Squat Question

[dom_]

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Jus the other day i was "corrected" in the gym by a PT who said i am going too low in my squat. I was as low as i can currently go, which is a good bit below parallel. He said i should never go below parallel because it can hurt the knees. I carried on my way, i am glad i did now. I've never seen a reason why one should not go as low as one can. The knee cant possibly as strong kept in a parallel position surely?

Also, i have my feet pointing pretty much forward..maybe a few degrees outwards. Is that correct?

You want your feet pointing out so your knees follow them when you squat down. So when at your lowest your knee should be in the same line of your foot to your hip.

[Tomskiii]

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Cheers for all the answers all but Martin seems to have confirmed it. I have always tried to go beyond parallel (OK, sometimes struggle with last rep here and there) but wasn't aware that not going far enough will cause imbalances.

As a side note I tend to squat without shoes so that my trainers aren't pushing me forward onto my toes. When I run I wear trainers to correct my running gait (over pronate) - should I make the same consideration for squats? Maybe wear my running shoes?

As in collapsed arches/flat feet? If so you definetly need to make sure you keep them from going over, whether its through shoes or just concentration. I have this problem, if you let you arches collapse you knees will follow inward.

[Martin Brown]

My arches collapsed completely years ago. I wear completely flat very thin soled shoes for squatting in - it is perfectly fine. In fact, all the corrective efforts I went throuh only caused me problems in my knees or hips.

I would certainly advise AGAINST anybody wearing trainers to squat in. You need footwear that is hard and rigid- something that gives your body feedback from the foor - no spongey soles like dope said above.

If you want a good all round weight training shoe for not much money look at converse hi-tops

M

[dope540]

the lonsdale ones in sports direct are pretty good. nice, thin and hard sole.

i wear either them or the vibram five fingers.

[Tomskiii]

I agree that spongy shoes are bad, ive heard converses can also be good for squats/deadlifts.



If you just let your feet stay pronated you strain the ankle and loose alignment and therefore some power, you should be able to consciously create an arch in your foot and realign your ankle better by contracting the muscles on the bottom of your foot. I know people often talk about picking up a pencil with your toes.

In my personal experience i have gone from pretty bad pronation with almost no arch in one foot to now a reasonable one through concentration on not letting my ankle 'go over' to the inside. You should be able to fix it slowly over time or at least concentrate on keeping the alignment in you ankle while squatting, in the same way that you concentrate on keeping your knees from collapsing inward. My tai chi instructor gave me a lot of instruction about this.

[mintster]

what about no shoes (bare feet or socks)?

[TaylorC]

I always squat and dead lift in just my socks.

[Was_once_fat_dave]

converse baseball boots ftw for me. (or high tops as martin calls them) They look great with my blue/luminous yellow/purple and orange bermuda shorts I wear to the gym!!!

Then I take them off whenever deadlifting or doing calf raises, which is a pain as I tie them write to the top.

[dope540]

bare feet or socks is fine. sometimes depends on your gym though.

things like health and safety and hygiene, stuff that some gyms really clamp down on.

vibram five fingers are a good choice if you prefer to train in socks or bare feet, but your gym disapproves of it.