Anderson Squat

Technique

The Anderson squat starts every rep from a dead stop at the bottom, with the bar resting on safety pins set at your target depth inside a power rack, rather than descending from standing. Set the pins at your desired squat depth, get under the bar in that bottom position, then drive up to full lockout without any stretch-reflex assistance from a descent. Because each rep begins from complete stillness in the hardest part of the lift, it builds raw starting strength out of the bottom of the squat more directly than a normal continuous-rep squat.

Steps

1. Set the safety pins in a power rack at your target squat depth
2. Get under the bar resting on the pins in that bottom squat position
3. Drive up to full lockout without any downward momentum to help

Common mistakes

• Using momentum from bouncing on the pins instead of starting each rep from true stillness
• Setting the pins so high that the exercise no longer trains genuine bottom-position strength

Variations

• Slightly higher pin setting to target a specific sticking point above parallel
• Anderson squat with a pause of a few seconds at the bottom before driving up, for extra strictness

FAQ