Squats are one of the most effective exercises for developing the lower body primarily the quads and glutes
However despite this it’s also labeled as one of the more quote unquote dangerous exercises due to the high prevalence of knee pain people experienced during or after perform the squat which often presents itself as pain or discomfort experienced either on and around the kneecap or pain above or below the kneecap at the attachment points of the quad and patellar tendons
and the truth is although you may think you just have bad knees there’s often just a few common mistakes that you’re making during the squat that contributes to the pain that you feel
and in this article I’ll go through exactly what those mistakes are and how to fix them in order to prevent future injury and get back to pain-free squatting as soon as possible
Mistake #1
One of the most common mistakes people make with the squat is leaning forward and shifting the weight onto the toes while often raising the heels up in the process .
What this does is it transfers more of the load onto the knees as a result and can lead to the symptoms of knee pain that we discussed earlier especially around the kneecap
so instead as you squat you need to ensure that the bar remains over your mid foot and travels vertically up and down during your trip as opposed to letting the bar shift forward over the toe
and as you squat you should also be applying pressure into the ground with your entire foot rather than shifting most of the pressure towards the toes
this is going to help you better distribute the load onto the ankle and hip joints to prevent excessively straining the knees
but if you struggle to do this and the problem more often than not has to do with your ankle stiffness. Because when your ankles aren’t mobile enough your body can’t get enough bend at the ankle in order to properly execute the squat and instead compensates by creeping up on the toes
and to find out if that really is a problem for you ice age has taken the following test which research indicates it’s an excellent and reliable indicator of your ankle mobility
to perform it simply kneel down by a wall without shoes and place your toes five inches from the base of it drive your knee forward over your toes attempting to touch the wall without letting your heel lift off the ground
and if you end up failing this test then you uncovered a weak link in your ankle mobility that needs to be addressed which can be done by regularly performing ankle mobility drills and foam rolling the calves and shins especially right before you squat
You can also experiment with a wider squat stance and/or pointing your toes out a little more and see if this helps as these two adjustments will decrease the level of ankle mobility needed to properly squat
Next => Mistake #2: Not actively using the hip flexors
Erin Cafferty
Incredible info here! Perfect for me: a woman just getting back into the gym with poor head forward posture she’s trying to fix!
Andrew Anievas
I have never noticed how immobile my ankles were until now. Dude, life saver. Thank you. 🙏🏽
Sean Polding
Just what i needed! Ive just started squatting and have been having this problem. Thank you!
REVERY
It took me so long to perfect the squat/other exercises so I’m extremely pleased to see you shedding a bright light on it cause SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many people at the gym are fucking themselves up 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Even when they think they’re doing it right…they’re not 😂😂😂😂
