get a little deeper.

To stand drive up from the heels, leading with the head & shoulders. Don't lift the hips first.

Shake your legs loose & repeat for 10 reps. Go slowly, take your time & focus on improving your movement. This is not about getting a workout.

 Another option for getting a rock bottom squat is to take a board, a 2x4 is a good one to start with, that is longer than your squat stance. Place it under both heals and squat. You should find it pretty easy to keep your torso upright now. Try to put your hands on the floor with out losing your balance. Now, extend one hand up and out to the side by opening the shoulder as though you were going to hit something with the back of your hand, keep the elbow straight. Do this slowly and watch the hand. Hold it all the way outstretched for 5 seconds or so then slowly bring it back. Then do the other side. Do 12 reps on each side. You may come up out of the squat as necessary to rest the legs.

Over time, as this gets easier, get a thinner board and keep working on it. In a month or so, with diligent practice you should be able to do a full range body weight squat with the heels on the floor and torso upright.

For more information on improving your squatting and other functional movements see Gray Cooks "Athletic Body in Balance" book & DVD available from Perform Better 

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