Squatting - knees over toes? page

[Gadsie]

Some random personal trainer told me your knees should never pass your toes while squatting. This is almost impossible for me to do, is it true?

[wnoblit]

You are probably not sitting back far enough. I find It's a little more awkward to keep the form with air squats but loaded with a heavy barbell, it's rarely an issue. If your spine is pointing straight up and the bottom of your squat, you're probably not doing it right. For air squats, hold your arms out to counter balance your weight at the bottom and drive your butt up while pressing through your heels.

[snoops]

You will put too much stress on your knees if they go out in front of your toes. This was how I did squats 30 years ago and have the wrecked knees to prove it. Doing them properly now puts no strain on my knees at all. WIll never run again though due to the improper positioning years ago so be careful.

[Metric]

I had very bad posture for air squats. My issue was that I was not sitting back far enough and my toes weren't turned out enough. Watching some of these helped. (I'm not saying they have perfect form, but I got the point).

AIR SQUAT - YouTube

Crossfit Park City Air Squat Instruction - YouTube

CrossFit Squat - YouTube

[Gadsie]

Alright, I'm talking about 1cm over my toes though. Maybe even parallel. But I can't keep my toes IN FRONT of my knees

[RichMahogany]

I think Gadsie's doing one of the beginner strength programs, so I'm guessing he's probably referring to back squats with a barbell rather than body weight squats.

The trick's to tilt your pelvis. There was an amazing video about anterior pelvic tilt on the RobbWolf blog about a month ago (total guess, could be 3 weeks, could be 9) that really struck a chord with me. Try to find it.

If you're loaded up and your pelvis is properly tucked, I agree with wnoblit that the knees shouldn't even be trying to come out over the toes. Check your feet. Are your heels staying firmly grounded, or are they trying to rise up off the ground? Are you leaning forward? Because don't do that.

[RichMahogany]

Alright, I'm talking about 1cm over my toes though. Maybe even parallel. But I can't keep my toes IN FRONT of my knees

You wouldn't be able to tell from that angle if your knees were 1cm over your toes. You'd need a partner with a profile view. And I wouldn't sweat 1 cm.

[jakey]

sorry this is BS. squat properly and don't worry about whether knees pass toes. random personal trainers spew out bits like this to cue people to squat back into their hips, which is great, but there's really no line in the sand about knees passing toes. frankly, i think it's just about inevitable.

[Al_Kavadlo]

This blog post I did about squats addresses this issue pretty well I think: Al Kavadlo – We're Working Out! » All About Squats

[wnoblit]

1cm isn't going to be a huge issue. The trainer maybe trying to over emphasize the fact that you need to be sitting further back in the squat.

Think of it this way, The bar path should follow a straight inline over your ankles. If the bar gets ahead of your ankles at the bottom, you are probably leaning forward and over involving your quads.

If your ass and hams are sore the next day, you're probably doing something right.