T Nation

Squat Stance

Powerlifting
#1

Alright, not sure if this belongs in this forum, but I thought you guys would have the best answers.

So when I squat, I like going with my feet shoulder width apart. Recently I’ve been told to spread my feet out wider than should width. I personally find it harder to go ass-to-grass in this method, but I’ve been told going only shoulder width will hurt the knees.

I’m thinking this is a load of bullshit, but I thought I’d ask some other people first. Is keeping your feet only shoulder width apart when doing squats going to hurt your knees?

#2

Everyone is different has diff strengths goals etc. some go wide some narrow. wide will use more Hip, glute in general and yeas harder to go DEEP!! its more a PL stance and like said will recruit more hips and glutes. Hell use them all but in the end do whats comfortable fits your goals and works for YOU.

A great way to get a stance for you. dont think just JUMP land look at feet thats a very natural stance for You stable etc

Phill

#3

Squatting with a shoulder width stance will not hurt your knees. Squatting with your knees coming forward over your toes will hurt your knees. So, squat with whatever stance you feel comfortable with but keep an arch in your lower back and don’t let your knees come over your toes.

#4

[quote]PSchafer50 wrote:
Squatting with your knees coming forward over your toes will hurt your knees. [/quote]

You should have followed on to say “…but this is only the case if your hips don’t drop below the level of your knees becuase when the hips drop below the knees the oppposing muscular forces stabilse the kneecap”

Or something to that general effect…

#5

[quote]Hanley wrote:
PSchafer50 wrote:
Squatting with your knees coming forward over your toes will hurt your knees.

You should have followed on to say “…but this is only the case if your hips don’t drop below the level of your knees becuase when the hips drop below the knees the oppposing muscular forces stabilse the kneecap”

Or something to that general effect…[/quote]

That, or he could have just looked at ANY olympic weightlifter in a rock bottom squat position and thought for a second.

#6

[quote]Hanley wrote:
PSchafer50 wrote:
Squatting with your knees coming forward over your toes will hurt your knees.

You should have followed on to say “…but this is only the case if your hips don’t drop below the level of your knees becuase when the hips drop below the knees the oppposing muscular forces stabilse the kneecap”

Or something to that general effect…[/quote]

It is always nice to see someone give good advice.

#7

[quote]Mister T. wrote:
Hanley wrote:
PSchafer50 wrote:
Squatting with your knees coming forward over your toes will hurt your knees.

You should have followed on to say “…but this is only the case if your hips don’t drop below the level of your knees becuase when the hips drop below the knees the oppposing muscular forces stabilse the kneecap”

Or something to that general effect…

That, or he could have just looked at ANY olympic weightlifter in a rock bottom squat position and thought for a second.[/quote]

:slight_smile:

Knees going over the toes is fine. The only problem is if you keep your hips parallel to your knees as this is the most stressful part o the squat. When your thigh and hips are parallel to the floor.

Koing

#8

[quote]Koing wrote:
Mister T. wrote:
Hanley wrote:
PSchafer50 wrote:
Squatting with your knees coming forward over your toes will hurt your knees.

You should have followed on to say “…but this is only the case if your hips don’t drop below the level of your knees becuase when the hips drop below the knees the oppposing muscular forces stabilse the kneecap”

Or something to that general effect…

That, or he could have just looked at ANY olympic weightlifter in a rock bottom squat position and thought for a second.

:slight_smile:

Knees going over the toes is fine. The only problem is if you keep your hips parallel to your knees as this is the most stressful part o the squat. When your thigh and hips are parallel to the floor.

Koing[/quote]

Another thing is when the knees go over the toes in the bottom position, some people forget to stay tight.

#9

I’ve heard of other people hurting their knees and not sure what form they are using when they hurt their knees but I have been squatting for 20 years now with a fairly wide stance with toes pointed out as far as possible while maintaining balance and I have never hurt my knees.

#10

I suggest until you get to the point of where you have really stable knees to do several different stances to hit different fibers. Just remember the wider the stance the further the toes should point out to reduce your q-angle stress.

#11

[quote]grrrsauce wrote:
q-angle stress.[/quote]

What’s with all this Q-angle talk?? Did someone write an article and mention it in the last month because ALOT of people have started talking about it recently.

#12

[quote]Hanley wrote:
grrrsauce wrote:
q-angle stress.

What’s with all this Q-angle talk?? Did someone write an article and mention it in the last month because ALOT of people have started talking about it recently.
[/quote]

“Women have a proportionally wider pelvis which leads to a greater “Q” angle. The “Q” angle is an abbreviation for quadriceps femoris angle. That angle is formed by a line drawn from the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) to the central portion of the patella (kneecap) and a second line drawn from the central patella to the tibial tubercle.”

This is taken from “Optimized Figure Training: Part II” an article here on T-Nation about figure athletes.

#13

I’d like to add an other thing to the injured knees from squating debate:

The MAIN problem imo is that people go TOO HEAVY TOO EARLY. No matter what stance/ form they use a lot of people DO NOT take the time to BUILD UP THE EXERCISE properly.

They’ll spend a few sessions and go yeah thats me done. I’ll rock up and load lots and squat heavy now. Then as a consequence they get injured. It doesn’t matter if you do Oly, PL etc squats you will get injured if you go too heavy too early!

I have my lifters do 3-5months of volume 12reps x 3sets 2-3x a week then I’ll start dropping the volume. This conditions them to squat properly (volume = more practice) and the weights are lighter so it is easier on their joints. They build muscle and get use to the loads.

When we do go heavy they’ll be more use to squating and would have built some muscle adnd conditioning to help protect their joints!

Koing

#14

[quote]Flow wrote:

This is taken from “Optimized Figure Training: Part II” an article here on T-Nation about figure athletes.[/quote]

THanks for that. I already knew what it was, I was just curious as to the sudden popularity of people talking about the Q-angle.

Keep your eyes open and you’ll see it al the time on here when a new article is published people start to quote bits of it ALL the time.

#15

[quote]Hanley wrote:
grrrsauce wrote:
q-angle stress.

What’s with all this Q-angle talk?? Did someone write an article and mention it in the last month because ALOT of people have started talking about it recently.
[/quote]

Maybe they did. I get my info from classes mostly. Textbooks are awesome.

#16

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Flow wrote:

This is taken from “Optimized Figure Training: Part II” an article here on T-Nation about figure athletes.

THanks for that. I already knew what it was, I was just curious as to the sudden popularity of people talking about the Q-angle.

Keep your eyes open and you’ll see it al the time on here when a new article is published people start to quote bits of it ALL the time.[/quote]

Well reading an article makes you, for all intents and purposes, an expert. You should know that!

#17

[quote]double1 wrote:

Well reading an article makes you, for all intents and purposes, an expert. You should know that!
[/quote]

True story, I’ve read all the westside articles on elite, the eight keys too, I have 2 of the training manuals and 3 DVDs so I guess I know as much, no wait MORE than Louie.

Of course, I’ve never given “pure” (whatever the hell that is now anyway) westside more than 12 weeks of training but I think that’s enough to make me an expert. Right?

#18

[quote]Hanley wrote:
double1 wrote:

Well reading an article makes you, for all intents and purposes, an expert. You should know that!

True story, I’ve read all the westside articles on elite, the eight keys too, I have 2 of the training manuals and 3 DVDs so I guess I know as much, no wait MORE than Louie.

Of course, I’ve never given “pure” (whatever the hell that is now anyway) westside more than 12 weeks of training but I think that’s enough to make me an expert. Right?[/quote]

Whoa, is Dave Tate paying you for lessons? He definitely should be.