The overhead squat. Why would you punish yourself this way?

I love the overhead squat, and I really hate the overhead squat. The mastering of this difficult lift requires both strength, core, balance, timing, flexibility and nerve. At the same time it can be so frustrating and annoying. When you get down in the deep squatting position with a heavy bar overhead, you're walking a fine line between loosing your balance forward, thus having to drop the weight, and loosing your balance backwards, also dropping the weight. But when you get it right, the chain of force connecting thru your body, from your toes to your fingers, makes for some awesome lifts. The benefits of the overhead squat are many:

- Increases strength in your quads and glutes
- Vast recruiting of muscle fibres considering a relative small load
- Increase your speed and acceleration
- Strengthen the core and abdomen
- Improves timing and muscle control
- Improves balance
- Builds a good foundation for the olympic lifts

Here is how you do it: Stand behind the bar with a wide grip. Snatch the bar overhead in one, explosive movement, and let it rest on your extended arms, a little behind your ears. Tighten your abdominal muscles, lean forward just a little bit and squat down, keeping the bar just vertical of your feet at all times. Keep your posture at the bottom of the lift and extend in a strong, continous motion.

Here is a short video of me doing some overhead squats: