Squats are one of my absolute favorite exercises for many reasons. Squatting is a functional movement that the vast majority of us perform day in and day out. Whether you are getting up from a chair or the toilet, reaching down to pick up your toddler, or trying to lift a heavy box, this motion requires a combination of joint mobility, muscular power, motor control, and balance. It is also one of the core fundamental exercises that is most likely to keep you mobile and active from your early years into the later decades of life. But some folks that have not been trained in this movement pattern may be apprehensive about starting a squat exercise program due to fear of injury or simply not knowing where to start. Check out these basic pointers to get a foundational understanding of what a squat looks like, details to pay attention to, and which variations may be more helpful for you as you begin.
BASIC MOVEMENT
If you have ever sat down in a chair, then stood back up without using your hands to assist you, you have performed a squat! The simplicity and regularity of this motion is part of why this is such a great exercise. If you are a beginner to this movement or are returning to squats after a long layoff, you may find it helpful to practice with a chair behind you, both to give you something to aim for and to assist you if you require a short break at the bottom of this movement. If you have been exercising regularly, or if this motion becomes easier with repetition, set the chair aside and squat without anything behind you.
Start by standing up straight, with your arms across your chest or reaching out in front of you to help with balance. Try to find a comfortable, neutral back alignment and maintain this alignment throughout the motion. Slowly bend your hips and your knees, bringing your buttocks (glute muscles) toward the surface of the chair (real or imaginary) and allowing your chest to fall forward over your lap and feet as you keep your back neutral. Tap the chair with your buttocks (take a rest here if necessary!) and then use pressure through your feet powerfully into the floor as you squeeze your glutes and the front of your thighs (quad muscles) to rise back up to the starting position, ending with a tall stance with hips under the torso. Repeat!
KEY DETAILS FOR GOOD FORM:
+Knee Alignment: one of the most common errors that I see in the clinic with squat form is folks allowing their knees to “collapse” inward toward one another when you begin to move your body down into the squat. This is a compensation that your body will use when there is little power and control from your outer buttock/hip muscles (gluteus medius and minimus), either due to weakness or due to a pattern of behavior that has built up over time. This movement pattern over time can lead to knee pain or more serious injury, particularly for those that perform sports or activities with lots of running, jumping, or cutting in different directions. If you find yourself tending to let the knees fall in, try standing in front of a mirror and moving slowly through the squat pattern keeping knees over heels, first at a shallow depth and then progressing toward the full “chair depth” squat. You can even try using a resistance band looped just above your knees to give you something to “pull against” as you try to bring your knees out into this position throughout the motion.
+Hinge at hips: another common error during this movement is allowing too much bending at your back as your weight descends toward the ground, rather than keeping your back in a “neutral” alignment and allowing your hips to be the primary “pivot point” that helps you move down into the squat. Try to “sit back into the chair” as you bend your hips and knees together, using your abdominals to help keep your back in a neutral alignment.
VARIATIONS:
+Knees moving past toes: Many of you may have heard from an exercise practitioner that moving your knees past your toes during a squat is to be avoided at all costs. While this is well-intentioned advice, it often comes across as much more cut and dry than necessary. It is true that squatting with your body moving straight down between your feet rather than “sitting back into the seat” increases the compressive force transmitted across the knees and likely increases how much forward bending your are performing at your low back. However, this does not mean that this squat form needs to be “avoided like the plague!” This is a perfectly functional motion that you may find yourself moving into throughout your daily life, and provided that you start with low resistance (body weight first, then very light external load ie. light dumbbells/kettlebell) and move with controlled and fluid motion, this is a lift that your body can adapt to over time just like any other exercise. It is more demanding of your knee joint mobility, low back mobility, and quad muscles/tendons, which are some of the reasons why many exercise enthusiasts believe it should be avoided, and why folks that perform this movement repetitively over the course of a work shift may want to use a more traditional pattern as described above. Most individuals that can train their body to tolerate this demand if they start slow and gradually progress their training load over time. Remember to ALWAYS keep both your feet completely on the floor when you lift, providing stable balance points for your body to move over. This can be a powerful exercise to engage your quadriceps more than your glutes (the usual primary target of a more traditional squat).
+Wide stance vs narrow stance: There are many factors that will dictate whether you feel more comfortable squatting with a narrow stance (knees and feet directly under hips) or a wider stance (knees and feet wider than hips). In general, one stance is not necessarily “better” than the other, but these variations will place more demand on specific muscle groups, strengthening those groups more than others. Wide stances will better recruit your glutes (buttocks and outer hips) than a narrow stance, whereas a narrow stance will better recruit your quads (front of thigh muscles) than a wider stance. Folks with osteoarthritis at their knees or knee caps may feel more comfortable with a wider stance to decrease the compressive force that crosses the knee joint. Those lacking ankle mobility may feel more comfortable performing a wider stance squat as well. As long as you keep the other key points of good form in mind, either variation can be beneficial.
One of many available exercise mats showing variations in squatting foot position (source: Ryan Reed Thrive)
+Toes more forward vs toes more out: This is another consideration that will be different from one person to the next based on their individual anatomy and mobility. No individual person is built exactly the same as another, and the specific shape and angle of your hip joint, your leg length proportions, and specific joint stiffness or muscle tension will impact which specific “toe angle” is most comfortable for you. Generally speaking, having your toes facing just slightly outward of a straight line is a good place to start, and you can make small adjustments from there to find what feels most comfortable for you. Regardless of where your toes end up facing, it is important that your knees move in the same direction in which your toes are pointing, rather than collapsing inward or outward as you squat down, in order to prevent strain and discomfort at the knees and to appropriately strengthen the glute muscles.
NEED MORE HELP?
If you continue to feel pain, limitation, or simply confusion when trying to perform squat exercises on your own, it may be time to seek individualized care. Our physical therapists are available to meet with you to screen for any problem areas that may be impacting or restricting your motion and strength. Using their knowledge of muscles and the skeletal system, they will identify sources of pain and limitation, and determine the correct treatment plan to achieve fast results. Contact us today to make an appointment!