How To Squat Without Knee Pain (4 Mistakes You’re Probably Making)

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Today we’ll be covering how to squat properly to avoid knee pain when squatting or knee pain after squats. Squats are a fantastic compound exercise that allows you to develop muscles in your lower body. However, the amount of knee pain people experience following squats has made some wary of using this exercise. A few commonly made and easy to fix mistakes which I will cover in this how to squat video will allow you to safely perform squats without knee pain. I’ll cover what to do if you experience squats pain above knee or squats pain below knee or squatting pain behind the knee.

The most common mistake people make is shifting weight forward and onto their toes; this means that the bar does not travel up vertically as they lift. Instead, this shift in weight transfers load to the knees and surrounding tendons and increase the risk of strain which can cause knee pain after squats or your knees to hurt when squatting. Applying weight through the entire foot will better distribute load across the hips, knees, and ankles.

Knowing this is not always enough to do it, as stiff ankles are a common problem many athletes suffer from. The test shown in this video can help determine if you have stiff ankles. And if you find out that you do, there are a few options. I would recommend stretching and foam rolling the calves and shins prior to squatting. You could also alter your foot placement; using a wider stance and pointing your toes outwards may help work around a stiff ankle joint.

Next, the hip flexors are a group of muscles composed of the iliopsoas and the rectus femoris. When activated, they stabilize the trunk, balance your center of gravity, and reduce pressure on the knees. During the squat, actively engage the hip flexors by visualizing these muscles pull you down as you lower the weight. To help do this, you may want to attach and hold onto a band above your head to supply counter resistance as you descend.

Next, knee valgus is the inward collapse of the knees and is a common mistake people make when learning how to squat properly with weights. This causes instability in the knee and wears away cartilage, causing pain around the knee cap when squatting. To avoid knee valgus, its important to strengthen your gluteus medius muscles group, which is located on the outer aspect of your glutes. Reactive neuromuscular training (RNT) improves coordination and will allows for better activation of the lateral glutes during a squat. As shown in the video, you can use my all-in-one resistance band around your leg during an RNT split squat and force your knees apart to maintain alignment throughout the range of motion. This will strengthen the gluteus medius and help better coordinate its activation during your squat exercises.

Lastly, doing too much, too soon is something that many people are guilty of when it comes to working out in the gym. Overloading the muscles and connective tissues can cause tendinopathy and significant pain around the joints. Too much volume can manifest as pain around the tendon attachment points both above and below the knee joint.

But the good news is that reducing your training load has been shown to completely reverse tendinopathy over just a few weeks. Not everything needs to be reduced right away. Cutting back on some aspects of your lower body workout while being observant of the result this has on the pain in your knees is the way to go.

Box squats can also be used here to allow you to control the amount of depth during the squat. According to research, the box squat also allows for more vertical shin angles and limits forward movement of the knees compared to a regular squat; this reduces the amount of stress placed on the knees and likelihood of knee pain.

It’s absolutely vital that you pay close attention to how exactly you perform your exercises in order to prevent injuries overtime and to progress faster. For a complete evidence-based program that’s fully equipped with in-depth tutorials for each and every exercise so you can ensure you’re safely maximizing your muscle-building efforts in the gym, take the body type quiz below:

Thanks to 3D4Medical for the anatomy clips.
*this is an affiliate link and I will receive a portion of the sale through the link. Thanks in advance!*

FILMED BY: Abdo Megahid
Instagram: @abdohmegahed
MUSIC:
Lakey Inspired – Fast Lane

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Hope you enjoyed this one! Comment below what other exercises you’d like me to cover in this fashion👇!


Study links are below:



ANKLE MOBILITY TEST

REACTIVE NEUROMUSCULAR TRAINING
TENDON RECOVERY:
BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS BOX SQUAT

JeremyEthier
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Mistake #1: letting your weight shift forward 0:57
Mistake #2: not using the hip flexors 2:54
Mistake #3: Knees not in line with toes 3:53
Mistake #4: Doing too much too soon 5:33

iffjs
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As a visual learner the post production quality of your videos are amazing, thanks for putting in so much effort!

revlucin
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No copying; all original and helpful content. Amazing video Jeremy!

dalechen
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My knees hurt when your knees collapse in... This guy sacrifice his knees to make the video, damn

videologforearthers
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I have never noticed how immobile my ankles were until now. Dude, life saver. Thank you. 🙏🏽

androSS.
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what a boss. he does a messed up version of the exercise risking injury to himself in the video (even though it's probably light weight for him) just to show how it's not supposed to be done, haha! Thanks for all the information man, people love and appreciate you and your videos.

anuupeace
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Your “DON’T” demos scare the heck out of me sometimes. Especially the knees in part. Thanks for the demo but please use a empty bar next time. Like watching someone dodge a car. Whew!

Theoriginalbubbafett
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Oh my GOD! you are a life saver!!! I actively engaged my hip flexors and there was no pain. its just gone! thank you so much.

dr.piyaldeb
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As beautifully, systematically and scientifically explained as Jeremy always does.
Mr. Ethier certainly makes the lives of guys interested in strength training a lot easier.
"Keep up the good work Jeremy"

samirsharma
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Landed to his Channel by Mistake but it Turned into a Blessing... The Visuals with a Corrective Method is absolutely Superb...

sarangsj
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Just what i needed! Ive just started squatting and have been having this problem. Thank you!

seanpolding
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Jeremy, I love your 2nd tip here about activating your hip flexors to help "pull" you down to the floor. I think this is going to be a game changer for me.

KBoss
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What a fantastic video, Jeremy Ethier. I really appreciate your instruction in all your videos ... very complete, very direct, packed-full of information in an easily-understood way, with great visuals. Amazing! Thank you.

larrybrumfield
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The muscle visualisation on the right side of the video is a very good addition! Please do these in your future videos as well, thank you!

billtonvitus
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"Too much, too often". That is exactly what is hurting my knees. Thanks for the great video.

migdez
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Love idea of the band.I struggle with squats and literally avoid the squat rack .I have long legs which makes it tricky

sammypeter
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Just in time, , was lookin for proper squats technique then i found this on my yt home.. subbed

AhmedMostafaBLOODISHBROS
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Thank you so much Jeremy! I was wondering why I was unable to squat unless in an extremely wide stance. I now realize it’s poor ankle mobility. I’m going to work on fixing it!

Jesus.saved.me.
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Wow did I need this video. I have knee pain the day after squats

xavierrobinson