Feet Out, Knees Out, Squat It Out
By David Kathmann, MS, RSCC, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Written on May 5, 2013
“Feet out, Knees out . . . Knees OUT, OUT, OUT!” This is commonly what those who train with us hear when they are squatting. But wait, could they be hearing this right? Feet out? Knees out? The overwhelming majority of personal trainers, strength coaches, fitness gurus and fitness magazines (the list is much larger than this, trust me) are telling people to squat with toes straight ahead and knees tracking in-line with their toes. This teaching of the squat is incorrect and leads to an awful, mutilated appearance of a squat. And let me state that you don’t get to call an exercise harmful when you perform the exercise incorrectly.
A squat not performed to parallel depth, which is measured by the crease of your hip being level with the top of your knee, is not a squat; it is a fraction of the squat. Anything higher than parallel depth can be called a quarter (1/4) squat, a half (1/2) squat, a nine-tenths (9/10) squat, but it is still not a squat. Of course, there are other guidelines that must be adhered to in order to maintain safety while squatting. These guidelines include a neutral lumbar spine (low back), heels flat on the ground, knees in-line with the toes and weight distributed evenly on your mid-foot.
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Proper squat depth: crease of the hip level with the top of the knee
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Keeping
these guidelines in mind, it is nearly impossible to squat to proper depth with
feet straight ahead (neutral) stance and retain safety of the lift. In every case I’ve encountered, those
who have been taught a neutral foot position can only perform a 1/2 squat and
maintain a neutral spine. Any attempt to squat deeper with a neutral stance
will lead to the lumbar spine rounding. The reason for this is simple,
attempting to squat to proper depth with a neutral stance will cause
impingement (to collide) of your anatomical structures (e.g. thighs, stomach,
and ASIS of your hip) and it becomes impossible to squat to proper depth while
maintaining a neutral lumbar spine.
A relaxation of the erector spinae (muscle running straight down your
back) and shortening of the hamstrings leads to a rounding of the lumbar spine
to get deeper and this is a no-no.
Some
may argue that it is inflexibility that stops someone from squatting deeper with
a neutral foot position while maintaining a neutral spine, but I assure you its
your anatomy. Also, some may argue that if a 1/2 squat is where your body stops
you, then that is as far as you need to go down, but again, I assure you they
are wrong.
Now,
let me take my stance and provide you with why toes out, knees out is the
optimal position for squatting.
First, squatting to proper depth (as described above) is optimal in
order to get the most muscle activity from all of your main squatting muscles
(e.g. quads, hamstrings and glutes), especially your powerful glutes (butt) and
adductor muscles (1,3). A squat higher than proper depth is inferior in regards
to muscle activity. I want to highlight a point here, adductor muscle (muscles
on the inner part of your leg) activity is seen when feet are pointed out (30o)
and knees are pushed out (in-line with toes, 3), but not with a neutral foot
stance. The reason is because the adductors help in hip extension (opening the
hip up) and some of those muscles aid in external rotation of the leg. Adductor
activity is also seen with a widening of the stance, but the extensibility of
the adductor muscles and the ability to keep knees out may be compromised
causing the knees to cave in; which can stress the knee ligaments negatively.
The gluteus maximus activity also increased with an increase in stance. This
(gluteus maximus activity) isn’t surprising because actions of the gluteus
maximus are external rotation and abduction (stance widening) of the legs.
These movements (as well as hip extension) also occur with the cue “toes out,
knees out”.
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Big squat weights have been
moved with feet out, knees out
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Secondly,
more muscle involvement over a wider range of motion will allow for more weight
lifted, more distribution of the load, and a greater systemic strengthening and
adaptation response. This simply
means you’ll be stronger, not just in the legs, but all over your body. An
increase in the weight of the bar (e.g. getting stronger) also increases
activation of the leg and trunk musculature (2,4; see my previous thoughts on
trunk muscle activity). Also, the ability to stretch your muscles over a wider
range of motion “activates” them more and induces a greater stretch-reflex,
which will aid in lifting the weight up and to lift more weight.
Thirdly,
as mentioned above, the knees out position opens up space in your hips to allow
you to squat to proper depth without impinging your anatomical structures;
thus, allowing maintenance of a neutral lumbar spine (if the hamstrings are
kept tight with hips staying back) throughout the squat. Speaking of anatomical structures, in
the majority of the population the femur bone is straight. While standing straight up with the
feet under the hips, the femur lines up with the tibia and the knee is tracking
in-line with the foot. If you
perform a half squat from this position the femur remains in-line with the
knee, which is tracking in-line with the feet.
Now
try this, widen your stance to shoulder width (or to some comfortable position
in that area) and keep your feet neutral (pointed forward). Squat down to proper depth and put your
arms on the inside part of your legs and push out with your arms straight and
fingers pointed in the direction of your femur. Which direction are your arms
and hands (and subsequently your knees) pointing and which direction are your
feet pointed? They are pointing in different directions! This implies then that
the knee is somewhere in-between and is being twisted (torqued) along with the
ligaments in the knee. I don’t
know about you, but I like to keep my knees healthy, neutral, and in-line with
all the other structures of my leg.
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Toes straight and knees out
doesn’t line up
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I
bet that your feet are straining to move into the position they want to be in,
which is where? You should be observing about 30o out. Let them move out to where they want to
be and put your arms and hands back on the inside part of your leg and push out
like you did before and is everything lined up? Does the knee feel less
strained? The pushing out of the
legs represents the conscience effort to keep your knees pushed out when you
are squatting and to maintain alignment of the upper leg with the knee to the
lower leg. If one of the jobs of the glutes is to help in keeping the legs out
and tracking of the knees in-line with the feet pointed out, then why does
everyone try to fight this with feet forward? Use your anatomy to your
advantage.
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Toes out and knees out allows
for a proper squat
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Lastly,
by keeping the feet out and knees out, this allows proper squat technique and
depth allowing the hamstrings to be utilized and kept tight. As mentioned before, a feet forward
position impinges anatomical structures and does not allow proper depth to be
achieved unless the low back and hamstrings relax. The ability to avoid impingement allows the hamstrings to be
kept taught and pull back on tibia allowing the knee to remain neutral with no
excessive pull from the quads. An
excessive pull from the quads typically causes the knee pain people get from
squatting, which implies improper squatting technique.
If
you are not squatting with proper technique then you are wasting your time,
utilizing an inferior technique, and have a higher possibility of injury. The squat has been shown to be highly
correlated to many different athletic skills (e.g. top speed running and lower
body power) and provides a solid base to advance on to different skills, but
only when performed optimally. Our
ability to teach many people how to squat properly, increase squat strength and
remain injury free at Pro Fit Strength and Conditioning is nothing
extraordinary, but rather a result of proper coaching technique. At Pro
Fit Strength and Conditioning, we will make sure you utilize proper squatting
technique all the time and you’ll notice the significant improvements as you
continue to reach strength levels you didn’t think were possible. If you think
your training form is suffering and holding you back, we offer form checks
to improve your technique and allow your training to be taken to the next
level!
Disclaimer: Some photos in
this article are not property of Pro Fit Strength and Conditioning and are
intended only for visual entertainment.
References
1. Caterisano, A.; Moss, R.F.; Pellinger, T.K.; Woodruff,
K.; Lewis, V.C.; Booth, W., and Khadra, T. The Effect of Back Squat Depth on
the EMG Activity of 4 Superficial Hip and Thigh Muscles. J Strength Cond Res
16: 428-432; 2002.
2. Paoli, A.; Marcolin, G.; and Petrone, N. The Effect of
Stance Width on the Electromyographical Activity of Eight Superficial Thigh
Muscles During Back Squat with Different Bar Loads. J Strength Cond Res 23: 246-250, 2009.
3. Pereira, G.R.; Leporace, G.; Chagas, D.V.; Furtado,
L.F.L.; Praxedes, J., and Batista, L.A. Influence of Hip External Rotation on
Hip Adductor and Rectus Femoris Myoelectric Activity During a Dynamic Parallel
Squat. J Strength Cond Res 24(10):
2749-2754, 2010.
4. Wretenberg, P.E.R.; Feng, Y.I.; and Arborelius, U.P.
High- and Low-Bar Squatting Techniques During Weight-Training. Med Sci
Sports Exerc 28: 218-224, 1996.
2012 Pro Fit Strength and Conditioning www.pfstrength.com
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