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Squat Assistance Exercises Videos

By Gary F. Zeolla

This page links to all videos of squat assistance exercises available on Fitness for One and All. These videos show the proper form and set-up for these exercises.

The shorthand is date (month/day/year), followed by pounds/ reps.

2007- 2010

• Sting Ray (front) Squats - 5/16/07, 125/6. Front squats are a great squat variation. They force you to keep your back erect, placing more stress on the quads. But it is often hard to hold the bar. A Sting Ray is a pair of plastic "cups" that attach onto the bar. You then place them on the upper arms/ shoulders. They make holding the bar much more comfortable. Available from Amazon.
• Box Squats - 7/4/06 (Independence Day), 235/3. For box squats, you squat down to the box and actually sit, stopped on the box momentarily, then squat back up. Here, I had a mat on the top of my box as I thought it would be too low. But after reviewing the video, I could see I was just at parallel, so I removed it for my next box squat workout.
• Box Squats Again - 7/23/07, 235/5. Some swear by this exercise, especially those who wear a canvas suit. But I've found them to not only be helpful but to hurt my regular squat. So I stopped doing them after this workout. BTW, the song playing in the background is currently my favorite song, “Love Addict” by Family Force 5, a Christian rock group.
• Buried on Reverse Band Squats - 6/13/07, 295/4. Two problems on this set: First, my music cut out on me. Second, the bands slipped on one side. As a result, I got buried on the fifth rep. What happened on the bands, I had the bands looped around the bar outside of the inside collars. Previously, I had them set so that there was virtually no tension at the top. But the “virtually” is important. There was just enough tension to keep the bands in place. But with moving my bar placement higher on my back, there was now no tension at the top, and so the bands slipped. So I reversed how I choked them on the top of my power rack. This puts a slightly greater angle and thus tension to the bands. Picture of previous set-up. Picture of new set-up.
• Reverse Band Squats - 7/4/06 (Independence Day), 345/3.
• Reverse Band Squats - 8/31/07, 350/3. My depth looks fine on all my RB squats, but I do need to work on not leaning forward quite so much.
• Chain Squats - 12/16/07, 210/5, plus chain set-up weighs about 90 pounds. I love chain squats. With the chains clanging against the power rack, I feel like a wild animal breaking out of its chains! But more importantly, with the way the chains swing around, they really strengthen the core and stabilizer muscles.
• Chain Squats - 12/16/07, 220/3, plus chain set-up weighs about 90 pounds.
• Front (Sting Ray) Squats - Side - 12/30/07, 145/6. Since I use a closer stance on front squats than on regular squats, I wanted to be sure that I was sinking them enough when I hit my foam box, so I took a video from the side. And it shows I am more than deep enough.

• Front Squats - Front - 12/30/07, 155/4. This second video is taken from the front to show the use of the Sting Ray for front squats. Pic1 of Sting Ray. Pic 2 of Sting Ray.

• Manta Ray Squats 1 - 1/31/08, 245/6. Here is a close up pic of a Manta Ray. I really like Manta Ray squats. As can be seen in the videos, they force you to keep an erect back. Available from Amazon.

• Manta Ray Squats 2 - 1/31/08, 260/4. I left more time at the start and end of this video to show the Manta Ray.

• Low Squats 1 - 3/5/09, 210/5. This is my specialty squat assistance exercise. You insert two sets of safety bars in the rack, one set of bars so you're below parallel and the other set a few inches below lockout. You then place the bar on the bottom set of bars, squeeze down under it, then squat rapidly up and down tapping each set of bars, pausing but not resting between reps. This exercise helps you get out of the bottom on the squat .

• Low Squat 2 - 3/5/09, 225/3.

• Partial Squat 1 - 3/5/09, 350/5. This exercise works the top part of the lift. When combined with the above exercise, be sure there is overlap between the top of the low squat and the bottom of the partial squat. That way, the whole lift gets worked.

• Partial Squat 2 - 3/5/09, 375/4.

• Pause Squats 1 - 3/13/09, 210/6. These are tough. You can see me in the video mouthing "1001 - 1002" - 1003" while in the down position. That is how long you pause before ascending.
• Pause Squats 2 - 3/13/09, 225/4. This was supposed to be 230/3, but I realized part way though the set that I had forgotten to put on the 2-1/2s, so I did an "extra" rep to make up for it.
• Reverse Band Squats - 2/22/10, 335/3. I changed the setup somewhat, so I took a vid to be sure everything looked okay, which it did.
• Extra Low Squats video 1 - 3/1/10, 225/7. For a discussion on this exercise, see Extra Low Foam Squat Box.
• Extra Low Squats video 2 - 3/1/10, 245/5.
• Extra Low Squats video 3 - 3/1/10, 265/3

2015 - 2017

All of the following exercises are done wearing a Crain power belt, Genesis wrist wraps, and squat shoes, and APT heavy knee sleeves.

• Manta Ray Squats - 4/13/15, 205/2.
• Chain Squats - 4/20/15, 305/2 (includes chain weight).
• Extra Low Squats - 4/20/15, 225/4.

• Extra Low Squats - 6/4/15, 235/2.

• Reverse Band Squats - 6/4/15, 295/2.

• 3 Sec Pause Squats - 6/11/15, 235/2.

• Sting Ray Squats - 6/11/15, 135/8.

• Manta Ray Squats -  9/2/15, 85/6. This was my first squat workout after a hamstring injury.

• Manta Ray Squats - 9/9/15, 105/6.

• Manta Ray Squats - 9/24/15, 135/6.
• Raw Squats and Manta Ray Squats - 9/17/15, 135/6, 125/6.
• Raw Squats and Manta Ray Squats - 10/8/15, 180/6, 155/6.
• Chain Squats - 11/30/15, 285/2.

• Low Squats - 12/7/15, 180/3.

• Partial Squats - 12/30/15, 290/4, 305/2.
• Chain Squats - 2/14/16, 290/4, 305/2.
• 3 Count in the Hole Pause Squats - 3/14/16, 215/4.
• 3 Count in the Hole Pause Squats - 3/14/16, 225/2.
• Partial Squats - 3/14/16, 275/3, 285/1 (2" lower than 12/30/15; didn't work as well).
• Reverse Band Squats - 3/21/16, 285/4, 300/2.
• Manta Ray Squats - 3/21/16, 195/4, 205/2.
• Chain Squats - 6/13/16, 282/4, 295/2.

• Chain Squats - 8/24/17, 315/1

• Step-ups on squat box (about 12”): 25s/5.

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See also Squat Assistance Exercises.