The mh3 Squat Guide
Everything I teach about the squat in my reels and on the floor at mh3, in one place. The three things that actually make a squat, the faults that wreck lower backs, and the exact 6 week block structure we program at the gym. Save this page.
There are only three things you need to do well
People turn the squat into twenty cues and drown in them. There are only three things you need to do well in a squat: the brace, stability in the upper back, and stability at the hips.
And here is the bigger truth: those three are not squat rules. They are the three universal truths of strength. Every exercise we teach at my gym adheres to them, and every cue a coach gives you, pull the bar down, spread the floor, squeeze your armpits, exists for one reason only: to make those three run true. Get them right and the squat almost coaches itself.
The three things
Setup, depth and standing up
Stance: there is no rule for where your feet have to go. Everybody puts their feet somewhere different. And here is one that saves people months of frustration: you do not always need ankle mobility work to squat deeper. Sometimes you just need to take your feet a little wider. If your lower back rounds out at the bottom, try a wider stance before you try anything else.
Bar position: low bar creates more torque at the hip, lets the glutes do more work, and is usually your strongest squat, it is what most powerlifters use. High bar is more quad dominant, the knees travel further forward. Neither is wrong. Pick one, be consistent, and know that high bar does not mean staying bolt upright, you are allowed to let your chest come toward your knees. Pull down on the bar and let it happen.
Depth: for strength, you do not want to go as deep as you possibly can. Just below parallel is the job. Build reference points on your lighter sets, what your body touches and feels at the bottom, because when the weight is heavy you cannot think about anything except getting tight. The depth decision has to be subconscious by then, and you train that when the bar is light.
Between reps: stand tall and take little short breaths at the top before the next big brace. Never release the brace in the hole. If you dump your air at the bottom of a squat, you sink deeper and you are not coming back up.
The 3 mistakes that wreck squats
The 6 week block: how we actually program the squat
Same engine we run on the gym floor and in the app. Every main day has three kinds of sets: the indicator, one set at the same reps as the top set around RPE 6.5, your reading for the day. If it moves like it should, proceed. If it feels heavier than it should, today's top set stays lighter, the plan bends to the day. Then the top set, one all in set at the day's target RPE, the set that drives progress. Then back offs at exactly top set minus 10 percent, banking volume in positions that hold. Feel genuinely great on the indicator? Add 2.5 to 5kg to the top set yourself, no hero jumps.
RPE 8 means about two good reps left, RPE 9 means one. Warm up with singles past your first working weight, no need for full fives on the way up. Two extras that pay for themselves, done away from squat day: the squat hold, sit in the bottom of a bodyweight squat for 2 to 3 minutes and get comfortable down there, and the wall stretch for your upper back. Mobility work lives on rest days, there is a time for lifting and a time for stretching.
Scoring your test: estimated max = weight x (1 + reps x 0.033), and because you left one rep in the tank at RPE 9, count one extra rep. Example: 120kg for 4 with one left is 120 x (1 + 5 x 0.033), about 140kg. That number seeds your next block, it is what the indicator, top set and back offs all calculate from.
The mh3 training app takes your numbers and builds every set of this for you, then adjusts the weights as you log. Your first week is free, no card needed.