3 Drills To Improve Any Squat

All too often we focus on mobility of hips to improve squats, which is only part of the equation. If you don't have the correct motor strategy to get into good positions, your hips will lock down to protect you from getting into positions that may hurt you.
By focusing on these drills, hip mobility will improve without needing to do any stretching! That being said, a combination of mobility, stability, and greasing the groove of a solid movement pattern is always the best approach.
1) Active hip flexion is key to getting to proper position without losing a strong neutral spine in the bottom of the squat. If you are deep squatting (below 90 degrees of hip flexion) but can't actively flex your hips to the same angle, you are at a big risk for injury. Never squat deeper than you can actively flex your hips and you should always be thinking of "pulling yourself into the squat", opposed to simply resisting the weight down.
2) Rooting your feet to create a stable foundation should be top priority when thinking about a good set-up and completing the squatting pattern. Firm, equal pressure between the 3 rooting points on the foot (big toe knuckle, little toe knuckles, and heel) should be maintained through the entire movement. Maintaining this pressure dispersed across the foot, and keeping a quality bracing strategy during squats will eliminate any need for cuing the knees.
3) Don't overload your knees in the first 6 inches - 1 foot of the movement. Hinging the hips to load the glutes is necessary to keep from overloading the knees during your squatting pattern. By initiating the squat with loading the hips first, you're glutes will predominate throughout the rest of motion when the previous steps are applied.

[@declanmckenna5111]

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[@thebigoaktree8401]

Good stuff Doc, really helpful techniques to improve my squatS, thanks!