The Three Step Walkout
The Lost Art Of Setting Up The Squat
The Walkout
“I think 90% or more of a lift that’s missed is because of improper setup, right when they set up and right when they start to move down. If something is a little bit off as soon as you start to come up, you can’t make an adjustment with a heavy load on your back, it’s almost impossible.”
- Ed Coan
If you don’t know, Ed Coan is arguably the greatest Powerlifter of all time, he was certainly the most dominant strength athlete in the world during the 80’s and 90’s. Lifting weights at 100kg bodyweight that the biggest super heavyweights couldn’t touch. In old kit and soft knee wraps he squatted 423kg at 99.4kg bodyweight and the set up was meticulous.
His appreciation for the walkout was unparalleled and it was, in his mind, a key component of why he was so dominant in the squat.
It was controlled, precise and very, very effective. It is something I learned from him very early in my lifting career and is something I am very much for perfecting in the lifters within the Podium Program.
Rituals, Habits and Parroting
I see a lot of lifters currently with some very varied techniques for walking out, there is process there for sure but it lack some of the key components to mastering this skill.
Large steps backwards from the rack
4-5 steps plus before finally settling into the start position
Lifting of the the heel to ‘wiggle’ the foot into position
We all have rituals before we lift and these rituals become habits, and we will likely draw influence from the people we either train with or see train via social media to develop these rituals and habits in the first place. But if you stood back and analysed your own walkout and you did any of the above you would not consider it particularly efficient.
Maybe it is the Equipped lifter in me but the walkout is so important to get right, for me it must be a process of efficiency.
I would often tell people that the walkout is harder than the squat itself. You are so exposed moving from one leg to the other with weights far in excess of your raw best. Feeling like the world is closing in around you as the pressure builds and builds, you are aware of so little other than the feeling of being slowly squashed that the process of the walkout must become autonomous
Practice, Practice, Practice
It starts from the first warmup set to the heaviest working set, every day, every week, month and year.
You ingrain the perfect walkout into your nervous system so when the time comes and you are facing down a new personal best using weights you never thought you would have on the bar you can rely on the walkout being perfect. Setting you up for success in the squat itself.
The approach must be very deliberate and highly focused. Just because you could take more steps, larger steps, wiggle the foot does not mean you should. You could jump with the lighter weights when you warmup for the squat, and the reason you don’t is to refine the lift, the walkout is no different.
What does the perfect walkout look like?
The 3 Step Walkout
If you watch the very best lifters in the world you will star tot see patterns emerge, and for all the classic lifters reading this I really thing watching how equipped lifters approach the walkout would give great insight into the skill of it.
The inspiration for this newsletter was from watching 2 x World Classic Champion Tony Cliffe squatting recently in equipment, the precision and efficiency displayed at 410kg was incredible. Three very small steps and only a few inches from the rack itself. The key is the three steps but there are a few things before that happen that can make or break the walkout.
Set Up; Once under the bar set your feet close to what your stance for the competition squat is. This is important for minimising movement in the walkout and increasing movement efficiency.
Unracking; prior to unracking the bar you MUST brace. It is exactly the same process as before the squat. Taking a big breath in and expanding the belly will create all the stability you need to control the bar. Hold this brace for the whole set up
Patience; now take a second find your balance. You don’t want to step back to early with a lot of backwards momentum. Your weight will be to far on your heel and you will feel off balance
The First Step; the first step needs to be back and slightly to the side. We are talking about a foot width to the side and a foot length back
The Second Step; again go back a slightly to the side. One foot width and one foot length
The Final Step; Whichever leg you used first must now take a final movement to the side, around half a foot width. And breath out
Squat; Wait for the signals, create a final brace and begin the squat
Don’t Sweat The Details
Although this seems like a very minor topic when it comes to success in competition I believe it epitomises being all over the detail and those are the things that will separate the lifters who are great from those that are not.
Develop a process and drill it over and over again to increase your squat success.