Matt Minter, Personal Trainer: Gym Smarts: Free Motion Squats
Today we are going to demonstrate the free motion squat machine. The trouble with the traditional squat exercise is maintaining proper joint angle alignment through the entire range of motion.
With the free motion squat we are aligned up a little bit easier so this is a nice exercise for beginners to do. I'm gonna do is put my back up against the pad here.
I'm gonna slide the machine down so it will rest on my shoulders. I'm gonna walk my feet slightly forward, as you here the machine clicking, it's engaging the weight pin.
I'm going to a squat down until my legs are parallel to the ground. And then I am going to go one more click. Now from here the weight stacks is going to engage as I stand up.
And I can begin my exercise. As you see at the bottom of the motion my legs are parallel to the floor my ankles and my knees are at 90 degrees.
I'm gonna rest my back comfortable against the pad. Making sure I am pushing back through my heels and not up through my toes with this exercise.
To finish the exercise I am going to lower the weight stack all the way down, engage the hand brake here and stand up which releases the weights and step away from the machine.