Squat Question

lightningsix · Post by **lightningsix** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:36 pm

I know regular excercise topics like these have been posted to death but i have a quick question.

Lately I've been feeling a bit of strain in my knee's when squating, regular squats. I have a question:

Does anyone have a preferred method to avoid injury to the knee's when squatting as far as stance goes?

Am I possibly using bad form?

I usually squat with feet shoulder width apart, toes pointed forward, BB rested on my traps, chest out and eyes straight ahead. I've never had a problem before but I've been raising the weight every 2 weeks nice and slowly but I'm stuck at 180lbs because my knee's are starting to feel a little weak under pressure.

Not sure if I should try a different stance like possibly a little wider or sumo or something, maybe toes pointed to 45 degree angles?

Possibly a knee wrap? Who knows.

-Thanks

TheHeb · Post by **TheHeb** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:46 pm

Well if your feet are straight forward, that could be bad. At shoulder width they should be pointing out a bit.

You might be up on your toes a little bit, or leaning too far forward. Or maybe you're not sitting back enough and using your glutes/hamstrings. It's hard to tell. If you could post a video, that would probably make things pretty easy.

Where on your knees does it hurt?

lightningsix · Post by **lightningsix** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:54 pm

hurst on the inside of the knee. I dont meen inside literally but inside meaning the right part of my left knee and the left part of my right knee if that makes sense lol.

I have noticed a few times where my heel leaves the ground and I need to badly correct this. Maybe doing a full squat going all the way down?

I heard doing full squats is a lot harder but makes it easier as far as strict form.

Post by **Jungledoc** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:29 pm

Try varying your stance; a little wider, a little narrower, changing foot angle, etc. See what happens. Also, try going down into a squat (body weight only) and stop at the bottom. Think about what feels strained, or where there's pressure. Let your feet pivot until the knees feel more comfortable.

Somewhere I read that to find your natural foot position, stand with feet shoulder-width apart, then jump up and down lightly and quickly 3 times, just enough so that the feet come off the floor. The way you land is your stance. I have no idea how valid this is, but I've tried it, and it seems to work.

Post by **TimD** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:00 pm

See the sticky entitled "Squat form, tips, videos". It's got links to the Squat Rx series on youtube which absolutely great. Or just go to youtube and search for Squat RX.
Tim

Post by **Jungledoc** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:08 pm

The whole list of SquatRx:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 8F10C4DE1F

Boris' (the SquatRx guy) blog:
http://squatrx.blogspot.com/
He posts interesting, motivating and informative items on his blog. He'll also answer questions. Just click on the comment link of any of his blog posts. It would be rude not to watch his videos before you asked the questions, though.

KPj · Post by **KPj** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:07 am

A few points...

-Make sure you start the movement with your hips, then the knees. Instead of just bending your knees to start the movement.

-Make sure your weight stays on your heels. If your shifting on to your toes then you've more than likely lack flexiblity somewhere - ankles and/or hips. If this is the case, you should also make sure you are not rounding the lower back at any point i.e. see how deep you can squat before that happens and make sure you don't squat below this depth.

-push out to the sides i.e. 'spread the floor apart' with your feet when you squat.

-This is very similar to the last point, but make sure your knees are not caving in (this is when they adduct / internally rotate during the movement).

KPj

Kenny Croxdale · Post by **Kenny Croxdale** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:07 am

TheHeb wrote:Well if your feet are straight forward, that could be bad. At shoulder width they should be pointing out a bit.

Where did you come up with that?

Kenny Croxdale

lightningsix · Post by **lightningsix** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:37 am

Thanks for the feedback guys, very helpful.
Checking out the videos, great stuff.

TheHeb · Post by **TheHeb** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:44 pm

Kenny Croxdale wrote:
TheHeb wrote:Well if your feet are straight forward, that could be bad. At shoulder width they should be pointing out a bit.
Where did you come up with that?

Kenny Croxdale

From Starting Strength.
Although my meaning was kind of unclear; I meant to say that your leg width often dictates your foot angle, and that if you aren't using a foot angle that is (for lack of a better word) compatible with your stance, that might cause you problems.

Basically your femur should be parallel to your foot are shoulder-width apart, your femurs are not completely straight-forward.

Post by **Jungledoc** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:38 pm

TheHeb wrote:Basically your femur should be parallel to your foot are shoulder-width apart, your femurs are not completely straight-forward.

In fact, the femurs should be parallel to the feet whatever the stance. The only way this is possible with the feet straight ahead is a completely closed stance. If the feet aren't parallel to the femurs, there is going to be torque between the femurs and the feet, both at the knee and the ankle. I don't know about you, but when I start pushing up on that 800 pound barbell (my warm-up weight, of course

), I want my knees dead straight.